Argonaut Gold Announces Q1 Production of 30,963 Gold Equivalent Ounces, an Increase of 4% Over Prior Year

Argonaut Gold Inc. ("Argonaut", "Argonaut Gold" or the "Company") (TSX:AR)
announced today that the Company had production of 30,963 gold equivalent ounces
("GEOs") during the first quarter ended March 31, 2014 ("Q1"). This included
22,171 GEOs at its 100% owned El Castillo Mine ("El Castillo") located in
Durango, Mexico and 8,792 GEOs at its 100% owned La Colorada Mine ("La
Colorada") located near Hermosillo, Mexico. 




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                                                  1st Quarter        Change 
                                             --------------------           
                                                   2014      2013           
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Total Gold Equivalent Ounce Production:                                     
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GEOs loaded to the pads(1)                       52,605    42,451       +24%
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GEOs projected recoverable ounces(1), (2)        29,325    25,004       +17%
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GEOs produced ounces(1)                          30,963    29,881        +4%
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GEOs ounces sold(1)                              30,165    26,586       +13%
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(1) GEOs are based on conversion ratio of 55:1 for silver to gold
(2) Recoverable ounces - see tables titled first quarter 2014 El Castillo
Operating Statistics and first quarter 2014 La Colorada Operating Statistics


FIRST QUARTER 2014 HIGHLIGHTS:

El Castillo



--  GEO production of 22,171 ounces consisting of 21,976 gold ounces and
    10,737 silver ounces (GEOs at 55:1 conversion rate).  
--  39,924 gold ounces loaded on the leach pads equating to 22,278 projected
    recoverable gold ounces. 
--  Mining: 
    --  New mining equipment added to increase capacity from 69 thousand
        tonnes per day ("ktpd") to 87 ktpd, or a 26% increase. 
    --  Mine plan has moved out of transitional ore into more oxidized
        material which should result in improved recoveries in the future. 
--  Crushing and conveying: 
    --  West overland conveyor moved a new record of 1,345,339 tonnes. 
    --  East crusher - 1,497,323 tonnes crushed and loaded to pad. 
--  Pad expansion of cell 8 is ahead of schedule 
    --  Cell portion 2a to be completed in June and cell portion 3c to be
        completed in September. 
--  Renegotiated lease terms for El Castillo mining equipment to reduce the
    overall finance costs of the equipment by reducing interest rates from
    10.4% to 5.7%.  



La Colorada



--  GEO production of 8,792 ounces, consisting of 7,563 gold ("Au") ounces
    and 67,579 silver ("Ag") ounces (GEOs at 55:1 conversion rate). 
--  An internal assessment of reprocessing old heap leach material shows
    positive results incorporating four million tonnes of 0.35 grams per
    tonne ("g/t") Au and 11.2 g/t Ag, with recoveries estimated at 50% Au
    and 30% Ag. 
--  10,812 gold ounces and 102,766 silver ounces loaded on the pad; 7,048
    projected recoverable GEOs to leach pad. 
--  An additional secondary crusher was added to the crushing circuit in
    March increasing the crushing circuit to five cones from four cones for
    a 25% increase in crushing capacity. 
--  Former El Castillo crusher in place at La Colorada. 



Magino



--  Two rounds of heap leach metallurgical test work have been completed at
    Magino; positive results warranted more test work be done to analyze the
    heap leach potential of the lower grade material at Magino. 



San Antonio



--  The Company was notified on April 10, 2014 that the appeal to overturn
    the MIA ruling from 2012 was denied. The Company plans to appeal this
    ruling. 



San Agustin



--  11,172 metres of drilling completed to date including 10,173 metres of
    reverse circulation ("RC") in 103 drill holes and 999 metres of core in
    13 drill holes. 
--  Metallurgical test work: 
    --  Drilling is complete for all PQ core and it has been sent to Kappes
        Cassiday & Associates in Reno, Nevada to conduct metallurgical
        column tests. 
    --  Run of mine ("ROM") coarse ore samples have been collected and
        transported to El Castillo for bulk ROM column testing. 
--  2 RC drill rigs operating at site. 
--  Drill results will be released following completion of analysis in late
    second quarter or early third quarter 2014. 



CEO Commentary

Pete Dougherty, President and CEO said, "While we had a soft production profile
in the first quarter of 2014, overall production has begun to improve at both
locations (March production was up 18% over January). The Company expects a
stronger second quarter of production as we continue to ramp up throughput. 


The Company is encouraged by the heap leach results at Magino prompting further
studies and evaluation.


At the San Antonio project, we believe that there is broad community and
government support, and we are committed to moving this project forward. 


Drilling at San Agustin is going extremely well and we are happy with the
progress at this time. Our goal is to provide the results from over 15,000
metres of drilling by late second quarter or early third quarter."


