SEMAFO Reports Continuous Near-Surface High Grades at Siou: Shallow North Plunge Points to Depth Extension

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Feb. 7, 2013) - SEMAFO Inc. (TSX:SMF)(OMX:SMF) today announced that results from its Phase I delineation drilling program at Siou confirm both grade and vein thickness, particularly within the core 500-meter strike length of the mineralized zones. Current interpretation identifies six different zones generally located in the hanging wall of the main Siou Zone. Results to date suggest that of the zones identified, Siou and Nine show the best continuity and grades.

In addition, a few deeper drill holes were completed along the interpreted shallow north plunge, including WDC-613, which returned 5.45 g/t Au across 4.9 meters at a depth of 200 vertical meters below surface and WDC-609, which returned 7.78 g/t Au across 4.2 meters at roughly the same elevation, but 200 meters north of WDC-613.

Delineation drilling on the Siou Zone commenced late in the fourth quarter 2012 and consisted of 8,797 meters in 43 core holes. The objective of this program was to reduce the drill hole spacing to 50 meters for the top 150 meters of the zone and complete a few deeper cuts in order to trace the potential down-plunge of the deposit. The results of this program will serve as the basis for the inferred resource estimate to be included in the upcoming end-of-year reserves and resource update.

"Our objective for Siou is to include the deposit in our reserve base in 2013," said Michel Crevier, SEMAFO's Vice-President Exploration and Mine Geology. "Our exploration team remains focused on fast-tracking the Siou deposit towards an eventual production decision. Thus far, the deposit has passed every step towards this objective with brio and continues to provide excellent targets for additional resources, particularly at depth. Furthermore, the exceptional metallurgical results that we recently announced for Siou with recovery rates of over 95% greatly enhance the potential of the zone."

The following table presents the drill result highlights of the recent core drilling program.

Siou Zone Drilling Highlights

The Siou is located along the Kokoi Trend, which corresponds to a north-northeast trending magnetic lineament that can be seen over a distance of approximately 30 kilometers. Recent drilling enabled the identification of a total of six (6) sub-parallel zones of quartz veining and gold mineralization within a 50-meter wide corridor of the favourable felsic intrusive contact. Although zones Siou and Nine contain the bulk of the notable results, the remaining four zones are often located in the hanging wall of the two main structures and therefore would inevitably be part of an open-pit shell. Within the two main zones, near-surface results within the 500-meter core of the mineralization continue to show good continuity in both vein width and grade, more particularly within the Siou Zone.

Preliminary deeper drilling was also conducted in an effort to trace the extension of the mineralization. As suspected, the mineralization appears to show a shallow north plunge similar to what is observed at the Wona Deposit. Both the Siou and Nine Zones returned promising results. Holes WDC-613 returned 5.45 g/t Au across 4.9 meters at a depth of 200 vertical meters below surface within the Siou Zone, while hole WDC-609 returned 7.78 g/t Au across 4.2 meters at roughly the same elevation, but 200 meters north of hole WDC-613 and within the Nine Zone.

Further diamond drilling is currently in progress along the north shallow plunge. Meanwhile, ongoing resource evaluation will provide the necessary data to establish the required spacing to upgrade the resources. Results of this evaluation will guide the second phase of delineation drilling scheduled to commence in Q1 2013.

Michel Crevier, P.Geo MScA, Vice-President Exploration and Mine Geology is SEMAFO's Qualified Person and has reviewed this press release for accuracy and compliance with National Instrument 43-101.

All individual samples represent approximately one-meter in length of core, which was sawn in half. Half of the core is kept on site for reference and its counterpart is sent for preparation and gold assaying to the ALS Mineral Division laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso or to SEMAFO's Mana Mine Lab, which uses separate sample preparation equipment exclusive to exploration samples. For reverse-circulation and air core drilling, all individual samples represent approximately one-meter in length of rock chips homogenized and riffle-split to an approximate two-kilogram subsample, which is sent for preparation and gold assaying to the ALS Mineral Division laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso or to SEMAFO's Mana Mine Lab. Each sample (reverse-circulation and air core) is fire-assayed for gold content on a 50-gram subsample. In addition to ALS Mineral Division's own QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) program and Mana Lab's own QA/QC program, an internal quality control and quality assurance program is in place throughout the sampling program, using blind duplicates, blanks and recognized industry standards.

About SEMAFO

SEMAFO is a Canadian-based mining company with gold production and exploration activities in West Africa. The Corporation currently operates three gold mines: the Mana Mine in Burkina Faso, the Samira Hill Mine in Niger and the Kiniero Mine in Guinea. SEMAFO is committed to evolve in a conscientious manner to become a major player in its geographical area of interest. SEMAFO's strategic focus is to maximize shareholder value by effectively managing its existing assets as well as pursuing organic and strategic growth opportunities.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as "suggest", "objective", "potential", "will", "upcoming", "scheduled", "committed", "evolve", "become", "pursuing", "growth", "opportunities" and other similar words or expressions. Factors that could cause future results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include the ability to provide updated reserves and resources as at the end of fiscal 2012, the ability to include the Siou deposit in the reserve base during 2013, the ability to execute on our strategic focus, fluctuation in the price of currencies, gold or operating costs, mining industry risks, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves and resources, delays, political and social stability in Africa (including our ability to maintain or renew licenses and permits) and other risks described in SEMAFO's documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in SEMAFO's 2011 Annual MD&A and 2011 Annual Information Form, as updated in SEMAFO's 2012 First Quarter MD&A, 2012, Second Quarter MD&A and 2012, Third Quarter MD&A and other filings made with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. These documents are also available on our website at www.semafo.com. SEMAFO disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

The above information has been made public in accordance with the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act

Figure 1 is available at this address : http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/smfa0207.pdf.