Chargeable bodies detected 35km south of Sadiola in the Senegal-Mali Fault Zone

TORONTO, February 14, 2012 - Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: DAU) (the "Company", "Desert Gold", “we” or “our”) is pleased to announce the discovery of a number of chargeable bodies in the Senegal – Mali Fault Zone on the Farabantourou Gold Permit (the “Farabantourou Permit”), located 35km south of the Sadiola Gold Mine in Mali. The Senegal-Mali Fault Zone is the single most important structure for hosting gold mineralization in West Africa. Gold mines on this structure include Loulo, Sadiola and Yatela with a combined gold resource of 24.2 million ounces of gold.

Our IP survey outlined 15 chargeable bodies in areas of known gold mineralization. The chargeable bodies are interpreted to be caused by disseminated sulphides associated with gold mineralization in shear zones. Gold intersections on the surveyed grids correspond well with the chargeable zones and selected intersections are shown in Table 1, below. 

Table 1. Gold intersections on the IP grids - Farabantourou
(Gold intersections above a 0.5g/t cut-off) 

Drillhole No From (m) To (m) Intersection Width (m) Grade (g/t)
RCSP566 55  59 4 8.26 
RCSP573 23 29 7.90 
RCSP789 15 18 4.42 
RCSP813 79 82 5.95 
RCSP816 56 60 9.31 
RCSP505 19  39 20  1.62 
RCSP506 74  76 3.04 
RCSP544 27 31  5.90 
RCSP544 73  75 6.07 
RCSP803 16 19 3 5.02

barani grid

Plan showing chargeable bodies in red at 244m depth on the Barani Grid.

Future work on the Farabantourou Permit

An initial 5,000 m diamond drill program is proposed to test the 15 targets outlined in the survey to test for gold mineralization.

About the Farabantourou Permit

The Farabantourou Permit is within the Kenieba Inlier and underlain by volcano-sedimentary rocks of the Birimian Formations. The Senegal - Mali Fault Zone (SMFZ) runs north south over the eastern part of the permit. Most of the gold deposits in the Kenieba Inlier are associated with the SMFZ. Well-known gold deposits in the Kenieba Inlier include Loulo, Sadiola, Yatela, Sabodala, Tabakoto and Segala.

Thomas R. Tough, P.Eng., a member of Desert Gold’s board of directors, is the non-independent, Qualified Person, responsible for the technical information reported herein.

About Desert Gold

Desert Gold Ventures Inc. is an advanced exploration and development company which holds mining assets in Mali, Rwanda, Senegal and a 50% participating interest in a joint venture agreement with Kinross Goldbanks Mining Company (a subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation of Toronto, Ontario) in respect of the Goldbanks Mining property located in Pershing County, Nevada, USA.

To learn more, visit our website at: www.desertgold.ca 

This press release includes certain "forward-looking statements". All statements regarding the ability of the Company to successfully delineate new resources in proposed drilling programs are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation statements regarding future estimates, plans, objectives, assumptions or expectations of future performance, are "forward-looking statements". We caution you that such "forward looking statements" involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include risk factors as discussed in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory agencies. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained in this news release.

For further information concerning Desert Gold and the TransAfrika material properties, please refer to Desert Gold's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, or contact:

Roeland van Kerckhoven,
President and CEO
Tel: 1 (604) 566-9240
Fax: 1 (604) 408-9301
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jared Scharf,
CFO
Tel: 1 (604) 566-9240
Fax: 1 (604) 408-9301
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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