Drilling Commences At Barrick-Alliance Mizobe Project

VANCOUVER - Japan Gold Corp. reported on the drilling at the Barrick Alliance Mizobe Project in Southern Kyushu, Japan. The Mizobe Project lies within the Hokusatsu Region of southern Kyushu, along the western edge of the Kagoshima Graben in a similar geological setting as the Hishikari gold mine, located 23 km to the north. Hishikari is one of the highest grade Tier 1 gold mines in the world and has produced in excess of 8.3 million ounces of gold since 1985. An initial reconnaissance phase of three widely spaced 500 m deep drill holes are planned at Mizobe, targeting the concealed extensions of gold-bearing antimony-rich hydrothermal breccias for gold-rich feeder-veins.

The Hokusatsu Region of Southern Kyushu is Japan's largest gold producing district, with more than 11 million ounces of combined production from low-sulphidation epithermal deposits.

Within the Mizobe Project, historical mining activities focused on antimony-rich hydrothermal breccias at the Semari and Nakazon workings, prior to 1942. In 2000, as part of government supported regional geological surveys, the Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ) drill hole 12MAHT-2 was drilled 1 km to the southeast of the historical antimony workings, targeting a geophysical anomaly below a mineralized outcrop grading 0.3 g/t gold. Drilling intersected a mineralized interval of 43.35 m @ 0.89 g/t gold, with an included interval of 20.3 m @ 1.16 g/t gold from 307.0 m down-hole. No further drilling was completed around this mineralized intersection.

Alliance sampling of altered outcrop and quartz-vein breccia float across a 2 by 2.5 km area in the eastern side of the project show strong gold and pathfinder element anomalies with channel samples including composited intervals up to 24.7 m grading 1.0 g/t gold, and river float samples up to 18.9 g/t gold. The extent of gold and antimony anomalism is highly encouraging considering much of the target area is concealed by a veneer of post-mineral volcanic ash. Strong antimony and gold mineralization and the super-imposition of banded quartz veins over hydrothermal breccias indicate the potential presence of a dynamic and well-preserved gold-bearing epithermal system. Interpretation of combined geological, geochemical, and geophysical data sets support the definition of drill targets along strike of mineralization exploited at the Nakazon and Semari workings, and the more recently defined Fusayama and Tamari areas. The three initial, widely spaced drill holes at Mizobe are part of an open-ended drill program to test the framework of current interpretations and improve ongoing drill targeting below post-mineral cover at Mizobe and across the district.