Argonaut Gold News

Argonaut Gold Announces First Quarter 2015 Production of 43,255 Gold Equivalent Ounces

Strong Quarterly Production Shows Increase of 40% year over year, on Track for Full Year Guidance

Toronto, Ontario – (April 15, 2015) Argonaut Gold Inc. (“Argonaut”, “Argonaut Gold” or the “Company”; TSX: AR) announced today that it had production of 43,255 gold equivalent ounces (“GEO” or “GEOs”) during the first quarter ended March 31, 2015. This included 24,845 GEOs at its 100% owned El Castillo Mine (“El Castillo”) located in the State of Durango, Mexico and 18,410 GEOs at its 100% owned La Colorada Mine (“La Colorada”) located near Hermosillo, Mexico.

1 GEOs are based on conversion ratio of 55:1 for silver to gold ounces and is the referenced ratio throughout this release.
2 Recoverable ounces – El Castillo expected recovery rates: ROM oxide 50%, crushed oxide 70%, ROM transition 40%, crushed transition 60%, crushed sulphides argillic 30% and crushed sulphides silicic 17%; La Colorada expected recovery rates: gold 60% and silver 30%.

FIRST QUARTER 2015 HIGHLIGHTS:

Corporate Highlights

• Cash balance grows to $64 million.
• The La Colorada Mine was selected as Mexico’s best company for Corporate Social Responsibility in the small mines category.

El Castillo

• Quarterly production of 24,845 GEOs.
• During the quarter, 30,556 contained gold ounces loaded on the leach pads.
• Over 74,000 tonnes per day mined and 2.8 million ore tonnes placed on the heap leach pads during the quarter.
• Advancement of the construction of the valley between pad 8 and 1-7 (90% complete) and 3B East (1/3 complete) pads.

La Colorada

• Record quarterly production of 17,169 gold ounces and 68,261 silver ounces, for 18,410 GEOs.
• During the quarter, 18,208 contained gold ounces and 301,975 contained silver ounces loaded on the leach pads.
• Average crusher throughput for the quarter of 12,661 tonnes per day.
  • Record throughput of more than 14,800 tonnes per day in March; this included processing nearly a 50/50 blend from the historic heap leach pad 6 and fresh ore from the La Colorada/Gran Central pit.
• Advanced capital projects:
  • Phase I of pad 6 finished.
  • Pad 9A ground cleared.
  • Installation of phase I of overland conveyor 80% complete.

Pete Dougherty, Argonaut Gold’s President and CEO, said “Argonaut continued to have strong production in the first quarter of 2015, in which we produced nearly 31% of the full year production guidance. We continue to see the benefits of operating at a higher cyanide concentration in the circuit, by way of improved recoveries.

The production results in the first quarter exceeded expectations; however, the Company would like to reiterate that production is anticipated to be higher during the first part of 2015 and will taper off during the latter part of the year. Production guidance of 135,000 to 145,000 ounces during 2015 is maintained. We anticipate that costs will trend higher as we continue to use additional cyanide.

The operating teams achieved tremendous production results at both operations, setting us up well in terms of achieving our full year goals in 2015. These goals are: continuing to focus on our core principles of safe and efficient operations, meeting production goals and targets, controlling costs and advancing and adding value to our portfolio of development projects.”