West Kirkland Drilling Update and 2011 Exploration Plans

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 10, 2011) - West Kirkland Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE:WKM) ("West Kirkland" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on recently completed drill programs and details on 2011 exploration plans. 

The Company has expanded its land positions to 80 square kilometers in Kirkland Lake, Ontario and 257 square kilometers in Northeastern Nevada. In light of successful exploration results and large scale acquisitions, West Kirkland has committed to a $2,000,000 budget for Kirkland Lake Ontario and a further $2,000,000 budget for Nevada.

With the rapid advancement of numerous targets in each camp to drill-ready status, the majority of the $ 4,000,000 North American gold exploration budget is to be spent on drilling. The Company has approximately $ 7,000,000 in cash to fund 2011 exploration programs.

Drilling has commenced in Kirkland Lake, with a focus on following up on the recent Cunningham discovery. The initial focus of Nevada exploration will be on properties acquired in an agreement with Fronteer Gold.

Kirkland Lake Project

To date West Kirkland has completed 11 option agreements on properties in the Kirkland Lake Camp. This aggressive approach has allowed the Company to identify and control a five kilometer long target break with gold mineralization that has only been tested by shallow drilling to date. Management's experience in Timmins, Ontario, where systematic exploration to depth resulted in the Thunder Creek Discovery, is directly applicable to the Kirkland Lake belt. In addition, the Company recently completed an option agreement on the Goldbanks Property immediately adjacent to Kirkland Lake Gold's Maccassa Mine, which has produced in excess of 3.5 million ounces of gold. 

In 2010 West Kirkland drilled a total of 5764.7 meters in 20 regional exploration drill holes. Five of these holes were drilled on the Cunningham Property and this drilling combined with historic drilling has identified a potential mineralized break with five kilometers in strike length. The western extension along the Cunningham break was recently acquired and has not been tested with drilling by West Kirkland.

Initial results from the Cunningham Property were announced in the Company's November 18, 2010 news release. Results from an additional four holes have been received. The new results include hole KC1009 which intersected 6.36 g/t Au over 1.8 meters, from 129.4 – 131.2 meters. This hole was drilled directly beneath hole KC1008, which previously intersected 7.61 g/t over 23 meters, from 68.5 – 91.5 meters.

Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Length	Au g/t*
KC1008**	68.5	91.5	23	7.61
incl. **	68.5	70.5	2	6.36
and**	83.6	91.5	7.9	19.79
KC1009	129.4	131.2	1.8	6.19
and	149.5	151	1.5	0.95
and	173	174.6	1.6	1.42
KC1010	no significant results
KC1011	372.8	373.0	0.2	2.39
KC1011	400.5	401.3	0.8	0.916
KC1011	404.2	405.2	1.0	1.31
KC1012	no significant results

*	uncapped
**	Previously announced results.

2011 Kirkland Lake Exploration Program:

West Kirkland controls approximately 80 square kilometers of claims within the Kirkland Lake Camp and has recently added the Goldbanks Property immediately adjoining the Macassa Gold mine of Kirkland Lake Gold. The Company's 2011 exploration program is budgeted at $2,000,000 with a minimum of 10,000 meters of drilling to be conducted as follows:

• Drilling at Goldbanks will target existing structures on trend of the famous '04 Break and '05 Break in Kirkland Lake within 1,200 meters of the Macassa #3 Shaft. Initial drilling of 3,000 meters is planned.
• Drilling along the Cunningham Break will target along strike and down dip of gold intercepts along a five kilometer long panel of the break from near surface to 300 meter depth. Initial drilling of 5,000 metres is planned.
• A minimum 2,000 meters of drilling on regional exploration targets.

Nevada:

West Kirkland will have a minimum $2,000,000 exploration program in Nevada in 2011 which will include drilling on high priority targets within the Fronteer Gold land package:

• At KB and TUG in Northeast Nevada an existing historic resource and 431 drill holes confirms the presence of gold bearing systems over a broad area. Outside the area of the historic resource, drilling, mapping and soil geochemistry has identified several underexplored drill targets. A minimum of 2,000 meters of drilling is planned for these targets at this time.
• The Bullion Property is located within the Battle Mountain Trend and is 12 kilometers from the Pipeline Gold Mine of Barrick Gold. Past surface gold samples include results of 10 g/t. Follow up on these will include up to 2,000 meters of drilling in Spring-Summer 2011.
• A total of nine other properties in Nevada, including Goldstorm will be prioritized for potential drill programs during the first quarter 2011.

West Kirkland has now received results from 2010 drilling on the Goldstorm Property, which consisted of two diamond drill holes. Intercepts from hole WG1001 confirmed the presence of and potential for volcanic hosted gold veins similar to the Midas mine to the Southeast of Goldstorm.

Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Length	Au g/t*
WG1001	65.00	67.00	2.00	5.51
and	86.70	88.70	2.00	3.29
and	86.70	88.70	2.00	3.29
and	103.00	104.00	1.00	1.56
and	116.40	118.40	2.00	1.95
WG1002	no significant values

WG1002, drilled to a depth of 544.7 meters, did not cut stratigraphy favorable to host Carlin type mineralization, one of the two target types at Goldstorm. West Kirkland has made a payment of $75,000 to Mexivada to hold the option in good standing and further programs at Goldstorm will be considered in the context of the other Nevada Projects that the Company now holds.

Conclusions

In the first seven months of operation as a public company, West Kirkland Mining has secured large mineral rights interests along two of the premier producing gold districts of North America. The company has also entered into strategic option agreements with two premier gold companies, Fronteer Gold and Queenston Mining. Our 2010 drilling has been successful in intersecting gold in both Nevada and Kirkland Lake including a high-grade discovery at the Cunningham project.

For 2011 West Kirkland will be expanding its drill programs in both Kirkland Lake and Nevada. Further results are expected in the first quarter from drilling starting now in Kirkland Lake.

Qualified Person, Verification, Quality Control and Assurance

Michael G. Allen, P. Geo, is the non-independent qualified person for this news release. He has relevant experience in exploration and development projects in North America over the past twelve years.

About West Kirkland Mining

West Kirkland Mining was formed in 2010 to focus on gold exploration along major trends in North America. The Company has consolidated significant mineral rights positions in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario and within major gold trends of North Eastern Nevada -two of North America's premier gold jurisdictions. The founders and Board of West Kirkland Mining have successful gold discovery, development and mine operations experience in both Ontario and Nevada over the past 40 years.

For further information, please see the Company's website at www.wkmining.com or contact us by email at info@wkmining.com.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding proposed exploration activities. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the market for gold or other minerals that may be produced generally, recent market volatility; variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.