Blackrock Gold Announces Management Changes, a New Strategy and Revised Terms of Its Private Placement Offering

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 12, 2017) - Blackrock Gold Corp.(TSXV: BRC) ("Blackrock" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Michael O'Connor as CEO of Blackrock effective January 12, 2017. The appointment was made as part of the Company's new strategy focusing on the acquisition of advanced gold and silver projects. Mr. O'Connor brings over 29 years' experience in wealth management, investor relations, corporate communications and corporate development and more recently held the position of President and CEO of a silver exploration company for five years.

Mr. O'Connor commented: "I am both honored and very excited to be joining Blackrock at this important and transformative time for the Company. In order to make Blackrock a successful gold and silver Company, our highly experienced board has implemented a new strategy focused on the acquisition of quality advanced gold and silver projects that have near term production potential and are located in mining friendly jurisdictions. I am confident that while working closely with the members of the Board of Directors, all of whom are very experienced and well respected mining industry professionals, we can, as a team, deliver concrete results on the Company's new goals and objectives."

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Catalin Chiloflischi, CEO of Canarc Resource Corporation, to the Board of Directors effective January 12, 2017. Mr. Chiloflischi is a professional economist with 20 years of experience in business development, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, communications, governance and sustainability in Canada, US, Europe and Asia.  He has been instrumental in raising over CA$200 million in joint venture, equity and debt financings for mineral resource projects since 2010.

Mr. Chiloflischi stated "I am pleased to join a broad team comprised of very skilled, experienced and successful mining professionals. Because of the quality of people involved both at the board and management level, I see Blackrock as a unique opportunity to help build a successful gold and silver company. While working together I believe we can realize Blackrock's new vision to acquire and advance gold and silver projects towards production."

A total of 300,000 stock options for a term of five years at an exercise price of CAD $0.075 have been granted to management and directors.

In order to finance its new strategy, the Company has amended the terms of its non-brokered private placement previously announced on November 21, 2016 (the "Private Placement"). The amended number of units has been increased to up to 4,000,000 units (the "Units") at an amended price of $0.075 per Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $300,000. Each Unit is comprised of one common share and one share purchase warrant.

Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional common share in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.15 per share, for a period of two years from the date the Units are issued. If during the exercise period of the warrants, but after the resale restrictions on the shares have expired, the Company's shares trade at or above a weighted average trading price of $0.30 per share for 15 consecutive trading days, the Company may accelerate the expiry time of the warrants by giving written notice to warrant holders that the warrants will expire 30 days from the date of providing such notice.

All other terms and conditions of the previously announced private placement remain the same. The Company plans to allocate the gross proceeds of the Private Placement to general working capital. A portion of the Private Placement may be completed in accordance with the exemption set out in BC Instrument 45-536 (Exemption from prospectus requirement for certain distributions through an investment dealer) (the "Investment Dealer Exemption"). In accordance with the requirements of the Investment Dealer Exemption, the Company confirms there is no material fact or material change related to the Company which has not been generally disclosed. The Private Placement is subject to the approval of the Exchange.

The securities issued in the Private Placement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or under any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, or delivered within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy such securities in the United States.

The Company also wishes to announce that Mr. David Robinson has resigned as President, CEO and Director of Blackrock effective January 12, 2017. The Company would like to thank Mr. Robinson for his contributions in establishing Blackrock and wishes him every success in his future endeavours.

For further information, please contact:

Michael E. O'Connor
CEO
Blackrock Gold Corporation
Telephone [phone]
Email [e-mail]

The TSX VentureExchange hasnotreviewedand doesnotacceptresponsibilityforthe accuracy oradequacy ofthisrelease. NeithertheTSXVentureExchangenoritsRegulationServiceProvider(asthattermisdefinedinthe policies ofthe TSX VentureExchange)acceptsresponsibility forthe adequacyoraccuracyofthisrelease.

Thispressreleasecontainsforward‑lookingstatements. Allstatements,otherthanstatementsofhistoricalfact, constitute"forward‑lookingstatements"andincludeanyinformationthat addressesactivities,eventsor developmentsthattheCompany believes,expects or anticipates willormay occur inthefutureincludingthe Company'sstrategy,plans or futurefinancial or operatingperformanceandother statementsthatexpress management's expectationsorestimatesoffuture performance.

Forward‑looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue","expect","anticipate","estimate","believe","intend", "plan"or"project"orthenegativeofthese wordsor othervariationson thesewords orcomparable terminology. Thesestatements,however,aresubjectto knownandunknownrisks,uncertainties andotherfactorsthatmaycausetheactualresults,level of activity, performanceor achievements of theCompanytobematerially different fromthoseexpressed,implied by or projectedintheforward‑lookinginformationorstatements. Importantfactorsthatcouldcauseactualresults to differfromtheseforward‑lookingstatementsincludebutarenotlimited to the ability of the Company to attract financing and the general market conditions of the industry in which the Company operates and the other factorsdiscussedinthesectionsrelatingtoriskfactors discussed in the Company's continuous disclosure filings on SEDAR.

Therecanbe no assurancethatanyforward‑lookingstatementswillprovetobe accurate,asactual resultsand futureevents coulddiffermateriallyfromthoseanticipatedinsuchstatements. Accordingly, thereadershouldnot placeanyunduerelianceonforward‑lookinginformationorstatements. Except asrequiredbylaw,theCompany doesnotintendtoreviseorupdatetheseforward‑lookingstatementsafterthedateofthisdocumentortorevise themto reflectthe occurrence offuture unanticipated events.