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NORTH COUNTRY GOLD AQUIRES KEY STRATEGIC CLAIMS

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Eight Additional Claims in Three Bluffs, West Plains and Pickle Target Areas

October 10, 2012, Edmonton, Alberta – North Country Gold Corp. (NCG: TSX-V; NCGDF:OTCQX) (NCG or the “Company”) today announces that it has acquired eight claims totaling 19,369 acres (7,838 hectares) from Bruce Goad located in key strategic positions adjacent to the Company’s Three Bluffs and West Plains target areas.

“We are very pleased to have added these claims to our property portfolio”, stated John Williamson, President and CEO of North Country Gold,. “North Country believes that the potential for discovery of new ounces on these claims is excellent, and given the proximity to demonstrated resources and mineralization at Three Bluffs and West Plains respectively, this will provide the Company with additional opportunities in developing the gold potential along the belt” added Mr. Williamson.

The Wrench Group comprises of five claims covering approximately 12,913 acres (5,226 hectares) located immediately east of the Company’s flagship project, the Three Bluffs deposit, which currently hosts a NI43-101 compliant resource of 4.30 Mt at 4.90 g/t gold for 678,000 ounces gold (indicated) and 4.53Mt at 5.69 g/t gold for 829,600 ounces gold (inferred). The Wrench claims are underlain by a package of banded iron formation, which is the most significant host rock at Three Bluffs. Rock chip sampling by the previous operators returned six assays greater than 1.00 g/t Au including a high of 100.45 g/t Au. The claims also host numerous coincident magnetic-HLEM geophysical anomalies primarily in areas of sparse bedrock exposure, a feature that characterizes economic mineralization at Three Bluffs.

The West Group comprises of a single claim covering approximately 1,291 acres (523 hectares) located immediately north of North Country’s West Plains project where previous drilling has returned significant gold intersections including 6.04 g/t Au over 36.77 metres and 13.14 g/t over 8.00 metres. No bedrock exposure is present on the West claims, however a coincident magnetic-EM anomaly identical and parallel to an anomaly hosting the West Plains iron formation, hosts mineralization that transects the claim and constitutes a drill-ready target for North Country.

The Pickle Group comprises of two claims totaling approximately 5,165 acres (2,090 hectares) located five kilometres north of West Plains. The claims cover a package of thick, poorly exposed, folded banded iron formations with a one kilometre wide associated magnetic high. Historic rock chip sampling in the mid 1990’s returned gold values of up to 8.00 g/t Au.

Under terms of the deal, North Country Gold will acquire the claims by completing the necessary work to bring the claims to lease status and granting Goad a 1.5% Net Smelter Return (NSR). At any point in time within two years of commencement of commercial production, North Country Gold will have the right to buy all or a portion of the NSR Royalty for the sum of $2,000,000 for each one‑third (0.5%) of the NSR Royalty. 

Three Bluffs Gold Deposit

The Three Bluffs gold project is a structurally controlled lode gold system hosted within oxide facies iron formation and greywackes. The deposit currently hosts a NI43-101 compliant resource of 4.30 Mt at 4.90 g/t gold for 678,000 ounces gold (indicated) and 4.53Mt at 5.69 g/t gold for 829,600 ounces gold (inferred).  To date, gold mineralization has been drill tested at shallow levels along a strike length of 4.1 kilometres. The deposit has been most extensively drilled over the eastern 1.3 kilometres of the trend where drilling up to 2011 reached depths of 300 metres below surface. In the spring of 2012, North Country completed 7,005 metres of diamond core drilling in twelve holes to depth in the eastern part of the deposit, which extended the mineralized envelope to depths of 500 metres below surface with mineralization remaining strong and open to depth. This new drilling is expected to result in an increase in the underground inferred resource of the deposit.

Geological modeling of the Three Bluffs gold system has identified several controls on high-grade mineralization including steep east plunging shoots and shallow east plunging fold hinges within the iron formation. In 2010, North Country Gold completed a Quantec Titan 24 geophysical survey over the Three Bluffs project, which indicated that known gold zones at shallow to intermediate depths display an excellent correlation with DC-resistivity lows. These resistivity lows extend to least 500 metres depth over much of the surveyed area, and the correlation of gold mineralization with the resistivity lows to depth has been confirmed by high grade intersections to these depths within the 2012 drill program.

The Three Bluffs Gold Deposit was ranked number 31 of 250 undeveloped gold deposits globally by grade, which contain greater than one million ounces of gold in a recent compilation by Natural Resource Holdings. From an initial list of 1,896 companies, Natural Resource Holdings was able to identify 212 entities (Public, Private and Government Sponsored Corporations) that own 439 gold deposits hosting over 1,000,000 ounces in all categories representing a total of 3,015,542,164 ounces of gold.  Please click here to go to the direct site.

About North Country Gold Corp.

North Country Gold Corp. controls one of the largest under-explored greenstone belts in Canada with numerous drill-ready high-grade gold targets. The gold-rich Committee Bay Greenstone Belt is located 180 kilometres northeast of the of Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine. The Three Bluffs deposit is geologically comparable, with similar grades, type of mineralization and age as Meadowbank and Meliadine Gold Deposits. The Company now holds 100% interest in 550,101 acres along the 300 kilometre long belt and has identified 5 distinct mineral development centres, focusing in on the Three Bluffs deposit.  North Country Gold Corp. maintains an extensive quality control program in the preparation, shipping and checking of all samples from the property.  The program is supervised by Peter Kleespies, M.Sc., P.Geol. who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.  A detailed description of North Country Gold Corp.’s QA/QC program is provided on the Company’s website at www.northcountrygold.com.

On behalf of the Board

North Country Gold.
/s/"John Williamson"

For more information on North Country Gold, please visit the company’s website: www.northcountrygold.com or contact:

Brian Budd
Corporate Secretary & VP of Corporate Development
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 604-697-2861

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 release.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com