VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 20, 2011) - Emgold Mining Corporation (News - Market indicators)(PINK SHEETS:EGMCF)(FRANKFURT:EML) ("Emgold" or the "Company") is pleased to report continued successful results of its surface exploration activities at its Buckskin Rawhide property, located about 40 miles south of Fallon, Nevada. Surface sampling of the Black Eagle Vein has resulted in additional high grade rock chip samples, as listed in Table 1 below, with the two best results assaying 4.12 ounces per ton ("opt") gold and 9.0 opt silver, and 2.38 opt gold and 6.80 opt silver respectively. Previous samples taken by Emgold (see the Company's January 12, 2011 press release), listed in Table 2 below, showed similar high grade results with the two best chip samples assaying 9.00 opt gold and 17.58 opt silver and 7.35 opt gold and 7.34 opt silver respectively.  Emgold has identified a zone of high grade gold and silver mineralization, approximately 360 feet long to date, and open to further extension.

The Buckskin Rawhide property is comprised of 52 unpatented claims totaling 1,040 acres, of which 46 claims are currently under a lease and option to purchase agreement with Nevada Sunrise LLC, a private company. The property is located in the Rawhide Mining District and is situated adjacent to Pilot Gold Inc.'s Regent gold-silver property and to Rawhide Mining Company's Rawhide Mine.

The Buckskin Rawhide property is a volcanic-hosted, structurally controlled, epithermal gold-silver prospect in the Walker Lane gold belt of western Nevada. The Walker Lane is a regional shear zone and known gold trend that hosts large and small historic and currently operating gold-silver mines, including mines of the Comstock Lode, Tonopah District and Rawhide District. Buckskin Rawhide geology and mineralization are associated with structures from the Walker Lane along with lithologic units and structures of the Rawhide caldera. 

The Black Eagle Fault is a prominent north-trending structure situated on the west side of Emgold's claim block. The surrounding bedrock is volcanic and includes latite and breccia. To date, the structure plus adjacent bedrock has been sampled over a total distance of 1,800 feet, and gold-silver mineralization has been identified that is related to the fault and occurs over a measured strike length of 1,100 feet (and open to extension). This mineralized zone is called the Black Eagle Vein and consists of fault gouge, quartz veins, and silicified wall rocks overprinted with iron-manganese oxides. 

Within the Black Eagle Vein, Emgold has identified a mineralized zone that contains very high grade gold mineralization. Within this mineralized zone are several small historic workings over a distance of 450 feet on strike, which Emgold has named the Black Eagle Shaft and, from south to north, Black Eagle Stopes 1, 2, 3, and 4. The zone is interpreted to be a deeply dipping mineralized shoot. 

Emgold is using a methodical and detailed approach to assessing the Black Eagle Vein in order to determine boundaries of currently identified gold mineralization and in order to locate new areas of gold mineralization. Using this method, a round of samples is taken in a relatively small area of interest along the Black Eagle Vein and analyzed. At the same time, new geology mapping is completed by the Company. Using the results, the next area to be sampled and mapped is identified. The high grade mineralized shoot has now been extended to 360 feet length by this current sampling program, and is open to extension. To date, Emgold has taken 64 rock chip samples and five grab samples of historic waste rock dumps on the Buckskin Rawhide Property.

The current round of surface samples completed by Emgold's geologists focused on the Black Eagle Vein and Fault and was designed to better determine the boundaries of the high grade mineralized shoot summarized above. Thirteen rock chip-channel samples, each 12 inches in width, were taken in bedrock across the known Black Eagle Vein structure. When possible, sample locations were situated adjacent to previous Emgold sample sites, to obtain continuous samples across the structure. Dry sample weights varied from one to two pounds. 

Assays from the most recent round of sampling, taken within the high grade zone, are shown in the Table 1 below. One of the samples (EBE 11-60) was located approximately 60 feet north of the previously known high grade shoot, extending the mineralized zone to 360 feet in length, and suggesting that the high grade shoot may extend even further to the north.

