Aurizon Mines Ltd.: Preliminary Metallurgical Testwork at Marban Indicates Favourable Gold Recoveries

Aurizon Mines Ltd.

announces the results of preliminary metallurgical testing for two composite samples from the Marban property conducted by SGS Mineral Services. Ore cyanidation testing produced results ranging from 95.4% to 97.6% gold recoveries. The Marban property is located in the Malartic gold camp in the Abitibi Region of Quebec. Two gold-bearing composite samples were examined at the SGS Mineral Services. The #1 composite, containing an assay grade of 1.24 grams of gold per tonne, was designed to test the metallurgical response of a lower grade envelope. The #2 composite, containing an assay grade of 4.59 grams of gold per tonne, was designed to test the metallurgical response of a higher grade envelope. After 48 hours, gold recoveries ranged from 95.4% to 97.6% for composite #1 and 95.7% to 97.3% for composite #2. Finer grinding typically increased the gold recovery at the cost of higher cyanide consumption. Gravity separation testing on the #1 composite showed a 41.3% Gravity Recoverable Gold (GRG). Gravity separation testing on the #2 composite showed a 56.5% GRG. The combination of gravity recovery and cyanidation of the gravity tail did not increase the overall gold recovery. This demonstrates that while this concept could be beneficial from a plant design perspective, gravity recovery is not essential to obtaining good recoveries from these two composites. Bond ball mill testing indicated that the two composites fell in the medium-soft to medium range of hardness compared to the SGS database (10.1-10.9 kWh/t). While this test work is preliminary in nature and has only been performed on two composite samples, the Company is very pleased with these initial results which suggest high gold recoveries utilizing conventional processes. Testing on the residue samples from composite #1 and #2 suggests that acid generation is highly unlikely to occur from these samples. Aurizon can earn up to a 65% interest the Marban Block property under the terms of an option agreement dated July 5, 2010 between NioGold Mining Corporation ("Niogold") and Aurizon. The initial 50% interest can be earned by incurring expenditures of C$20 million over three years, completing an updated NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate, and by making a resource payment for 50% of the total gold ounces defined by the mineral resource estimate. NioGold is the project operator during the initial earn-in period (see news release dated July 6, 2010).