MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - May 22, 2014) - Midland Exploration Inc. ("Midland") (TSX VENTURE:MD) is pleased to provide an update on its various ongoing exploration activities across Quebec, including many joint ventures and projects under option with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited ("Agnico Eagle"), Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"), Donner Metals Limited ("Donner"), Maudore Minerals Limited ("Maudore"), and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC").

To date in 2014, more than 2,300 metres of drilling have been completed, as well as several airborne and ground geophysical surveys in the Abitibi, James Bay and Labrador Trough areas. Midland and its partners plan to invest a minimum budget of $4M in 2014 on its various projects across Quebec. In addition, Midland expects to conclude new partnerships in the coming months and thus increase its overall exploration budget for 2014.

Gold projects in the Abitibi region

Maritime-Cadillac Project - Midland/Agnico Eagle JV

The Maritime-Cadillac property is located along the Cadillac-Larder Lake Break and is contiguous to Agnico Eagle's Lapa gold mine property (2.1 million tonnes in proven and probable reserves at a gold grade of 6.0 g/t, for 395,000 ounces of gold), in commercial production since May 2009. The Maritime-Cadillac project is a joint venture currently owned 51% by Agnico Eagle and 49% by Midland.

Midland's partner, Agnico Eagle, is conducting a compilation of the Lapa-Maritime Cadillac area, integrating all available data into GOCAD to produce a 3D model of this part of the Cadillac Break. New exploration targets will thus be generated for the next exploration program.

Patris Project - Midland/Teck (Option)

The wholly owned Patris project comprises 218 claims covering a surface area of about 90 square kilometres, located less than 10 kilometres northwest of the prolific Doyon/Westwood-Bousquet-La Ronde gold mining camp. The Patris property offers excellent gold potential as it covers the Manneville Fault over more than 8 kilometres, and the La Pause Fault over more than 10 kilometres, both recognized as subsidiary faults to the well-known Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone.

Since four of the seven planned drill holes totalling 1,400 metres are located on agricultural land, an authorization from the Commission de la Protection des Terres Agricoles ("CPTAQ") is required. The request for authorization is in progress and will be processed by the City of Rouyn-Noranda and the CPTAQ. Subsequent to obtaining authorization, the drilling program will test several high-quality targets including induced polarization anomalies, as well as the depth extension of a gold-bearing zone intersected in drill hole PAT-11-15 which graded 0.48 g/t Au over 17.0 metres (see press release dated May 24, 2012). See press release dated September 17, 2013 for deal terms with regards to Option Agreement with Teck.

Laflamme Project - Midland/Maudore JV

The Laflamme project comprises 682 claims covering a surface area of about 359 square kilometres and is a joint venture between Midland and Aurbec Mines Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maudore. This project is located about 25 kilometres northwest of the town of Lebel-sur-Quévillon and about 30 kilometres east of the Sleeping Giant mine and mill in Quebec.

During the winter of 2014, five (5) holes were drilled for a total of 881.0 metres. Drill hole LAF-14-30 targeted the Notting Hill showing, about 75 metres below drill hole LAF-13-21, which intersected a wide gold-bearing zone in 2013 grading 0.34 g/t Au over 25.56 metres, including 3.12 g/t Au over 1.50 metres. Drill hole 30 intersected chloritized breccia at about 230 metres, followed by a 0.7-metre-wide mineralized shear zone with 5% pyrite at about 253 metres depth. These two zones are bordered by biotite alteration, which represents the extension of the gold-bearing zone intersected in hole 21. Drill hole LAF-14-30 was drilled to a final depth of 296.0 metres and intersected a gold-bearing interval between 258.18 and 258.92 metres, grading 4.43 g/t Au over 0.74 metre, included within a wider zone grading 1.71 g/t Au over 2.66 metres from 258.18 to 260.84 metres. This campaign thus successfully confirmed the northeast extension of the gold-bearing structure at the Notting Hill showing. Midland is currently reviewing areas along this structure where structural complexities may occur and plans to test the latter with induced polarization surveys.

