Appleton Summarizes Manalo 2010 Drill Programs, Reports New Artisanal Workings And Appoints New Director

January 24, 2011 Vancouver, British Columbia. Appleton Exploration Inc. (AEX – TSX.V) is pleased to provide a summary of the 2010 drill programs completed on the Manalo Gold Project, Mali, West Africa. Appleton completed two drill programs in 2010; the 8,071 metre March program at Dialafara and the 4,372 metre May program at Sirabada and Mansaya. The Company’s ultimate goal in the area is to establish a mineable gold mineral deposit or deposits.

A total of seven known gold zones occur on the 15,000 hectare Manalo property. In addition, a totally new area of gold mineralization is being worked by orpailleurs or local miners, where up to 400 have been searching for and recovering gold.

Dialafara Summary

Drilling at Dialafara concentrated in two areas; the Northern Segment and the Southern Segment. A total of 37 reverse circulation drill holes totaling 4,300 metres and 67 air core reverse circulation drill holes totaling 3,771 metres were completed at Dialafara.

The Northern Segment is a 700 metre long zone of mineralization, centred on a zone of artisanal workings, and currently open to the northwest. The Northern Segment appears to consist of multiple sub parallel zones across a 55 metre wide northwest trend. Drilling to date has returned several intervals between 0.30 grams per tonne (gpt) Au to 2.5 gpt Au over widths from 7 to 16 metres. In the past, the drilling has identified higher grade intercepts within the Northern Segment, including 640 gpt Au over 3 metres, 15.64 gpt Au over 16 metres and 35.67 gpt Au over 7 metres.

The Southern Segment is a 900 metre long zone of mineralization containing three areas of artisanal workings. The Southern Segment consists of a dominant northwest trending mineralized zone with multiple subsidiary northeast trending zones. Drilling to date has returned several long, continuously mineralized intervals within a 450 metre long by 120 metre deep segment. Drilling has returned several intervals between 0.30 gpt Au to 6.27 gpt Au over widths from 5 to 61 metres, including 1.45 gpt Au over 61 metres, 1.62 gpt Au over 61 metres and 6.27 gpt Au over 25 metres. In the past, the drilling has identified higher grade intercepts within the Southern Segment, including 29.07 gpt Au over 6 metres and 9.57 gpt Au over 9 metres.

Table 1. Highlights of 2010 Dialafara Drill Program

Sirabada Summary

Drilling in 2010 at Sirabada consisted of 5 air core reverse circulation drill holes totaling 485 metres testing the main structure and 34 air core drill holes totaling 2,103 metres in three drill fences crossing the broad gold soil anomaly west of the main structure.

The Sirabada main structure is an intensely altered and bleached northwest-trending clay-quartz zone. The zone is marked by an extensive area of artisanal mine workings within a broad 2500 metre by 200 to 600 metre gold-in-soil anomaly. Drilling to date across the main structure has located only scattered areas of anomalous gold, including a best value of 5.60 gpt Au over 1 metre.

The subparallel Hilltop structure was identified from aircore drilling approximately 200 metres west of the main structure. Drill intersections across the Hilltop zone include: 2.29 gpt Au over 4 metres and 0.88 gpt Au over 10 metres.

Table 2. Highlights of 2010 Hilltop Structure Drill Program

Mansaya Summary

Drilling at Mansaya consisted of 52 air core reverse circulation drill holes totaling 1,784 metres in three drill fences. The program was curtailed by the onset of the rainy season. The drilling tested some of the soil geochemistry anomalies in the southeastern section of the Mansaya anomaly. Nothing of significance was noted in the drilling.

New Artisanal Workings on Manalo

There is a new area of artisanal workings developing on the Manalo property. The workings lie approximately 3.35 kilometres southeast of the Dialafara Zone and 2.8 kilometres west of the Manalo Nord Est Zone. The workings cover an area of approximately 175 metres by 120 metres where up to 400 local miners have been at work. Coarse grained gold was being recovered by the locals. This area represents a completely new area of gold mineralization.

Now that all assay results have been received and in light of the newly discovered artisanal workings, Appleton’s technical team is reviewing the data in detail to determine the next phase of exploration on the Manalo project.

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

Quality Control and Assurance

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. Samples are assayed by fire assay (50 gram charge). Zones of quartz veining and limonite were submitted for check assays by the screen metallic method in order identify the presence and significance of coarse gold in samples. 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.

Appointment of Director

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Willis W. Osborne as a director. Mr. Osborne received his B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Minnesota in 1961 and his M.Sc. in Geology from the University of British Columbia in 1966. Since beginning his career as an exploration geologist for Noranda Exploration, he has been active in precious and base metal exploration for over 30 years and has served on the boards of several junior exploration companies. Mr. Osborne acted as President and CEO of Great Quest Metals, a TSX Venture company, until late in 2010. As such, he led the team that established an historical mineral resource on the copper-gold Taseko property in British Columbia. In Mali he assembled a group of geologists that acquired several gold and phosphate concessions in that country. This group also defined a 43-101 compliant mineral resource on the Kenieba gold concession in western Mali.

The Board of Directors also announces the resignation of James Walchuck. Jim departs to concentrate on another company of which he is President and CEO. The Board wishes to thank Jim for his contributions to Appleton since its inception. Jim will remain on the Advisory Board where management can still utilize his African mining and development experience.

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.

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