Desert Gold Ventures Inc. Announces Results of Preliminary Economic Assesment on Its Farabantourou Gold Mining Permit in Western Mali

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 17, 2014) - Desert Gold Ventures Incorporated ("Desert Gold" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE:DAU) is pleased to announce the results of a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") of its proposed Barani East Gold Mine situated in Western Mali.

Desert Gold is developing the Farabantourou permit in Western Mali. The company has identified 6 mineralised zones and intends to develop its first mine at the Barani East prospect area ("Barani East Project"). Extensive drilling, metallurgical analysis, plant and mine design has been undertaken. The Barani East Project is situated some 100km south of the town of Kayes. The producing Sadiola Hill Gold Mine is located 40km to the north of Barani and Randgold's Loulo Gold Mine is located 52km to the south.

On the basis of the capital and operating cost estimates, together with plant delivered grades and recoveries, a Discounted Cash Flow ("DCF") analysis has indicated that the planned 40ktpm ore production operation is financially attractive. Current Net Present Value ("NPV") calculations at a 5.34% per annum real discount rate, shows that the proposed mine can generate a pre-tax and after tax NPV of some US$15.0 million, net of the initial US$8.7 million capital expenditure. These amounts are expressed in mid 2014 money terms. This estimate is based on initial 65% total gold recovery in the processing plant. The DCF Analysis indicates that until revenues are generated from saleable gold, the peak funding requirement is around US$9.8 million. This amount caters for the initial capital of US$ 8.69 million and a further US$1.1 million for operating costs, principally spent on overburden removal and initial pit establishment, during plant construction.

At the Farabantourou Permit Area the Senegal Mali Fault Zone ("SMFZ") cuts across the tenement and the mineralisation styles within the permit boundary are consistent with the regional geological setting. Six separate zones of mineralisation (1 mining target and 5 exploration targets) have been identified within the permit boundary. While shallow exploration drilling was conducted on all six prospects, the company focused on delimiting an exploitable Mineral Resource at Barani East.

The Barani East Project has been comprehensively explored and geologically modelled during the drilling programme. The ore body is tabular in shape with a northeast strike and steeply dipping between 45 and 60 degrees to the south-east. The gold mineralization is associated with quartz haematite rocks and kaolinite veins hosted in carbonate-rich siltstone and shale. The thickness of the mineralised zone varies between 4.5 m and 15 m in width. Gold mineralization extends from surface and is open at depth. Gold mineralisation has been tested to a depth of 120 m.