FIRST QUARTER 2014 EL CASTILLO OPERATING STATISTICS



                                               3 Months Ended March 31      
                                                   2014      2013  % Change 
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Mining                                                                      
Tonnes ore (000's)                                3,666     3,173       +16%
Tonnes waste (000's)                              4,164     3,014       +38%
Tonnes mined (000's)                              7,829     6,186       +27%
Tonnes per day (000's)                               87        69       +26%
Waste/ore ratio                                    1.14      0.95       +20%
Heap Leach Pad                                                              
Tonnes ore direct to leach pad (000's)              823     1,729       -52%
Tonnes crushed (000's)                            1,497     1,432        +5%
Tonnes overland conveyor (000's)                  1,345        NA        NA 
Production                                                                  
Gold grade (g/t)(1)                               0. 34      0.35        -3%
Gold loaded to leach pad (oz)(2)                 39,924    36,023       +11%
Projected recoverable gold ounces (oz)(3)        22,278    21,534        +3%
Gold produced (oz)                               21,976    23,125        -5%
Gold sold (oz)                                   20,906    19,509        +7%
(1) "g/t" is grams per tonne                                                
(2) "oz" means troy ounce                                                   
(3) Recovery rates: ROM oxide 50%, crushed oxide 70%, ROM transition 40%,   
 crushed transition 60%, crushed sulfides argilic 30%, crushed sulfides     
 silicic 17%                                                                



Richard Rhoades, Chief Operating Officer, said, "At El Castillo we have expanded
the fleet and increased the mining capacity. This increase will address a higher
strip ratio in 2014 and lower projected mine grades of 0.315 g/t. The strip
ratio was up 20% for the quarter as the final push back on the north side of the
pit was initiated. The mine plan has moved production out of the transitional
material which saw a reduction from 36% transitional material in the fourth
quarter 2013 to 20% transitional material in the first quarter of 2014. For
2014, we anticipate 90% of mined material will be oxides and 10% will be
transitional. At the west overland conveyor system, we have increased production
and as a result the Company anticipates lower per tonne cost as we reduce the
tonnes hauled by truck."




FIRST QUARTER 2014 LA COLORADA OPERATING STATISTICS                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 3 Months Ended March 31    
                                                   2014      2013  % Change 
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Mining                                                                      
Tonnes ore (000's)                                  560       557        +1%
Tonnes waste (000's)                              4,043     3,799        +6%
Total tonnes (000's)                              4,603     4,355        +6%
Waste/ore ratio                                    7.22      6.82        +6%
Tonnes rehandled (000's)                             70         0         - 
Heap Leach Pad                                                              
Tonnes ore to leach pad (000's)                     635       573       +11%
Production                                                                  
Gold grade mined (g/t)(1)                          0.57      0.27      +111%
Gold loaded to leach pad (oz)(2)                 10,812     5,142      +110%
Projected recoverable GEOs loaded(3)              7,048     3,471      +103%
Gold produced (oz)                                7,563     5,782       +31%
Silver produced (oz)                             67,579    44,879       +51%
GEOs produced(4)                                  8,792     6,598       +33%
Gold sold (oz)                                    7,733     5,932       +30%
Silver sold (oz)                                 73,211    54,269       +35%
GEOs sold(4)                                      9,064     6,919       +31%
(1) "g/t" is grams per tonne                                                
(2) "oz" means troy ounce                                                   
(3) Recovery rates: Gold 60%, Silver 30%                                    
(4) GEOs based on conversion ratio of 55:1 for silver to gold               



Richard Rhoades said, "At La Colorada, mine grades improved during the first
quarter of 2014 to 0.57 g/t, up 111% over the prior year. Production saw an
improvement to 8,792 GEOs versus 6,598 GEOs in Q1 of the prior year for a 33%
increase. We have completed an internal assessment of reprocessing old heap
leach material which shows positive results incorporating four million tonnes of
0.35 g/t Au and 11.2 g/t Ag, with recoveries estimated at 50% Au and 30% Ag.
This will be incorporated into the mine plans in the future. In addition to
adding material to the mine plan at La Colorada, the Company has added to the
crushing capacity at the property. An additional secondary cone was added to the
new circuit. We now have five 400 horsepower cones compared to four 400
horsepower cones in the prior circuit. We have also added a previously utilized
crusher at El Castillo in parallel to increase total crushing capacity. The
additional crushing capacity was installed by the end of March and should
increase capacity and production throughout the year."


Magino Metallurgical Test Work

Two sets of heap leach metallurgical test work were conducted on the low grade
material at Magino with results noted below. These composites were sent to
Kappes, Cassiday & Associates ("KCA") in Reno, Nevada who completed column tests
on the material. 




