Appleton Intersects 61 metres of 1.45 g/t Au at Manalo

July 15, 2010 Vancouver, British Columbia. Appleton Exploration Inc. (AEX – TSX.V) is pleased to announce results from a further thirteen reverse circulation (RC) holes focused on the southern segment of the Dialafara Prospect on the Manalo Gold Project, Mali, West Africa.  These new results, in conjunction with previous drilling to date, now define a minimum 450 metre strikelength trend of encouraging gold mineralization. The latest results include: 61 metres of 1.45 grams per tonne (g/t) Au, 27 metres of 1.50 g/t Au and 3 metres of 26.88 g/t Au.

Table 1           New Highlights from Dialafara Southern Segment

Note:  All assays presented above are screen metallic assays

Drill results last reported on June 15, 2010 focused on testing the northwesternmost 250 metre strikelength of the Dialafara Southern Segment. The drill results reported in this release with holes MDL-10-087 through MDL-10-099 tested a 700 metre strikelength of the Dialafara Southern Segment, overlapping 150 metres with the previous reporting. These new results, in conjunction with previous drilling to date, now show good signs of lateral and downdip continuity to gold mineralization along a minimum 450 metre strikelength. Other drilling previously reported along this 450 metre strikelength include hole MDL-10-086 with 61 metres of 1.62 g/t Au hole and hole MDL-09-54 with 18 metres of 3.32 g/t Au.

The drill results above are part of the 4,300 metre, 37 hole RC drill program and 3,771 metre, 67 hole AC drill program conducted during March and April 2010.  Maps showing drill collar locations and tables of metre by metre results for each of the intervals tabled in this news release are available on the Manalo Current Exploration Page on the Company’s website: www.appletonexploration.com. There are still 10 holes pending results from this campaign, all on the Dialafara Southern Segment.

The Company also wishes to announce that it has completed 39 aircore holes totaling 2,586 metres on its Sirabada target and 52 aircore holes totaling 1,784 metres on its Mansaya target, both of which are part of the Manalo Project. Results are pending from this program.

Appleton is earning a 100% interest from Delta Exploration Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rockgate Capital Corp.

Quality Control and Assurance

All samples were initially analyzed by 50 gram fire assay.  Samples in high quartz intervals or those returning anomalous (>0.10 g/t Au) gold values were analyzed by screen metallic assay method, in order to identify the presence and significance of coarse gold in samples. All intercepts presented in this news release are screen metallic assay. The widths and grades reported are drill intercept widths and may not represent the true width of mineralization. Individual gold assays have not been cut, but high grade samples have been separately reported in the table above. Samples are reverse circulation cuttings collected using a cyclone in 1 metre intervals that are riffle split at the drill site. The primary laboratory is ALS Chemex in Bamako, an ISO 17025 certified laboratory. Standard, blank and duplicate samples were inserted throughout the sample sequence as quality control checks.  Both Chris Wild, P.Eng. and Paul Cowley, P.Geo., director of Appleton, are qualified persons for the drilling campaign.

About Mali

Mali is the fastest growing gold producing country in Africa. Production in 2007 amounted to 2 million ounces of gold making Mali Africa’s third-largest gold producer after South Africa and Ghana. AngloGold Ashanti Limited, one of the largest gold mining companies in the world, has interests in three operating mines in Mali: Sadiola, Yatela and Morila.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

“R. Tim Henneberry”

R.Tim Henneberry, P.Geo.

President and CEO

Paul Cowley, P.Geo., Director of Appleton Exploration Inc., is the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements.  All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute “forward-looking statements” and include any information that addresses activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including the Company’s strategy, exploration programs, plans or future financial or operating performance and other statements that express management’s expectations or estimates of future 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” or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology.  All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company’s management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances.  These statements, however, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed, implied by or projected in the forward-looking information or statements.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: risks related to the exploration and potential development of the Company’s projects, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future prices of gold, as well as those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of the Company set out in the Company’s MD&A filed on SEDAR.

There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.  Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date of this document or to revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events.