Northern Abitibi Announces Initial Independent Gold Resource Estimate for Viking

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - March 2, 2011) - Northern Abitibi Mining Corp. ("Northern Abitibi") (TSX VENTURE:NAI) is pleased to announce the results of the first resource estimate for the Thor Trend Deposit on the company's 100% owned Viking gold property in Newfoundland. The independent mineral resource estimate study was conducted by Mercator Geological Services Limited ("Mercator") and was completed in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and the CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves.

The resource model evaluates low grade alteration based gold mineralization separately from higher grade gold trends and vein based mineralization. Several high grade solid models were created based on assay grades, and the associated high grade values have been restricted to those solids. Larger low grade shells constrain the interpolation of the surrounding lower grade mineralization where grade and continuity have proven sufficient.

The tables below show the cut and uncut Inferred Resource estimate reported at a series of cut off grades. Mercator determined that the low grade mineralization demonstrates good continuity at the 0.20 grams per tonne (g/t) grade cut-off, resulting in a cut Inferred Mineral Resource of 6.284 million rounded tonnes at a grade of 0.61 g/t gold (123,242 ounces), and an uncut Inferred Mineral Resource of 6,293,000 million rounded tonnes at a grade of 0.65 g/t gold (131,511 ounces). The effective date for this estimate is March 2^nd, 2011.

Thor Trend Inferred Mineral Resources – Cut
Threshold	Tonnes (Rounded	)	Au g/t	Grams	Ounces*
0.10	11,710,000		0.39	4,566,900	146,829
0.20	6,284,000		0.61	3,833,240	123,242
0.50	1,738,000		1.41	2,450,580	78,788
1.00	577,000		2.92	1,684,840	54,169
1.50	371,000		3.87	1,435,770	46,161
2.00	265,000		4.72	1,250,800	40,214
3.00	155,000		6.33	981,150	31,545

*High grade domains are spatially constrained and capped at 28 g/t gold. Low grade domains capped at 5 g/t gold.

Thor Trend Inferred Mineral Resources – Uncut
Threshold	Tonnes (Rounded	)	Au g/t	Grams	Ounces*
0.10	11,711,000		0.41	4,801,510	154,372
0.20	6,293,000		0.65	4,090,450	131,511
0.50	1,766,000		1.54	2,719,640	87,438
1.00	628,000		3.13	1,965,640	63,197
1.50	413,000		4.13	1,705,690	54,839
2.00	285,000		5.22	1,487,700	47,831
3.00	171,000		7.07	1,208,970	38,869

*High grade domains are spatially constrained but not capped. Low grade domains not capped.

Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and by definition do not demonstrate economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserves.

Highlights

• The deposit remains open along strike and to depth.
• In-fill drilling guided by data from the resource estimate can potentially add additional gold resources at low incremental costs per ounce.
• The modeling has resulted in a much improved understanding of the geometry of high grade zones which are proving to be coherent bodies with good continuity. Most of the high grade zones were not specifically targeted during past drilling programs which were designed to evaluate the bulk minable potential of the system. Excellent potential to add significant additional high grade gold resources by specifically targeting the high grade zones within the deposit envelope has been identified.
• The deposit is near surface and has a favorable open pit geometry.
• Total discovery cost for each ounce of gold at the Viking Project is $21/ounce.

Dr. Shane Ebert, President of the Company commented "Northern Abitibi has discovered a significant new gold resource with excellent initial metallurgical results that is located adjacent to roads, power, and a potential work force in the mining friendly jurisdiction of Newfoundland. The resource estimate shows a very significant tonnage of mineralized material and there remains excellent potential to increase this tonnage with further drilling within the current deposit envelope, and exploring the system to depth, along strike, and by testing several other large gold targets on the property. In deposits with coarse gold, such as Viking, diamond drilling is a good measure of geological continuity but can be a statistically poor measure of grade and its distribution. In several examples, drilling significantly understates bulk-sample grades in deposits with coarse gold. Plans to further expand the high grade resources and assess the grade of the deposit through bulk sampling are underway."

Resource Details

The resource estimation project was carried out by Mercator Geological Services Limited (Mercator) of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and Independent Qualified Person Michael P. Cullen, M.Sc., P. Geo. is responsible for the program. The estimate is based on validated results of 13,922 metres of diamond drilling in 103 drill holes carried out between October 2008 and November, 2010, and 1571 surface channel samples. Modeling was performed using the Gemcom Surpac^® 6.1.4 modeling software package with grades estimated by inverse distance squared interpolation from 1.0 meter down hole assay composites combined with the channel samples. Block size was 5 meters (x) by 5 meters (y) by 5 meters (z) with sub-blocking at 2.5 meters (x) by 2.5 meters (y) by 2.5 meters (z).