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 1                                                                     
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          Crush Size Head Grade     Au %   Days of   Consumption Consumption
Sample #          mm        g/t recovery     Leach Cyanide kg/MT  Lime kg/MT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
67111 B           19      0.829       37%       94          0.56        0.50
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67111 C         12.5      0.649       49%       94          0.53        1.00
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67111 D          9.5      0.694       52%       94          0.61        1.00
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Phase 2                                                                     
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          Crush Size Head Grade     Au %   Days of   Consumption Consumption
Sample #          mm        g/t recovery     Leach Cyanide kg/MT  Lime kg/MT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
67165 A         12.5      0.725       60%      102          0.69        1.00
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67166 A         12.5      0.500       57%      102          0.75        1.00
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67167 A         31.5      0.665       41%      102          0.75        0.50
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67167 B         12.5      0.610       56%      102          0.78        1.00
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67168 A         12.5      0.431       48%      102          0.65        1.00
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67169 A         12.5      0.532       61%      102          0.89        1.00
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67170 A         31.5      0.409       40%      102          0.61        0.50
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67170 B         12.5      0.446       57%      102          0.80        1.00
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Based upon KCA's experience with mostly clean non-reactive ores, cyanide    
 consumption in production heap leach pads would be only 25 to 33 per cent  
 of the laboratory column test consumptions.                                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------



Bob Rose, Vice President of Technical Services, said "Results from the
metallurgical test work at Magino are encouraging, and justify conducting
additional test work and analysis of the material. The metallurgical test
results may provide the Company with an alternative to milling the lower grade
portion of the Magino resource and improve our production and economic profile."


San Antonio

The Company continues to pursue approvals for its San Antonio project. As
previously disclosed, on August 2, 2012 the Secretary for Environment and
Natural Resources denied the authorization for an Environmental Impact
Assessment ("MIA") for the Company's San Antonio project due to municipal zoning
incompatibility over a portion of the site.


In response, the Company appealed the determination in connection with its MIA
before Mexican Federal Court. The Company's appeal regarding the MIA
authorization was denied by the Mexican Federal Court on April 10, 2014. The
Company will appeal the decision of the Mexican Federal Court and is also
working with the local municipality to seek an amendment to the zoning.


Exploration at San Agustin

The majority of the Company's 2014 exploration budget is focused on the recently
acquired San Agustin project, located 10 kilometres southwest of El Castillo.
The two deposits lie on the same regional mineral trend and are geologically
very similar. However, work to date indicates that the favorable geology that
hosts mineralization may be significantly more extensive at San Agustin than at
El Castillo.


Tom Burkhart, Vice President of Exploration, said "The Company believes that the
San Agustin project is an intrusion related mineral system. These types of
systems are normally low-grade but host large tonnages mostly contained within
intrusive rocks. One characteristic of this deposit type is that mineral
continuity is usually extremely good. This appears to be the case at San
Agustin. It is our objective to further validate and grow the historic resource
into a current resource. As hoped, our drilling continues to confirm the
continuity and expansion potential of the mineral system. We are very excited
about the potential of this property.


Argonaut plans to present drilling results by late second quarter or early third
quarter of 2014, with metallurgical results to be presented in the third
quarter. By year-end, we plan to update historic work with the release of a new
resource and a preliminary economic assessment for San Agustin."


Technical Information and Mineral Properties Reports

The technical information contained in this press release has been prepared
under supervision of, and reviewed and approved by Mr. Thomas H. Burkhart,
Argonaut's Vice President of Exploration, a qualified person as defined by
National Instrument 43-101. 


About Argonaut Gold

Argonaut Gold is a Canadian gold company engaged in exploration, mine
development and production activities. Its primary assets are the production
stage El Castillo mine in Durango, Mexico and the La Colorada mine in Sonora,
Mexico. Advanced exploration stage projects include the San Antonio project in
Baja California Sur, Mexico and the Magino project in Ontario, Canada. The
recently acquired San Agustin project is the primary exploration target for
Argonaut in 2014. The Company also has several exploration stage projects, all
of which are located in North America.


Creating Value Beyond Gold

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and
"forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities laws
concerning the proposed transaction and the business, operations and financial
performance and condition of Argonaut Gold Inc. ("Argonaut" or "Argonaut Gold").
Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not
limited to, statements with respect to estimated production and mine life of the
various mineral projects of Argonaut; synergies and financial impact of
completed acquisitions; the benefits of the development potential of the
properties of Argonaut; the future price of gold, copper, and silver; the
estimation of mineral reserves and resources; realization of metallurgical
testing results; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and
amount of estimated future production; costs of production; success of
exploration activities; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for
statements of historical fact relating to Argonaut, certain information
contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect,"
"project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar
words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur.
Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management
at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions
and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could
cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and
events that are not within the control of Argonaut and there is no assurance
they will prove to be correct.


Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results
anticipated by such forward-looking statements include changes in market
conditions, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, risks relating to
international operations, fluctuating metal prices and currency exchange rates,
changes in project parameters, the possibility of project cost overruns or
unanticipated costs and expenses, labour disputes and other risks of the mining
industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated. 


These factors are discussed in greater detail in Argonaut's most recent Annual
Information Form and in the most recent Management Discussion and Analysis filed
on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with
these statements. Argonaut cautions that the foregoing list of important factors
is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking
statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the
uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Argonaut believes that
the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable,
but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct
and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be
unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press
release.


Argonaut undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if
circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as
required by applicable securities laws. Statements concerning mineral reserve
and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking
statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will
be encountered if the property is developed.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: 
Argonaut Gold Inc.
Nichole Cowles
Investor Relations Manager
[phone] x 101
[e-mail]
www.argonautgold.com