Empire Metals Regulatory News (EEE)

Noricum Gold Limited / EPIC: NMG / Sector: Natural Resources

23 March 2015

Noricum Gold Limited ('Noricum Gold' or 'the Company')

Acquires Austrian Precious and Base Metals Project, Raises £478,000 and Schonberg Update

Noricum Gold Limited, the Austrian focused gold exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has successfully expanded its portfolio through the acquisition of the Walchen VMS Project, which is located in an area of Austria proven to host copper, gold and silver mineralisation. In addition, the Company has raised £478,000, before expenses, by way of an oversubscribed placing of 239,000,000 new ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the Company ('the Placing Shares'), with new and existing shareholders at a price of 0.2 pence per Placing Share ('the Placing'). The funds will be used primarily to advance the Walchen VMS Project. The Company is also pleased to provide an update in respect to its drilling and underground sampling activities which comprise part of an on-going exploration programme at its Schonberg Gold and Precious Metals Project, also in Austria.

These developments are in line with the Company's strategy to progress its existing projects as cost effectively as possible while at the same time working on a development pipeline of new projects.

Walchen Gold Project

· Prospectivity highlighted by historic mining and exploration data

o The VMS deposit comprises two main ore horizons with a horizontal extension of 3-4 km and an average thickness of 0.5-4 m

o The average grade of the Walchen ore mined from 1942 was 1.71% Cu, 3.23% Zn, 2.48% Pb, 83g/t Ag, 0.5g/t Au

o Additional recent assays have shown that the pyrite and pyrrhotite can carry nickel and cobalt

o Geochemical and geophysical techniques have been applied successfully

· Walchen is one of several Austrian assets targeted by the Board over the past 12 months

· Consideration of £360,000 to be satisfied by the payment of £10,000 cash and the balance by the issue of new ordinary shares in Noricum Gold at 0.2 pence per share

Schonberg Gold Project Update

· Results received with mineralisation intersected by the final drill hole:

o Two metres at 2.26g/t Au, 2.8g/t Ag, 0.8% Cu from 129.5m in drill hole BG2B

o Includes half a metre at 5.29g/t Au, 2.87% Cu, and 0.35% Bi

· Further work will be undertaken to better understand the deeper massive sulphide targets that have yet to be hit with the drill bit

· Further high grade results received from more detailed underground grab sampling of the Barbara level of the Brandegger vein system returned grades up to 36.7 g/t of gold, 31.8 g/t of silver and 4.63% copper

Noricum Gold Managing Director Greg Kuenzel said, "Walchen is understood to be one of the largest and most promising polymetallic ore deposits in Austria and we are delighted to add it to our portfolio of assets following lengthy negotiations. We are committed to developing and adding to our asset base, both in Austria and beyond, maintaining a pipeline of exciting projects at various stages of development within our portfolio.

"Walchen is a large deposit with historic data, and we are currently developing an exploration programme which we will update the market on shortly. This work will continue in tandem with our study at Schonberg where we need to better understand the mineralogy which to date has been challenging to locate despite the high gold and copper grades we have reported from our extensive sampling programme.

"We are pleased to see strong support from our existing shareholders and welcome the support of new investors. The new funds will provide us with a secure platform from which to plan our 2015 work programme."

In addition to the Placing Shares, 175,000,000 new ordinary shares of no par value have been issued as consideration for the Walchen Project at a price of 0.2 pence per share ('the Acquisition Shares').

The Directors of the Company would have liked to participate in the Placing but are prohibited from participating in the Placing as they are subject to a Close Period as defined by the AIM Rules for Companies. It is the intention of the Directors to subscribe for approximately £22,000 of new ordinary shares of no par value, as soon as the Company is no longer in a Close Period.

The Placing Shares and Acquisition Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the Company. Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares and the Acquisition Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). It is expected that Admission will become effective on or around 27 March 2015.

As a result of the issue of the Placing Shares and Acquisition Shares as described above, the issued share capital of the Company now consists of 1,383,039,377 ordinary shares of no par value.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.noricumgold.com or contact: