TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 18, 2011) - Northern Gold Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NGM) ("Northern Gold" or "the Company") announces two additional diamond drills ("DD") and one reverse circulation ("RC") drill will be added to its 2011 exploration program, which is presently utilizing two diamond drills. The current exploration program of 30,000 meters (see Press Release of February 2, 2011) will be increased to 50,000 meters (44,000 m DD and 6,000 m RC) by the end of 2011.

Since January 1, 2011, there have been 15,465 meters of drilling completed as of July 31, 2011. This drilling was completed in 51 holes and 5 hole extensions. Year to date through July 31, 2011 Northern Gold has released assay results from 24 of these drill holes representing 6,728 meters of drilling. The 2011 drill program has focused on expanding resources and infilling within the resource footprint as outlined by ACA Howe International Ltd. (Howe) in its NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report (the "Howe Report") presenting revised resource estimates, and first Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). The Technical Report was posted on SEDAR on August 8, 2011 and announced by the Company earlier in its June 23, 2011 press release. There were no changes between the June 23^rd press release announcing the NI 43-101/PEA and the final report posted to SEDAR on August 8, 2011. The Howe Report, which incorporated all of Northern Gold's 2010 drill program and five holes from its 2011 program, increased the indicated category resource to 24,900,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.9 gm/tonne for a total of 720,000 ounces of gold. This represents an increase of 576,000 ounces in the indicated category over the first Garrcon Resource Estimate posted on SEDAR on November 5, 2010.

The overall favorable results from the Garrcon Deposit drilling, as demonstrated by the resources and PEA contained in the Howe Report, provided the Company with the confidence to expand its drilling program at this time. The RC rig will be utilized in infill drilling, providing faster drilling rates (estimated 100 m/shift vs. 30 m/shift for DD work) and a much larger sample size (a portion of which will be used for assaying and the remainder of which will be stored and used for bulk metallurgical testing at a later date). Hole twinning and statistical analysis of the RC assays vs. DD assays will be part of the QA/QC work to confirm comparability and confidence in the RC infill drilling program.

The Company is planning to use 2 DD rigs and 1 RC rig to continue infill drilling and expanding resources along strike and to depths of between 300 and 400 meters within the existing resource footprint. The additional two DD rigs will be used for eastern step-out drilling along strike beginning this month. To the east of the resource footprint Northern Gold has stripped 3 additional areas this summer to exposed more outcrops of the fine grained metasediments that closely resemble the rocks hosting the Garrcon Deposit. These newly uncovered rocks also contain stockwork quartz veining similar to that observed within the resource footprint. Visible gold has been observed in some of these stockwork type quartz veins. Grab samples from some of the veins assayed from less than a gram to more than 15 grams, which is another similarity of the new areas with the rocks and mineralization hosting the Garrcon Deposit. The rocks underlying much of the Company's Linton Claim group at the east end of the Garrcon group also appear to be the same fine grained metasediments hosting stockwork type quartz veins from which prior operators reported anomalous gold values in earlier drill holes. Although at this time there is no confirmed continuity of mineralization from the Garrcon Deposit eastwards and grab samples and historic assays should not be relied upon as definitive proof of continuity of gold mineralization. The planned step-out drilling will test several targets along 1.5 kilometers of eastern strike extension, from the eastern edge of the Garrcon Deposit resource footprint to the eastern edge of the Linton property boundary looking to establish the extent, and possible continuity of gold mineralization.

Major Drilling International Ltd. will continue drilling on the property with the two drills that have been on site since Northern Gold resumed drilling in May of 2010. Asinii Drilling of Notre-Dame-Du-Nord, Quebec has been awarded the drilling contract for the two additional diamond drills and the RC rig.

About Northern Gold Mining

Northern Gold Mining Inc. is a TSX-V listed, publicly traded junior resource company based in Toronto, Ontario, dedicated to the discovery and development of high value mineral deposits in the proven mining camps of Kirkland Lake and Timmins in North Eastern Ontario. Northern Gold is focused on developing two advanced stage gold deposits on the Garrison Gold Property. The Property is located within the Abitibi greenstone belt along the Porcupine-Destor and the Munro Fault systems. The property hosts several gold mineralized showings in addition to the Jonpol and Garrcon Deposit advanced stage exploration targets, for each of which NI 43-101 compliant mineral resources have been calculated, and the less advanced 903 gold mineralized area. Historically diamond drilling by previous operators was completed in all three referenced areas. An NI 43-101 Technical Report was posted on SEDAR October 21, 2009 for Jonpol, and two for Garrcon were posted on SEDAR November 5, 2010 and August 8, 2011. The Garrison Gold Property has historical mining infrastructure at both the Jonpol and Garrcon Deposits, and currently producing mines are located near the property. On May 13, 2011, the Company completed its purchase of 100% ownership of the Garrison Gold Property from ValGold Resources Inc.

The technical aspects of this press release has been reviewed by Michael Gross M.S., P.Geol., Vice President Exploration for Northern Gold, who is the "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 for this project.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.