Taku to Vend 75% Interest in Rosebute Gold Property to Independence Gold Corp.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 17, 2016) - Taku Gold Corp. (CSE:TAK) ("Taku") is pleased to announce that it has executed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Independence Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:IGO) ("Independence") whereby Independence may acquire up to a 100% interest in the Taku's Rosebute property (the "Property") located in the White Gold District of the Yukon.

The Rosebute property comprises 694 contiguous claims (14,387 hectares), and contains two significant new gold discoveries known as the Norwest and Hudbay zones. The Property is located approximately 58 kilometres ("km") south of Dawson City, Yukon and approximately 29 km north of the Golden Saddle Deposit owned by Kinross Gold Corporation. The Property is contiguous to the west of the Independence's Henderson project, and is situated in close proximity to the Northern Access road proposed by Kaminak Gold Corporation that will provide access to the multi-million ounce Coffee gold deposit.

Norwest Zone

The Norwest Zone is located on the northern portion of the Property and is defined by three individual gold- in-soil anomalies that together form a circular anomaly with a diameter of approximately 2 km. In detail, the three anomalies, individually, have varying trends and range from 380 metres ("m") to 1.0 km in length. Diamond drilling in 2012 tested these anomalies with four drill holes totalling 963 m. Key intercepts include 1.0 gram per tonne ("g/t") gold over 22.6 m in RO12-01, including a higher grade interval of 3.8 g/t gold over 2.0 m; 1.6 g/t gold over 1.0 m in RO12-02, and 0.9 g/t gold over 3.0 m in RO12-04 (Taku news release August 22, 2012).

Hudbay Zone

The Hudbay Zone is located 3.0 km southwest of the Norwest Zone and consists of at least three, north trending gold-in-soil anomalies which each measure 1.0 km to 1.6 km in length and vary from 150 m to 350 m in width with gold-in-soil values up to 0.95 g/t gold. All three north-trending soil anomalies are open along strike. The southern end of the Hudbay Zone is especially robust, hosting an area approximately 500 m by 350 m with soil sample values typically greater than 60 parts per billion ("ppb"). This area was mechanically trenched and shown to host a 300 m long north-northeast trending zone which includes 6.2 g/t gold over 5.0 m (Trench 2), 1.2 g/t gold over 10.0 m (Trench 5) and 1.5 g/t gold over 20.0 m (Trench 4) (Taku news release September 12, 2012).

Zachery Dingsdale, President and CEO of Taku, comments, "We are very pleased to have found a reputable partner with the technical and financial capacity to take Taku's Rosebute discoveries to the next stage. This deal is a benefit to all stakeholders involved."

Pursuant to the LOI, Independence can acquire a 75% interest in the Property by making staged cash payments totaling $295,000 ($60,000 upon closing), the issuance of an aggregate of 1,000,000 million shares (200,000 upon closing) and work commitments of $2,000,000 ($300,000 in the first year) over a three year period. Upon completion of the 75% earn-in, Taku will have the right to elect to participate as a 25% interest joint venture partner, or elect to sell the remaining 25% to Independence for an additional cash payment of $500,000 and a share issuance of 1,000,000 shares. If Taku elects to sell the remaining 25%, it will retain a 1.0% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on the Property, with the Independence having the right to buyback 0.5% of the NSR for $500,000. In addition, the Property is subject to a 2.0% underlying royalty, with the right to purchase 1.0% of the underlying royalty for $2,000,000. The transaction is subject to completion of due diligence, final documentation and approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Mark Fekete (P.Geo.) is the designated "Qualified Person" as defined in Section 1.2 in, and for the purposes of, National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical content of this release.

About Taku Gold Corp.

Taku Gold Corp. (http://www.takugold.com) is a mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of precious metal properties in Canada with a particular emphasis on the White Gold District of the Yukon Territory and the Tagish Lake region of Northern British Columbia.

On Behalf of the Board,

Zachery Dingsdale, President and CEO

Taku Gold Corp.

Follow Taku Gold On:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/takugold

Twitter: http://twitter.com/takugoldcorp

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TakuGold

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/takugold

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and uncertainties include those described in the Company's periodic reports including the annual report or in the filings made by the Company from time to time with securities regulators. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of an unanticipated event.