TRIO GOLD CORP. SIGNS AN OPTION AGREEMENT ON A NEW PROJECT

NEWS RELEASE DATED January 16, 2012

TRIO GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: TGK, US-Listed: TROOF)

TRIO GOLD CORP. SIGNS AN OPTION AGREEMENT ON A NEW PROJECT

NEWS RELEASE DATED January 16, 2012
TRIO GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: TGK, US-Listed: TROOF)

TRIO GOLD CORP. SIGNS AN OPTION AGREEMENT ON A NEW PROJECT

Trio Gold Corp. has signed an Option Agreement with Coastal Pacific Mining Corp. ("Coastal") and the property vendor to earn a 50% interest in the Hotstone Gold property located in Ontario, Canada. The Hotstone property is comprised of 4 claim units located within Greenlaw Township, 50 km southeast of Chapleau, and 130 km west-southwest of Timmins. Hotstone is located on trend west of the newly emerging West Porcupine Gold camp which includes the newly producing Timmins Mine of Lake Shore Gold Corp.

Hotstone is located in the Swayze Greenstone Belt, which is the western extension of the well-known Abitibi Greenstone Belt (AGB). The AGB is host to Canada's largest gold producing districts, including the Porcupine Mining District (Timmins) which has produced in excess of 70 million ounces of gold from such world-class mines as the Hollinger, McIntyre, Pamour and Dome Mines, the latter with over 100 years of continuous gold production. The AGB also hosts the Larder Lake Mining District (Kirkland Lake) which has produced more than 24 million ounces of gold from the famous Wright-Hargreaves, Lakeshore and Macassa Mines. These two mining districts are located within the prolific Porcupine-Destor Fault Zone (Timmins Camp) and the Cadillac-Larder Lake Break (Kirkland Lake), two well-known regional-scale altered shear zones. The presence of the inferred western extension of the Larder Lake Break on the Hotstone property exposes Trio to the successful exploration concepts used in the Porcupine and Larder Lake camps. This is one of the reasons why Hotstone attracted Trio's attention.

Of particular interest is a large west-trending quartz-carbonate-fuchsite alteration shear zone located in the south part of the property. It contains numerous gold showings and has been the focus of gold exploration since the early 1930's. Geophysical work performed by the vendor in 1998 and 2006 identified a 5300 ft long by ~150 ft wide magnetic anomaly coincident with the alteration zone and a 4000 ft long Frazer-filtered EM anomaly coincident with a subparallel quartz-feldspar porphyry dike. Anomalous gold values can be found throughout the alteration zone and within the dike, with the best assays from quartz lenses and veins. Extensive trenching was performed by the original discoverers in the 1940's, with gold in quartz veins reportedly returning values as high as 3.14 oz/ton across two feet. The carbonatized host rock assayed gold values up to 0.5 oz/ton. These figures are of historical nature and are therefore not National Instrument 43-101 compliant. The geological and geophysical features of Hotstone compare well with those of typical AGB mineralization. The Company believes that the well-exposed carbonatized shear zone is drill-ready, and will be the primary focus of exploration.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Trio has the option to earn a 50% interest in the Hotstone property by spending C$1,300,000 in exploration on the property by December 31st 2012, and making cash payments of C$200,000 to the vendor. The agreement is subject to Trio obtaining minimum financing of $700,000 by the end of April 2012. In addition, the vendor will be granted a 1% Net Smelter Return ("NSR"). Coastal and the vendor will each maintain a 25% interest in the property. Trio and Coastal collectively have the option to purchase the vendor's 25% interest for $2,000,000 and his NSR for a further $1,000,000.

This release has been prepared by Philip van Angeren P.Geol., director of Trio Gold Corp., who is a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 guidelines. Mr. van Angeren has reviewed documentation as supplied by Coastal and the vendor, and he does not have any reason to believe that there are any misrepresentations in the information provided. All of the data and information discussed in this release are of historical nature and are therefore not considered to be compliant with National Instrument 43-101.

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

TRIO GOLD CORP.

Suite 145, 251 Midpark Blvd. S.E.
Calgary, Alberta T2X-1S3
E-Mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.triogold.com
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
CUSIP #89669C-108, Exemption #82-2127

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