Drilling leads to new Tantalum discovery on Rose

FEBRUARY 9, 2011 – LAVAL, QUEBEC – First Gold Exploration Inc. (TSX.V: EFG) (US OTCQX: FGEXF) (FSE: F12) is pleased to report that diamond drilling on the Hydro showing has resulted in the discovery of a near surface Tantalum-rich zone that returned significant results for three holes. The best intersection was 400 ppm Ta₂O₅ over 5.50 metres in Hole HD-10-01. Hole HD-10-02 returned 364 ppm Ta₂O₅ over 3.80 metres and Hole HD-10-03 returned 553 ppm Ta₂O₅ over 1.40 metres. The table below shows all the results for the three holes.

The Hydro showing lies about 500 metres northeast of the Rose lithium-Tantalum deposit where a NI43-101 compliant indicated resources of 11,436,000 tonnes has been report December 14th 2011. The newly towered structured occurs horizontally on surface and dips 20° to 30° to the northeast. Stratigraphically sPEAKing, this horizontal zone lies above the Rose main zone, which is consistent with the geological model established by the technical teaM. The zone is open to the east, west and north. More drilling will be done in the coming weeks to better delineate this discovery.

“This is yet another very important discovery for the Company. With its particularly high grades, this showing will enable us to rapidly increase the size of our Tantalum deposit for the Rose project at a low cost.” said Jean-Sébastien Lavallée, President and Chief Executive Officer.

A map showing the location of the holes drilled on the Pivert/Rose Lithium project can be found in the Projects section.

As reported previously, drilling on the Rose deposit is ongoing. To date, seven additional holes have been drilled out of a total of 16 holes planned for this phase. These holes are being drilled at a 100-metre grid spacing on the extension of the structure eastward and northward. The 16 holes will cover an area of 1.5 km2. Following this phase of drilling on the Rose deposit, the Company plans to drill 15 to 20 holes on the JR showing. The Company hopes to include all the new holes drilled during this program in a new resource estimate for the Rose deposit. This estimate may also take into account Tantalum-enriched zones that were not included in the previous estimate as the original model was designed for lithium only.
 

The best results obtained to date for the hydro showing are as follows

* 1 ppm = 1 g/t
 

All the samples were sent for analysis in sealed containers to the Chemex laboratory in Val-d´Or by employees of the Company. Chemex is the laboratory used for analysis of all samples from programs on the Lac Pivert/Rose property.

In amendment of the February 2, 2011 press release, First Gold has also retained the services of Mr. Peter Tse, a world renowned metallurgist to support the pre-feasibility study. During the past few years, Mr. Tse has managed the development of the metallurgical processing for the Aley Niobium project of Taseko Resources Ltd. He is currently managing the metallurgical studies for the Upper Fir Tantalum-Niobium project of Commerce Resources Inc. For further clarity, Mr. Tse´s involvement with Bernic Lake Mine did not include the management of the plant modifications.

Exploration First Gold is also pleased to announce that, at its annual general and special meeting held on February 8, 2011, shareholders of the Company approved all the items, including the proposed slate of Directors, retention of the auditors and the name change.

First Gold also announces that it has increased the number of shares reserved for issuance under its stock option plan by 4,233,946. The number of shares that can be issued under the Plan is now 10,299,737, or 10% of the number of issued and outstanding shares as at January 26, 2011. The increase is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
 

For more information, contact
Jean-Sébastien Lavallée, P.Geo
Interim President and CEO
819-354-5146

www.firstgoldexploration.com