Gold Exploration in West Africa

[FL]

SearchGold (RSG.V) options gold property in Guinea

PRESS RELEASE - CCN Mathews

SearchGold Resources Inc.
TSX VENTURE: RSG
INDUSTRY: Mining
FEBRUARY 8, 2006 - 10:32 ET

SearchGold Options the Mandiana Gold Property in Guinea, West Africa

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(CCNMatthews - Feb. 8, 2006) - SearchGold Resources Inc. ("SearchGold")(TSX VENTURE:RSG) is very pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement dated January 25, 2006 and signed in Conakry, Guinea with Pierre Lalande ("PL") and Boure Gold Fields SARL ("BGF") to acquire a 100% interest in the 487 km2 Mandiana Gold Property ("Mandiana") located in Guinea, West Africa.

Option Agreement : SearchGold can acquire a 100% interest in Mandiana by meeting the following conditions. The full details of the option agreement are provided in a further section of this press release.

a) Executing total work commitments of USD 270,000 over 18 months;
b) Paying a 2% Net Smelter Return Royalty to PL and BGF;
c) Paying a percentage of project expenditures to PL and BGF, such
payments being considered as an advanced royalty.

Mandiana is located in eastern Guinea, near the border with Mali, and is accessible by road. It is situated along the western margin of the Bougouni basin and is underlain by sedimentary rocks of the lower part of the Upper Birimian Group. The Morila-Syama Gold Belt, a large endowment of gold, is located across the Bougouni basin, along its eastern margin.

District mineralization : Important auriferous mineralization is also associated to the western margin of the Bougouni basin with the main feature being Avnel Gold's 900,000 oz Kalana deposit located 25 km east of Mandiana. Recent exploration activity has demonstrated the area's potential for significant additional discoveries.

- December 2005 : The intersection of 55,19 g/t Au over 20 m by
Glencar on their Sankarani project, approximately 40 km north
of Mandiana. The target is defined as a 20 m wide by 450 m
long north-south trending shear zone in silicified
metasediments with plurikilometric potential.

- August 2005 : The recovery of high grade intercepts yielding
73,60 g/t Au over 2 m and 45,90 g/t Au over 4 m by Avnel Gold
on their Kalana project, approximately 35 km east-south-east
of Mandiana. The target is defined as a northeast trending
quartz stockwork which also holds potential for widespread
disseminated mineralization as demonstrated by an intercept of
5,40 g/t Au over 36 m.

Mandiana property potential : Although at a very early exploration stage, Mandiana has already yielded significant preliminary drill results as demonstrated by an intercept of 3,68 g/t Au over 10 m on the Karfakolo prospect and 1,89 g/t Au over 20 m and 0,94 g/t Au over 47 m on the Intercolonial prospect.

Some very high-grade fire assays were reported which yielded soil geochemical grades of up to 65 g/t gold. Some of the higher grade assays are situated within clusters of anomalously high geochemical results from soil sampling. These clusters appear to have some distinct orientations which can be observed for over a kilometer. The SearchGold technical team is very excited with this acquisition and is anxious to begin exploration.

Two small villages of "gold diggers" are located on the permits which clearly demonstrate that gold is being mined on the property. The two villages and workings are located between the Karfakolo and N'Diambaye gold geochemical clusters which also demonstrates the north-south orientation of a "gold corridor".

SearchGold's Mandiana Gold Property is located within an area covered by a systematic 5,000 km2 reconnaissance geochemical soil survey executed by Ashanti Goldfields Corporation under a joint venture called the Ashanti-AGEM Alliance (Alliance). AGEM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAMGOLD Corp. A total of 25 anomalous areas were followed up by the Alliance through the execution of detailed surface surveys and three of these anomalous areas, namely the N'Diambaye, Karfakolo and Intercolonial gold prospects are located on Mandiana. Previous follow-up work on these prospects includes : detailed geochemical surveys, pitting and trenching, geological mapping, ground geophysical surveys and/or drilling.

Early indications show that Mandiana may be situated in a similar geological environment as the one hosting the aforementioned recent discoveries. Indeed, bedrock float reported form the Karfakolo prospect includes altered metasediments displaying fresh, disseminated pyrite, coarse grained dolerite, dacitic to andesitic volcanics, hornfeled metasediments and sheared acidic intrusive. Moreover, the coincidence of gold and arsenic soil anomalies observed on the Intercolonial prospect is a clear pathfinder as testified by Avnel Gold's recent discovery in close association with silicified sulphide-rich Birimian sediments containing abundant pyrite and arsenopyrite. Finally, surface rock sampling yielded grades of up to 5,30 g/t Au in mineralized quartz veins on the N'Diambaye prospect.

Numerous extensive artisan gold workings are present on Mandiana as well as some Alliance secondary targets from the reconnaissance geochemical surveys that have yet to be followed up.

Previous studies by the BRGM (French) and the BGR (German) have outlined a regional, north-south trending, shear system under the Sangarani River along the western boundary of the property which is consistent with the regional grain. Anomalous soil sites from the Alliance reconnaissance survey show east-north-east trends that may reflect mineralized splays buried under alluvial cover at the western boundary of the property. These working hypotheses were not tested by the Alliance.

Lastly, the potential for placers and paleo-placers was not investigated by the Alliance although the Siguiri deposits were found during the profitable mining of industrial-scale alluvial placers (the Koron mine).

Gold prospect details

N'Diambaye prospect : Follow-up of the regional survey on N'Diambaye was executed on 50-m centres over 13,2 km2 and 5,300 soil samples were collected. A north-south anomalous auriferous trend of approximately 2,6 km is defined and contains some north-east trending richer zones.