The presence of high grade mineralization in current sampling shown in Table 1 supports previous sampling in the high grade shoot done by Emgold, shown in Table 2. 

Tables 1 and 2 include a total of 29 rock chip samples taken to date in the high grade shoot area of the Black Eagle Vein. Table 3 shows the distribution of these samples by grade ranges.

Table 4, below, includes results from averaging specific individual chip samples in Tables 1 and 2. In three locations, an adequate number of chip samples have now been taken to estimate arithmetic average grades on section lines across the southern portion of the mineralized zone. These estimates do not represent the true or total thickness of the vein. In some cases, the vein width is still open to extension by additional sampling. The section lines are measured along the strike of the Black Eagle Vein, from the location of the historic Black Eagle Stope No. 1, which is located at the south end of the currently mapped mineralized zone. Section lines are located at the Black Eagle Stope No. 1, 60 feet north of Stope No. 1, and 80 feet north of Stope No. 1, representing an 80 foot strike length of the currently identified 360 foot long mineralized zone. 

Tables 5 and 6, below, shows assay results for an additional 35 rock chip samples that have been taken in bedrock adjacent to, or along the potential strike of, the Black Eagle Vein structure to date. These results indicate:

1. The potential for the presence of low grade bulk disseminated mineralization in the vicinity of the high grade zone (see sampling east and west of high grade zone, which carries low grade gold and silver mineralization). As shown in Table 6, 16 samples had grades between 0.010 and 0.039 opt gold.
2. The potential for additional higher grade mineralized zones along the strike of the Black Eagle Structure (see EBE 11-64, to the north of the high grade zone, with a grade of 0.136 opt gold).
3. The potential for mineralized historic waste dumps (see EBE-D, EBE-ST-D, EBE-ST-L, Shaft West, and Shaft North). Three of these five samples had grades greater than 0.100 opt gold.

A total of 19 of the 64 samples to date had gold grades that were non-detectable or below 0.010 opt gold. These samples indicate that mineralization was not present or significant, or that sampling points were not on the mineralized structure. 

American Assay Laboratories, Inc. of Sparks, Nevada, conducted the laboratory analyses. Mr. Robert Pease, Chief Geologist of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, participated in and directly supervised the sampling program and the preparation of this press release. Sampling is preliminary in nature and is not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of the occurrence of a mineral deposit. However, the results of this sampling program justify further exploration of the property, including core drilling. 

Emgold's President Dave Watkinson stated, "These latest samples further indicate the potential for discovery at the Buckskin Rawhide Property. Historic exploration activities on the property by companies such as Kennecott Minerals Company and Newmont Mining Corporation focused on low grade, bulk mineable targets. While these targets also exist, the potential for high grade vein mineralization on the property has clearly been demonstrated and warrants additional exploration. The potential for both high grade vein mineralization and bulk disseminated mineralization exists and we believe the Buckskin Rawhide Property has been a strategic acquisition by the Company."

Information Regarding Emgold

Emgold is currently in the advanced stage of permitting the Idaho-Maryland Project, located in Grass Valley, CA. The Idaho-Maryland Mine was once the second largest underground gold mine in California and is reported to have produced 2.4 million ounces of gold at an average recovered grade of 0.43 ounce per ton.

Emgold has a number of earlier stage exploration properties including the Buckskin Rawhide Property in Nevada, and the Stewart Property and the Rozan Property in British Columbia. The Rozan Property is currently optioned to Valterra Resource Corporation. 

For more information about Emgold, the Idaho-Maryland Gold Project and the Buckskin Rawhide, Stewart, and Rozan Properties, please visit www.emgold.com. Company filings are available at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

David G. Watkinson, P.Eng., President & CEO

This release was prepared by the Company's management. Sampling outlined in this press release is preliminary in nature and not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of the occurrence of a mineral deposit.

U.S. 20-F Registration: 000-51411