Valmond Project - Midland/Donner (Option)

The Valmond property is located about 50 kilometres west of Matagami. The property comprises 111 claims covering a surface area of about 62 square kilometres. It covers a segment of more than 15 kilometres along the gold-bearing Bapst Fault. An option agreement was concluded with Donner in November 2013 for the Valmond property. Donner may earn a 50% interest in the Property in consideration of exploration expenditures totalling $2,500,000, including a firm commitment of $300,000 during the first year of the agreement, and cash payments totalling $250,000 over a period of four years. Midland will be the project operator for the duration of this option agreement.

In December 2013, a geophysical program including a helicopter-borne VTEM survey totalling 900 line kilometres and an induced polarization (IP) survey totalling 48.1 kilometres was completed. As a result, several new drilling targets were identified and proposed for drill-testing. A drilling campaign totalling 1,450.2 metres was completed in March 2014. A total of five (5) holes were drilled and three (3) others were abandoned. Two holes were abandoned due to the thick overburden composed of esker sand and gravel, and another drill hole was cancelled due to the lack of water near the drill site. Best results were obtained in drill hole VAL-14-02, which targeted the down-plunge extension of the main showing at about 350 metres vertical depth. This hole was drilled to a total depth of 543.0 metres and intersected altered intermediate tuffs with quartz veinlets and arsenopyrite stringers between 454.50 and 517.65 metres, which yielded several anomalous gold values including 0.46 g/t Au over 0.60 metre (454.50 to 455.10 metres), 0.74 g/t Au over 0.64 metre (487.80 to 488.44 metres), 0.15 g/t Au over 1.00 metre (493.00 to 494.00 metres), 0.44 g/t Au over 0.85 metre (508.00 to 508.85 metres), and 0.10 g/t Au over 0.50 metre (517.15 to 517.65 metres). Two graphitic mineralized (locally up to 80% pyrite) mudstone thick horizons intersected higher up in the hole returned several gold anomalous sections including intervals that graded 0.30 g/t Au over 2.87 metres 0.40 g/t Au over 1.0 metre and 0.41 g/t Au over 0.29 metre. Several IP and VTEM anomalies well located laterally at a distance ranging from 2.0 to 2.5 kilometres that were not tested during this campaign remain priority targets and subsequent drill-testing is recommended.

Casault Project - 100% Midland

The Casault gold property comprises 296 claims exclusively owned by Midland and covering an approximate area of 163 square kilometres. The Casault property covers a portion of the Sunday Lake Fault over more than 20 kilometres strike length and is located about 40 kilometres east of the Detour Lake gold deposit, which currently hosts, near surface, 15.6 million ounces of proven and probable mineral gold reserves (National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant).

Following a drilling campaign in 2013 in which a new sedimentary basin hosting conglomerates with jasper and pyrite clasts was identified north of the Sunday Lake Fault, two new prospective areas were identified, along the contacts of this basin and along the extension of the Martiniere zones held by Balmoral Resources Ltd ("Balmoral") and located about 3 kilometres east of the main block. In addition, the 2012 gold discovery, which graded 10.4 g/t Au over 1.45 metres, remains open in all directions and also represents a high-priority target that will be tested as soon as Midland secures a new partnership for this project. Recently, Balmoral announced new drill intersections with very high gold grades on the Martiniere property (Bug Lake Footwall Zone), grading up to 1,138.0 g/t Au over 4.87 metres, including an interval at 9,710.0 g/t Au over 0.57 metre (Source: Balmoral press release dated May 12, 2014).

Jouvex Project - 100% Midland

The Jouvex property comprises 260 claims covering a surface area of approximately 140 square kilometres along the Casa Berardi-Douay-Cameron gold-bearing deformation zone. The Jouvex property is wholly owned by Midland and is located about 50 kilometres west of Matagami in the Abitibi region of Quebec.

This property which has a strong gold potential covers more than 10 kilometres of a prominent regional flexure along the Casa Berardi-Douay-Cameron deformation zone. This major structure hosts the Casa Berardi mine, located about 65 kilometres further west, and the Douay and Douay West deposits about 7 kilometres to the southeast of the Jouvex property. The Douay gold deposits contain 2.8 million ounces of gold in inferred resources and 238,433 ounces of gold in measured and indicated resources (Source:Aurvista Gold Corporation website).