The area is mined by local miners along streams and on higher ground under a ferricrete bowl in the south half of the prospect area. Several existing artisan trenches were sampled. The results show some gold (150 to 500 ppb) in what may be wall rock adjacent to mineralized quartz veins (200 to 5300 ppb). Many existing pits were sampled and show low but significant levels of gold (97 to 1880 ppb).

It is concluded that the soil anomaly stems in part from the erosion of a vein or series of veins striking north-south across the southern part of the grid. The anomaly was enhanced by artisan workings under the laterite hardpan, where supergene gold has concentrated.

The gold distribution in the soils shows three higher grade zones within the N'Diambaye Prospect. Within the western half of Zone A is a 350 m long by 200 m wide high level gold area with half the soil results above 500 ppb and the remaining almost all above 250 ppb. The gold level content and lateral extent of Zone A is similar to the Sadiola soil anomaly in the Mali Ouest survey. Its coincidence with artisan gold diggings is comparable to the Sadiola, Syama and Morila mines in Mali which all have a saprolitic and fresh bedrock root.

Karfakolo prospect : Follow-up of the regional survey on Karfakolo delineated a north-south auriferous anomalous trend of approximately 2,8 km in length containing some richer zones.

One of the most striking features of the Karfakolo prospect is a north-south trending, 3 km-long zone of gold diggings. Artisan mining is carried out in stopes under ferricrete at higher topographic levels. A few small quartz veins crop on surface in the ferricrete covered area which slopes very gently in a southerly direction. Deep circular pits near a drainage system on the west side of the grid go down to water table. There is a north-south trend coincident with the workings.

Bedrock float includes altered metasediments displaying fresh, disseminated pyrite and coarse grained dolerite. Most of the quartz at surface consists of rejects from artisan workings. Schists and granitic cobbles are found near some deeper shafts in the lower ground area. In the northern part of the grid, float of dacitic/andesitic volcanics, hornfeled metasediments and sheared acidic intrusive are found on the ferricrete surface; these are presumably mining debris.

Eight lines of Rotary Air Blast ('RAB') holes (132) were drilled in a 255W direction and at -50 degrees to a depth of 30 m. Hole RAB-379 cut 10 m at 3,68 g/t Au using a 10 g/t Au cut-off grade on two 1-m high values (44,700 ppb and 14,200 ppb). The 1-m results were much higher than their 4-m equivalents, a display of a strong nugget effect. Hole RAB-379 was drilled to a depth of 30 m and ended in mineralization.

Intercolonial prospect : Follow-up of the regional survey on Intercolonial was executed at a 40-m centre spacing and revealed a 500 m long by 100 m wide north-south gold anomaly. There are also two arsenic anomalies. The first one peaking at 743 ppb As is coincident with the gold anomaly while the other one, peaking 2780 ppb, is a wide anomaly with an east-west orientation. The gold anomalies outline three potential structural directions : NS, NE-SW and NNW-SSE.

Although narrower than the previous two prospects, the Intercolonial prospect outlines a potential north-east trending, 13 km long by 1 km wide geochemical corridor. The best grades in RAB drilling are found in the bottom of many holes. The highlights of the RAB drilling program are presented below.

- RAB590 equals 2,66 g/t Au over 4,0m (0 - 4m)
- RAB590A equals 1,89 g/t Au over 20,0m (0 - 20m)
- RAB590A equals 0,50 g/t Au over 13,0m (32 - 45m)
- RAB591 equals 2,41 g/t Au over 13,0m (33 - 46m)
- RAB784 equals 0,94 g/t Au over 47,0m (4 - 51m)
- RAB804 equals 2,02 g/t Au over 12,0m (28 - 40m)

Option agreement details

SearchGold can acquire a 100% interest in Mandiana by meeting the following conditions:

a) by carrying out a semi-detailed survey over the N'Diambaye,
Karfakolo, and Intercolonial gold prospects estimated at USD
88,000 within three months of the Agreement date;


b) by conducting a reconnaissance survey within six months of
the Agreement date over the entire permit areas for an
estimated cost of USD 122,000;


c) by carrying out a follow-up semi-detailed survey within
eighteen months of the Agreement date with an estimated cost
of USD 60,000. The total work commitment is estimated at USD
270,000;


d) by paying a 2% Net Smelter Return Royalty to PL and BGF;


e) by paying 5% of project expenditures to PL and BGF per
quarter with a minimum of USD 5,000 and a maximum of USD
25,000 for the first year. On the second year onwards,
SearchGold will pay a combined 5% of project expenditures
with a minimum of USD 10,000 and a maximum of $USD 50,000 per
quarter. These payments are considered as an advanced royalty
and will be deductible from the NSR should the property
advance to a production phase;


f) SearchGold may terminate the Agreement at any time; and


g) No up-front payments. The first payment is due only on April
25, 2006.

SearchGold is currently planning the first phase of work on Mandiana with Pierre Lalande. A press release is expected to be disseminated in the next few days describing the work to be conducted on Mandiana as well as an estimated completion date.

This press release was prepared under the supervision of Mr. Joel Scodnick, P.Geo. and qualified person according to NI 43-101, who was in Africa conducting due diligence visits from January 18, 2006 to January 25, 2006 and executed a visit of the Mandiana property during that period.

SearchGold Resources is a Canadian based mining exploration company whose primary mission is to target, explore and develop gold and diamond deposits in Africa and in Canada. SearchGold's project strategy maximizes its experience and resources, and supports the company's commitment to strengthen shareholder value.

If you would like to receive press releases via e-mail please contact: [e-mail]

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

http://www.searchgold.ca

CONTACT INFORMATION

SearchGold Resources
Joel Scodnick
President & CEO
[phone]
[e-mail]

or

C H F Investor Relations
Nick Kohlmann, M.Sc.
[phone]x222
[e-mail]
www.chfir.com

or

SearchGold Resources
[phone]
[e-mail]