Vancouver, British Columbia - Carlin Gold Corporation (TSX Venture, CGD), ("Carlin" or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has initiated drilling on its 100% owned Cortez Summit property, Eureka County, Nevada.  The initial phase of drilling has about 10 reverse-circulation drill holes planned with an estimated 15,000 feet (4,600 m).  The results of this initial phase of drilling will be used to guide the next phase of follow up drilling.  The Horse Canyon and Wenban Formations, which host Barrick’s nearby Red Hill and Goldrush gold discoveries, are targeted for this drilling by the Company.  Drill pad construction has exposed additional altered Horse Canyon Formation rocks on the west side of the property.

K. Wayne Livingstone, Carlin’s President and CEO, comments: “We are excited to begin drilling at our Cortez Summit property.  Our strategic location in the Cortez Trend adjacent to Barrick’s new Carlin-type gold discoveries represents a rare exploration opportunity.  Carlin has the funds for a multi-phase drill program to follow up on good results.”

CARLIN’S NEVADA PROPERTIES

Carlin owns 100% of three properties in northern Nevada described below, all of which represent Carlin-type gold targets.

Cortez Summit Property

The Company’s Cortez Summit property (“Cortez Summit”) consists of 142 claims located on the Cortez Trend in Nevada, adjacent to Barrick’s recently announced gold discoveries, Red Hill and Gold Rush and the past producing Horse Canyon and Buckhorn gold deposits.  The Cortez Trend contains a major gold endowment that exceeds 40 million ounces total gold produced, reserves and resources.  Production in 2011 at Barrick’s Cortez district operations is reported to be 1.42 million ounces of gold.

On September 7, 2011 Barrick announced two new gold discoveries, Red Hill and Goldrush, on property adjacent to Cortez Summit.  The closer Red Hill discovery was reported to contain an inferred resource of 3.5 million ounces of gold at a grade of 0.123 oz/ton.  One of the better holes reported at Red Hill contains 194 feet grading 0.90 ounces per ton gold, and is located 2,000 meters south-southwest of Cortez Summit.  Barrick states that the Red Hill geology is similar to its other deposits in the district. Barrick’s operating Cortez Hills mine is located 6.5 kilometers west of the Cortez Summit. 

On February 16, 2012, Barrick announced an indicated and inferred resource at Red Hill-Goldrush of 7.0 million ounces of gold as of December 31, 2011, double the estimate reported just a few months earlier.  The deposit is open for expansion and Barrick is now carrying out a planned $64 million exploration program for this area in 2012. Twelve drill rigs were observed at Red Hill – Goldrush in June.   Mineralized holes occur within 1.5 kilometers southwest of Cortez Summit. 

Company geologists believe that the geological environment at Cortez Summit is similar to Barrick’s nearby Carlin-type deposits.  The Devonian-age Horse Canyon and Wenban Formations are thought to potentially underlie the property at shallow to moderate depths.  Portions of these two units host much of the gold resources in the district, including at Cortez Hills and Red Hill-Goldrush.  Sampling along a prominent north-northwest trending structural zone on the west side of Cortez Summit has yielded gold values of 447 and 263 ppb in hydrothermally altered Horse Canyon rocks.  This is part of an attractive untested structural and stratigraphic target in the southwest part of the property that will be the focus of the Company’s initial drilling program. Much of this target is blind, being covered by post-mineral gravel and basaltic andesite.  The Company conducted a gravity survey to obtain information from the target terrain underneath the cover.  The survey was successful in defining potentially favorable structures, which represent drill targets. A permit application for 24 drill sites on Cortez Summit has been approved by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. 

JDS Property

The JDS property is 18 kilometers southeast of Cortez Summit along the southeast extension of the Cortez Gold Trend near the southernmost Paleozoic carbonate window in the trend.  The property is covered by late Tertiary sedimentary rocks and alluvium.  Drill targets have been defined by gravity, soil and mercury-gas geochemistry.  The Company recently received a drill permit. 

Willow Property

The Willow property is located in northeast Nevada, northwest of the new Long Canyon gold discovery in the Pequop Mountains, which is part of the  Newmont Mining Corporation acquisition in 2011 of Fronteer Gold Inc., a $2.3 billion transaction. Carlin-type targets have been defined in favorable silty carbonate rocks of the Roberts Mountain Formation within an area of significant structural preparation.

YUKON JOINT VENTURE

Carlin also owns approximately 90,000 hectares distributed over 12 project areas in Yukon, in a 50/50 joint venture with Constantine Metal Resources Ltd.  The properties are early stage, with the initial field evaluation program completed in 2011.  Several significant gold anomalies have been identified to date.

"K. Wayne Livingstone"

K. Wayne Livingstone, President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (604) 638-1402

Website: www.carlingold.com

Note:

Robert Thomas CPG, Vice President of Carlin  and a qualified person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release on behalf of Carlin.

Forward looking statements:  This news release includes certain “forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively "forward looking statements").” Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “seek”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “estimate”, "forecast", “expect”, "potential", "project", "target", "schedule", budget" and “intend” and statements that an event or result “may”, “will”, “should”, “could” or “might” occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof.  All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release 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. 

 Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Carlin’s expectations include availability of capital and financing in connection with future  private placement, regulatory approval, actual exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators.  Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated.  There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.