Vancouver, British Columbia - Carlin Gold Corporation (TSX Venture, CGD), ("Carlin" or the “Company”) is pleased to report that it has received analytical results from the recently completed initial drill program on its 100% owned Cortez Summit property (“Cortez Summit”), Eureka County, Nevada.  The  program consisted of seven vertical reverse circulation drill holes totaling 11,720 feet (3,573 m.) ranging in depth between 1500 and 1800 feet (450 and 550 m.). Drilling confirmed Carlin-type geology, alteration and geochemistry in the limited area tested.  Anomalous gold with Carlin-type pathfinder elements is present in six of the seven holes drilled.  One of the deeper holes penetrated and bottomed in a 300 foot interval of variably laminated calcareous siltstones and limestones.  Plans are  being formulated to drill test other areas of the property and to extend some of the initial holes by diamond drilling to test deeper parts of the stratigraphic section. 

K. Wayne Livingstone, Carlin’s President and CEO, comments “This initial round of exploration has demonstrated the opportunity for Carlin-style mineralization under the Miocene basalts and gravels.  We are currently working to expand our permit area to allow us to drill additional areas on the property closer to our southern and eastern boundaries with Barrick’s property.  Cortez Summit is centrally located in the middle of what has become the most active gold exploration area in Nevada, and we look forward to continuing our exploration.”

Anomalous arsenic zones (>100 ppm) range up to 115 feet (35 m) in drilled thickness and contain values up to 1,530 ppm arsenic, 70 ppm antimony, 3 ppm thallium and 1.8 ppm mercury.  Two holes with the longest anomalous arsenic intervals were drilled 1,900 feet (580 m) apart on the west side of the property, and  are  located in close proximity to a prominent north-northwest trending structure that trends for 4,500 feet (1,370 m) along the western side of the property.  

All holes encountered Paleozoic sedimentary rocks.  One hole was collared in the Paleozoic rocks on the west side of the property and the other six were drilled into Paleozoic rocks beneath younger Miocene basalts and gravels.  Lithologies include grey-black siltstone, with lesser sandstone and chert, and a significant interval of variably laminated calcareous siltstones and limestones.  Carlin geologists have tentatively assigned this calcareous unit to the Devonian Horse Canyon Formation, which overlie the rocks believed to host the bulk of Barrick’s Goldrush discovery.  Carlin is evaluating deepening one or more of the existing holes to fully explore the prospective stratigraphy. 

Additional rock chip sampling in conjunction with the drilling program expanded the previously identified area of anomalous gold values on the west side of the property, including a zone along the road cut at drill hole CS12-1 which averaged 0.175 ppm gold over 50 feet (15 m).  This mineralized zone is located near the projection of the north-northwest structure mentioned above.

The Company is encouraged that the initial drill program, which focused on only a small portion of the property, has encountered favorable Carlin-type geology, alteration and geochemistry.  Additional drilling is being planned on an expanded permit area.

JDS Property

The Company recently drilled three widely spaced vertical holes ranging in depth from 1,000 feet to 1140 feet on the JDS property.  JDS is located 21 kilometers southeast of Cortez Summit along the southeast extension of the Cortez Gold Trend near the southernmost Paleozoic carbonate window in the trend.  Variably calcareous Paleozoic lithologies were encountered in all three holes.  Assay results are pending.  The target area is covered by late Tertiary sedimentary rocks and alluvium and is defined by mercury gas and soil geochemistry data indicating potential buried mineralization in the northwest portion of the property.  The geochemical target is coincident with a gravity high, which suggests relatively shallow bedrock. The mercury anomalies are considered important targets because of the known mercury association with Cortez Trend mineralization. 

CARLIN’S NEVADA PROPERTIES

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

Cortez Summit Property

The Cortez Summit property consists of 142 claims located on the Cortez Trend in Nevada, adjacent to Barrick Gold Corporation’s (“Barrick’) 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 (59.1 m.) 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 (now referred to by Barrick as 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 has been drilling steadily with several rigs throughout 2012.   

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, alteration and Carlin-type geochemistry.

Yukon Joint Venture

Carlin also owns approximately 90,000 hectares distributed over 13 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

Notes:

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.  Mr. Thomas supervised the QA/QC controls. Five foot intervals of drill cuttings reverse circulation drill cuttings (usually 5-7kg, dry weight) were collected from the drill rig in polypropylene bags and were delivered directly, on-site, by Carlin personnel, to the American Assay Laboratories prep lab truck.  American Assay Laboratories prep lab truck delivered the samples to their Elko, Nevada prep facility.  Prepared pulps were shipped by American Assay Laboratories to their Sparks, Nevada lab where gold was determined by fire-assay fusion of a 30 g sub-sample by ICP (American Assay Laboratory procedure Au FA30). 0.5 gram splits were analyzed for multi-element inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy (American Assay Laboratory procedure ICP-2BX), following multi-acid digestion.  The Company’s standards and blanks were regularly inserted into the sample stream.

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.