Northquest Ltd. Commences Exploration at the Pistol Bay Gold Project, Nunavut, Canada

TORONTO, July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Northquest Ltd. (TSXV: NQ) (FWB-N3Q) ("Northquest" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the 2013 exploration program has commenced at the Pistol Bay Gold Project, Nunavut, Canada.

The Pistol Bay Project consists of 845 square kilometres of staked claims covering a 90 kilometre strike length of the Pistol Bay Trend which is a west-trending series of surface gold occurrences and gold zones intersected in drill holes by Northquest in 2011 and 2012. The Pistol Bay Trend is a newly recognized trend parallel to, and 80 kilometres south of, the Meliadine Trend of gold deposits, owned by Agnico Eagle Mines, which reportedly contains 3.0 million ounces of gold reserves, plus 2.2 million ounces indicated and 2.9 million ounces inferred (http://www.agnico-eagle.com).

Since the initial field operations commenced in April 2011, the Company has completed two airborne geophysical surveys and 7,097 metres of diamond drilling in 39 drill holes and has obtained economically interesting drilling intersections at the Sako, Vickers, and Bazooka targets which occur over a 20 kilometre long segment of the Pistol Bay Trend. The best drilling intersection to date from the property is in drill hole PB-12-22 from the Vickers Target which intersected 156.48 metres grading 8.23 grams gold per tonne.

In June and early July, 2013, Northquest commissioned the construction of a winterized camp facility which is now complete and suitable for year-round drilling operations. Northquest geological personnel occupied the camp on July 6^th and have commenced exploration. The exploration program this year will have four main objectives, viz.: i) to complete additional drilling of the Vickers Main Zone (also known as the V1 Zone) which was intersected in 14 drill holes in 2012,  ii) to drill the first holes testing the V2 Zone which is 200 metres south of the V1 Zone,  iii) to complete surface exploration and validation of ten targets in the eastern half of the property that were defined in a high resolution heli-mag survey completed in October 2012, and iv) to complete the initial reconnaissance and prospecting of the western half of the property.

Approximately 2,000 metres of drilling is planned. It is expected that drilling will commence in mid-July and that the first drilling results will be announced sometime in August. The surface exploration and reconnaissance work will commence immediately and will be complete in approximately 8 weeks. The results of that work will be released when the work is complete and the assays have been received and verified.

Northquest President and CEO Jon North remarked that "In the past two years, Northquest has acquired a vast area of prospective land and recognized a new gold trend, parallel to the Meliadine Trend of Agnico Eagle Mines. With exploration expenditures of only $4.9 million to date, Northquest has obtained economically-interesting drilling intersections at three targets in a 20 kilometre long segment of the 90 km long Pistol Bay Trend. In my opinion, this is one of the most prospective new gold trends in Canada, and it is worth repeating, and a great pleasure to remind our shareholders, and prospective investors, that Canada is one of the most richly endowed, safest, most mining friendly, and most stable countries in the world."

Potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature.  There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource at the Pistol Bay Project to date, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.  Northquest is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of properties for the mining of gold and other minerals.  Northquest has 38,894,406 shares outstanding (58,841,690 shares on a fully diluted basis).  For further information please visit http://www.northquest.biz.

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the Company's expectations regarding the future growth, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities.  In some cases forward-looking information can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology.  These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates, metallurgical test results and that the resource potential will be achieved on exploration projects, currency fluctuations, dependence upon regulatory approvals, political and country risk, and the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.  The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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.

For further information:

Jon North
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel. +1-416-306-0202
Mobile +1-416-786-6348
http://www.northquest.biz