Grade interpolation was constrained according to grade shell wireframes utilizing multiple independent search ellipse passes. High grade mineralization was constrained in 9 solid models with two primary orientations, north-south striking dipping to the west (Thor Trend) and east-west trending plunging to the southwest (Thor Vein). Contributing values were capped at 28 g/t and interpolated predominantly using search ellipses with a major axis range of 50 meters, a semi-major axis of 25 meters, and a minor axis of 10 meters. The surrounding low grade mineralization demonstrating continuity at a 0.20 g/t threshold was constrained in 3 solid models oriented along the primary north south Thor Trend (345 to 350 degree strike) with a westerly dip (65 to 70 degrees). Contributing values were capped at 5 g/t and interpolated using search ellipses with a major axis range of 100 meters, a semi-major range of 50 meters, and a minor axis range of 25 meters. Peripheral low grade mineralization without the sufficient demonstrated continuity was interpolated using a search ellipse oriented along the primary Thor Trend constrained to a 50 meter major and semi-major axis range, representing the nominal drill hole section spacing, and a 10 meter minor axis range. A specific gravity factor of 3.00 grams per cubic centimeter was assigned to diorite litho-coded blocks and a factor of 2.70 grams per cubic centimeter was assigned to all other blocks, based on the average results of specific gravity determinations from Northern Abitibi. All resources are categorized as being in the inferred category.

A complete Technical Report on the Thor Trend Deposit describing in detail, among other things, the resource estimate, QA/QC, database validation and geologic model, is expected to be filed on SEDAR by April 16, 2011.

The Thor Trend

The Thor Trend Deposit on the Viking Property is hosted by hydrothermally altered, foliated granitoid rocks of Proterozoic age that are cut by two large diorite sills and gold mineralization of economic interest has been encountered within all major rock types on the property. Low grade gold mineralization at levels between 0.10 g/t and 0.50 g/t has been defined by current drilling along approximately 550 meters of strike length and remains open to both north and south as well as down dip. High grade domains within the low grade halo have been modeled as six separate zones to date that were defined on the basis of drill core and channel sample assay results. Influence of high gold grades was restricted to spatial solids developed to define the trends. The larger low grade shell that surrounds the higher grade zones was modeled separately.

The Viking Property

The Viking Property contains numerous high grade veins within larger bulk tonnage style zones of gold mineralization located within a 3 to 4 kilometre long gold-in-soil anomaly. Drilling highlights from previous drilling programs include high grade intercepts of 5.75 metres grading 33.7 g/t gold, 3.7 metres grading 50.1 g/t gold, 0.5 metres grading 218.8 g/t gold as well as lower grade intercepts including 27 metres grading 7.9 g/t gold, 23.0 metres grading 5.1 g/t gold, and 57.4 metres grading 2.8 g/t gold. The Viking property is located in the mining friendly jurisdiction of Newfoundland and Labrador and has excellent access and local infrastructure, with a paved highway and power line located less than one kilometre from the project. Northern Abitibi has a 100% property interest in the Viking project subject to a 2% to 4% sliding scale net smelter royalty held by Altius Resources. A detailed description of the Viking project is available on our website (www.naminco.ca).

Quality Control

All drill core is logged, photographed, and cut in half with a diamond saw. Half of the core is bagged and sent to Accurassay Laboratories or Eastern Analytical for analyses while the other half is archived and stored on site for verification and reference purposes. Gold is assayed by standard fire assay methods with additional elements analyzed by Induced Coupled Plasma (ICP). Samples with greater than 5 g/t gold and samples containing visible gold are re-assayed using a metallic sieve procedure to reduce the nugget effect created by free gold particles in the samples.

Duplicate samples, blanks, and certified standards are included with every sample batch and then checked to ensure proper quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC). Select samples are also sent to an outside laboratory for independent analyses as part of a check assay procedure.

Dr. Shane Ebert, P. Geo. is the Qualified Person responsible for the preparation of this news release. Michael P. Cullen, M.Sc., P. Geo., of Mercator Geological Services has reviewed the portion of this news release pertaining to the resource estimate.

Shane Ebert, President/Director

Except for the historical and present factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release, including words such as "expects", "projects", "plans", "anticipates" and similar expressions, are forward-looking information that represents management of Northern Abitibi's internal projections, expectations or beliefs concerning, among other things, future operating results and various components thereof or the economic performance of Northern Abitibi. The projections, estimates and beliefs contained in such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Northern Abitibi's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, those described in Northern Abitibi's filings with the Canadian securities authorities. Accordingly, holders of Northern Abitibi shares and potential investors are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted. Northern Abitibi disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements.