VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 21, 2011) - Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (News - Market indicators)(FRANKFURT:IWUB) (the "Company") reports the first assay results of a 42 hole Diamond drilling program being conducted on the new discovery zone on Barkerville Mountain 93 meters away from the Company's Bonanza Ledge deposit. The new discovery area although in close proximity to the Bonanza Ledge deposit which sits in the footwall of the BC Vein, is a completely different style of gold mineralization than Bonanza Ledge. Gold mineralization was hit in two intervals with highlights as follows: 

• 14.1 meters of 12.1 g/T gold between 24.3 and 38.4 meters including,
  • 6.3 meters of 25.4 g/T gold between 29.3 and 35.6 meters, and
     
• 0.91 meters of 11.5 g/T gold between 45.5 and 46.4 meters

President and CEO J. Frank Callaghan states, "The discovery of gold mineralization on the hanging wall side of the BC Vein and Bonanza Ledge, furthers the opportunity to expand the gold mineralization across several stratigraphic units and styles of mineralization within the same area. Four styles of gold mineralization have now been identified in the camp all within close proximity of each other. Three styles; Bonanza Ledge style, quartz-pyrite stockworks and BC Vein (a large gold-bearing quartz strike vein) have all been identified within the Bonanza Ledge proposed open pit area."

The new discovery zone is located approximately 93m to the local mine grid northwest of the Bonanza Ledge gold deposit. Please see news releases dated respectively on September 20 & 29, and October 4 of 2010, and February 14 of 2011, for more detailed information on the new zone.

The new zone is stratigraphically hosted within the same rock units/sub-units as the Company's Cariboo Gold Quartz Deposit approximately 3 km to the northwest. The host rock of the new zone includes the Rainbow 3 & 4 Sub-units, BC Argillite, and likely the Rainbow 2 & 1 Sub-units to the mine grid north, with the zone is still open to the mine grid northeast.

The major control of the new discovered zone appears to be a large fault system, which may be a secondary level or a branch of the BC Fault Zone that hosts the large, gold-bearing BC Vein. All of the fine-grained pyrite and quartz-pyrite veins and/or stockworks are controlled by the fault system, which consists of first, secondary, third and even more levels of subsidiary faults as well as quartz-pyrite stockworks.

Drilling continues and additional assay results of the Diamond drill holes conducted on the new zone will be released as they are received.

All the samples were analyzed by Eco Tech Lab. in Kamloops, BC. Assays include Au fire assay with AA finish, metallic gold assay, and 28 element ICP.

Drill core processing included descriptive logging and sampling for geochemical analyses. The NQ-size drill core was split in two halves using a splitter at the Company's Lowhee Creek Compound in Wells-Barkerville, central B.C. One-half of the core is put in a sample bag. After all the samples are placed in the rice bags at the mine site, they are transported by BGM's personnel to a shipping company in Quesnel for trans-shipment to Eco Tech Lab in Kamloops, B.C. Sample preparation and geochemical assaying is done at Eco Tech Lab, following their own internal standards for quality control and verification. The gold assaying method uses a standard fire assay with AA finish and/or metallic gold assay. Metallic gold assays are done to confirm the fire assay results considering existence of visible gold in the samples. ETL is certified under the Assayers Certification Program of B.C. 

About Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.

Since the mid 1990s the Company has focused on exploration and development of gold projects in the Cariboo Mining District in central B.C. The Company's mineral tenures now cover over 1,225 square kilometers, encompassing seven past producing hard rock mines and three NI 43-101 gold deposits, including the QR Mine & Mill. The QR Property was acquired in February 2010 and includes a 900 tonne/day gold milling facility and a permitted gold mine located approximately 110 kilometers by highway and all-weather road from the Barkerville Gold Camp. Mining operations commenced at QR in February 2010 and the Company began pouring doré gold in September 2010. In November 2010, the Company acquired a second permitted mill currently on care and maintenance in Revelstoke, B.C. for relocation to the Barkerville Gold Camp near Wells, B.C. and upgrade it to a 2,000-tonne/day facility subject to government approvals. In November 2010 the Company and the Lhtako Dene First Nation also signed a Project Agreement in relation to its Bonanza Ledge and Cariboo Gold Projects. The Company has not hedged any of its future gold production.

The technical information in this News Release has been reviewed and approved by Chief Geologist Jim Yin, PhD, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

J. Frank Callaghan, President and CEO

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements which relate to future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our industry, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggested herein. Except as required by applicable law, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results. All phases of the Company's operations are subject to environmental regulation and governmental approval and permits and there can be no assurance that the Company will obtain all the requisite permits for future development. Mining is an inherently risky business with large capital expenditures and cyclical metals markets.