Two ground IP surveys were completed to follow up on VTEM anomalies. The South Grid IP survey detected a weak chargeability anomaly associated with a magnetic low and coinciding with three weak VTEM anomalies. The North Grid IP survey detected a formational conductor and a second anomaly associated with a magnetic anomaly. Drill-testing is recommended for these two anomalies.

Gold project in the James Bay region

Baie James Éléonore Project - 100% Midland

The Eléonore project encompasses the Éléonore Centre and West properties for a combined total of 247 claims covering 128 square kilometres. These two (2) blocks are located approximately 30 kilometres southwest from Goldcorp Inc.'s Éléonore deposit, in a similar geological environment. This world-class gold deposit contains 4.03 Moz Au in proven and probable reserves, 4.84 Moz Au in measured and indicated resources, and 4.10 Moz Au in inferred resources (Source: Goldcorp press release dated February 13, 2014).

A high-definition helicopter-borne magnetic survey has recently been completed, covering the entire Éléonore Centre property, including the area covered by the 2013 IP survey. The results and interpretation of this survey totalling 386 line kilometres are pending. Preparations for the summer 2014 exploration program on the Éléonore Centre property are also underway. Additional 80 strategic claims covering approximately 41.9 square kilometres were recently added to the Eleonore Centre property.

Platinum group elements ("PGE") project in the Labrador Trough, Quebec

Pallas Project - Midland/JOGMEC (Option)

In 2013, foreseeing significant price increases for PGEs, Midland acquired 477 new claims covering more than 217 square kilometres in the Labrador Trough. This new strategic acquisition covers a large, folded, multi-kilometre ultramafic-mafic complex known for its strong PGE exploration potential.

Late last summer, Midland completed a short reconnaissance program on the project. In only a week of prospecting, several new PGE-bearing outcrops were discovered, with grades as high as 3.9 g/t PGE + Au. These are in addition to the dozen or so occurrences already identified on the property with grades above 1.0 g/t PGE + Au (see press release dated April 8, 2014).

In early 2014, Midland concluded an option agreement with JOGMEC who has the option to acquire 50% interest in the Pallas project prior to March 31, 2016 by funding $2,000,000 in expenditures. Midland will be operator as long as it will hold an interest equal to or higher than 50% in the project. Midland completed shortly thereafter a high-resolution airborne magnetic survey. A total of 3,201 line kilometres were flown above the Juno-Ceres, Itokawa-Vesta, Gaspar, and Palladin grids. Midland concurrently acquired four high-resolution (50 centimetres per pixel) colour satellite images covering the same areas. These two data sets are currently being analyzed and interpreted, in an effort to delineate targets for the upcoming exploration campaign expected to begin in late June.

Quality control

The 2014 drilling programs on the Laflamme and Valmond projects were completed and supervised by Midland. Assay samples were taken from NQ-size drill core sawn in two halves; one half was shipped to a commercial laboratory for analysis and the other half was kept for future reference. Quality control samples (standards) and barren samples (blanks) were regularly inserted in the sample stream. Analyses were conducted by ALS Minerals Laboratories in Val-d'Or. Drill intersections are reported as core lengths and their true thickness remains to be determined. Data from these exploration programs were reviewed by Mario Masson, VP Exploration and Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Midland

Midland targets the excellent mineral potential of Quebec to make the discovery of new world-class deposits of gold, PGE, base metals and rare earth elements. Midland is proud to count on reputable partners such as Teck Resources Limited, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, Maudore Minerals Limited, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation and SOQUEM Inc. Midland prefers to work in partnership and intends to quickly conclude additional agreements in regard to newly acquired properties. Management is currently reviewing other opportunities and projects to build up the Company portfolio and generate shareholder value.

This press release was prepared by Mario Masson, VP Exploration and Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. For further information, please consult Midland's website.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and uncertainties include those described in Midland's periodic reports including the annual report or in the filings made by Midland from time to time with securities regulatory authorities