Balmoral Resources Ltd. (TSX:BAR)  (OTCQX:BALMF) today announced the discovery of two new shallow zones of gold mineralization, down-plunge extensions to the Bug North and Lower Steep gold deposits and the deepest high-grade gold results to date from its wholly owned Martiniere Property, part of Company’s Detour Gold Trend Project, in west-central Quebec.

“Today’s results are like that gift that arrives in the mail after Christmas from your favorite relative — worth waiting for and a great way to usher in the New Year,” said Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral. “We got a very good bang for our drill dollars from these holes with two new shallow gold discoveries, extensions to the Bug North and Lower Steep gold deposits, continued confirmation of the ME-23 Zone and our deepest high-grade gold intercepts to date.”

Drill hole BLD-16-03, designed to extend the Lower Steep gold deposit to depth, intersected two new, near surface gold zones. These two discoveries, which include an intercept of 5.80 metres grading 10.51 g/t gold within a broader 18.06 metre wide gold zone (see Table below), are located at vertical depths of only 45 and 110 metres. The new discoveries occur in a largely untested area of the property, approximately 450 to 500 metres east of the Bug Lake Gold Trend (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). Winter drilling, anticipated to begin within the next three to four weeks, will follow-up on these shallow gold discoveries and continue the delineation of the Bug Lake gold deposits.

BLD-16-03 also successfully extended the Lower Steep deposit returning multiple high-grade gold intercepts. These include high-grade Footwall Zone intercepts extending to the end of the hole at a vertical depth of 740 metres. This represents a 200 metre, or 37% vertical extension, to the known high-grade gold mineralization along the Bug Lake Gold Trend. These deep intercepts are part of an open-ended, 52 metre wide, zone of anomalous gold mineralization in which the hole terminated having reached the maximum capacity of the drill rig. All deposits along the Bug Lake Gold Trend, and the overall system, remain open to depth for continued expansion.

“Our widely spaced deep drilling to date has confirmed that the Bug Lake gold system, like most sizeable gold systems in the Abitibi region, exhibits extensive vertical and down-plunge continuity. High-grade gold mineralization has now been intersected from the bedrock surface to a vertical depth of 740 metres,” said Mr. Wagner. “It’s a great problem to have when the gold in the hole continues beyond the depth capacity of your drill rig. The upcoming winter drill program provides the opportunity to continue to extend the deposits to depth with larger equipment.”

Hole MDE-16-236 extended the Bug North gold deposit 90 metres down-plunge, to approximately 460 metres, with an Upper Bug Zone intercept of 11.71 metres grading 6.06 g/t gold, including 2.32 metres grading 27.74 g/t High-grade gold mineralization was also intersected in the Hanging Wall and Lower Bug Zones. It also returned a number of shallow gold bearing intercepts which may correlate with similar intercepts in the ME-23 Gold Zone 170 metres to the north, including an intercept of 6.91 metres grading 4.22 g/t gold at a vertical depth of < 35 metres.

* Reported drill intercepts are not true widths. At this time there is insufficient data with respect to the shape of the mineralization to calculate true orientations in space although the reported intercepts are estimated to range between approximately 55 and 80% of true thickness. All values presented uncapped.

Drill hole BLD-16-02 was drilled beneath the projected plunge line of the Lower Steep deposit. It intersected several high-grade gold veins in a mixed sequence of sedimentary, intrusive and volcanic rocks. This rock sequence, located north-east of the main Bug Lake Trend and immediately south of the Lac du Doigt fault system has seen very little previous testing, but as indicated by the results from BLD-16-02, also has the potential to host high-grade gold mineralization.

About Balmoral Resources Ltd.

Balmoral is a well-funded, Canadian-based company actively delineating and expanding multiple targets along the Bug Lake Gold Trend on its wholly owned, 700 square kilometre Detour Trend Project in Quebec, Canada. The Project also hosts Balmoral’s Grasset Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposit and numerous additional base metal occurrences. Employing an aggressive, drill focused exploration style in one of the world’s pre-eminent geological and mining jurisdictions, Balmoral is following an established formula with a goal of maximizing shareholder value through discovery and definition of high-grade, Canadian gold and base metal assets.