Northern Lion Gold Cyprus project expanded - new permits granted

Vancouver, British Columbia:

Northern Lion Gold Corp. (the "Company") wishes to provide this update on the Republic of Cyprus exploration program.  As previously reported on September 25, 2009, the Company has been evaluating additional areas along the Troodos Ophiolite Complex to add to the land position currently under option.  The Department of Mines in Cyprus has granted the Company six new permits totaling 23.46 km².  These areas were selected on the basis of known deposits, abundant old workings and favourable geology.  The targets are Cyprus type massive sulphide bodies that are believed to host significant gold mineralization as well as copper, zinc and silver.

Gold mineralization associated with the Cyprus massive sulphide ores has not historically been evaluated.  As previously announced on June 17, 2008, during management's initial visit to the area in April 2008, six grab samples were collected from within the Company's Asproyia project and their application areas. Highlights included one sample which returned 4.1% copper, and another sample which returned 7.3 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold and 17.6 g/t silver. 

Follow-up reconnaissance soil sampling over the area of the Asproyia permit in September 2009 has returned highly anomalous values in gold, copper and silver in areas of no known workings.  A total of 77 samples were collected from the Asproyia area of which 27 returned moderately to strongly anomalous results, as shown in the following table.  These results indicate that there are likely to be significant gold values associated with the Cyprus style massive sulphides deposits.

As a result of the evaluation completed to acquire these six new permits, an additional 50 km² of mineral permits along the southern and northern boundaries of the Troodos Ophiolite Complex has been applied for.

Work programs consisting of grid based geochemical and geophysical surveys followed by diamond drilling are planned to commence on all permits in early 2010.

The history of mineral exploitation (copper, gold and other metals) on the island of Cyprus dates back to the Bronze age, approximately 5,000 years ago.  The Phoenicians were the first to process copper on the island, followed by the Romans and this activity has continued to the present day.  The evidence of this long history of mining is readily observed in the abundant ancient surface and underground workings along with extensive slag heaps.  Mineral exploration in the Republic of Cyprus has been at a very low level over the last few decades, and management believes that there is a strong potential for additional massive sulphide bodies being present that do not outcrop, as nearly all of the known deposits did. 

The metal deposits of Cyprus are dominantly copper-bearing volcanogenic hosted massive sulphide "VHMS" deposits.  These deposits are hosted within the pillow lava sequence of the Troodos Ophiolite Complex.  The pillow lava sequence is divided into Upper and Lower Pillow Lavas, with the majority of massive sulphide bodies located along the contact between the two pillow lava sequences.  All six of the Company's permits overlie this important contact. 

Quality Control and Assurance

The Company's field activities in Cyprus are to be supervised by Dr. Kyriacos Louca, under the direction of Jim Chapman, P.Geo. (BC), a consultant to the Company and a "qualified person", as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), who is responsible for the technical content of this news release.

About Northern Lion

Northern Lion Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Frankfurt Exchange. The Company is committed to building a strong portfolio of projects within mining-friendly and infrastructure-rich areas of Europe. The Company is well funded to continue to define and explore its existing projects and to acquire and explore new projects.

In addition to its properties in Cyprus, the Company maintains a 100% interest in its Moura, lead, zinc, silver project in Portugal. The Company also holds a 100% interest in several projects in the historic Bergslagen mining district of southern Sweden