Erdene Appoints Gold Mining Executive David Mosher as Strategic Advisor and Provides Project Updates

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Jan 5, 2016) - Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD) ("Erdene" or "Company"), is pleased to announce the appointment of David Mosher as a strategic advisor to the Company.

"We are very pleased to have Mr. Mosher join the Erdene team and to assist with our rapidly evolving gold projects in southwest Mongolia," said Peter Akerley, Erdene's President and CEO. "With the recent high-grade gold discovery at Bayan Khundii and the nearby Altan Nar gold deposits, we believe we have the necessary projects to move Erdene towards our goal of becoming a gold producer in the near-term. With David's thirty-five years of executive level experience in mine building, project management in foreign jurisdictions and company building, he is extremely well qualified to help guide the Company both technically and professionally as we advance our core projects."

Mr. Mosher is a mining executive with over thirty-five years of international experience. From 1992 to 2008, David was President and CEO of High River Gold Mines Ltd., a TSX listed company involved in the exploration, development and production of gold in Canada, Africa and Russia. In that role, he negotiated the acquisition of two producing Russian gold mines, completed mining investment agreements with the government of Burkina Faso, raised over $300 million to support the company's growth, and supervised the development of two open pit gold mines (the Taparko gold mine in Burkina Faso, and the Berezitovy gold mine in Russia). He has served on many boards including Cambior Inc. and earlier in his career was project manager for Pancontinental Mining Limited, where he and his team discovered and outlined the largest uranium deposit in the world at that time (the Jabiluka deposits in northern Australia).

Over the past decade, Mr. Mosher has been active in the restructuring and refinancing of a number of junior resource companies, both private and public, and currently serves as a director of several mining and exploration companies, including Pancontinental Uranium Corp. (TSX-V) and Pelangio Exploration Inc. (TSX-V). Mr. Mosher received his B.Sc. degree in geology from Acadia University.

Project Update

Bayan Khundii Gold Project (100% Erdene)

Erdene's Q4-2015 drill program at the Bayan Khundii gold discovery in southwest Mongolia returned multiple, high-grade intersections over a 475 m area, including; 7 m of 27.5 g/t gold, including 1 m of 187 g/t gold (hole BKD-01); 35 m of 5.7 g/t gold from surface, including 12 m of 16.0 g/t gold (hole BKD-10); and 26 m of 6 g/t gold, including 15 m of 9.9 g/t gold (hole BKD-09). Visible gold was observed in 10 of the 15 drill holes, with no significant sulphide material present. All mineralized zones were intersected within 50 m of surface and remain open along strike and at depth. Additional exploration of this high-grade gold discovery is in the planning stage and is expected to include a second phase of diamond drilling and metallurgical testing during the first half of 2016.

Link to Erdene's latest news release on Bayan Khundii - click here

Altan Nar Gold-Polymetallic Project (100% Erdene)

Erdene's Q3-2015 drilling, trenching and metallurgical program at its Altan Nar gold-polymetallic project, 20 km northwest of Bayan Khundii, was focused on the Discovery Zone ("DZ") and Union North ("UN") mineral resource areas. Infill drilling at DZ supported continuity of a high-grade mineralized zone with 9 m of 7.3 g/t Au, 25 g/t Ag, 1.20% Pb and 1.65% Zn within 50 m of surface (hole TND-92). Infill drilling at UN returned multiple mineralized zones including 8.9 m of 5.0 g/t Au, 17 g/t Ag, 1.49% Pb and 0.28% Zn within 36 m of surface (hole TND-81), while trenching at UN extended the mineralized zone by approximately 200 m to the east with a step-out trench (trench ANT-21) that returned 28.5 m of 1.9 g/t Au, 4.3 g/t Ag, 0.78% Pb and 0.35% Zn. Metallurgical test work at DZ North returned high gold recoveries of up to 88% from leaching. Going forward, work at Altan Nar is expected to include additional metallurgical process test work, evaluation of the mining, engineering, transportation, and marketing options, exploration and development related programs, and work required for a mining license application.

Link to Erdene's latest news release on Altan Nar - click here

The drill intersections reported above for Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar are not true width. Additional work will be required to determine true widths. They represent drill intersection widths from holes drilled at 45 to 60 degree angles. The mineralization at both projects is moderate to steeply dipping and approximately perpendicular to the drill hole angle.

Qualified Person

Michael MacDonald, P.Geo. (Nova Scotia), Director of Exploration for Erdene, is the Qualified Person as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. All samples have been assayed at SGS Laboratory in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. In addition to internal checks by SGS Laboratory, the Company incorporates a QA/QC sample protocol utilizing prepared standards and blanks.

About Erdene

Erdene Resource Development Corp. is a Canada-based resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of base and precious metals in underexplored and highly prospective Mongolia. The Company holds four exploration licenses and a mining license located in southwest Mongolia. These include: Altan Nar - an extensive, high-grade, near-surface, gold-polymetallic project that the Company is aggressively advancing toward a production decision, however the Company has not yet completed a mining study to support the technical feasibility and economic viability of Altan Nar; Bayan Khundii - a high-grade gold discovery made in Q3-2015 that the Company is currently exploring; Khuvyn Khar - an early-stage, copper-silver porphyry project with multiple drill targets and significant copper intersections; Zuun Mod - a large molybdenum-copper porphyry deposit; Altan Arrow - an early-stage, high-grade, gold-silver project. In addition to the above properties, the Company has an Alliance with Teck Resources Ltd. on regional, copper-gold exploration in the prospective Trans Altay region of southwest Mongolia. For further information on the Company, please visit www.erdene.com. Erdene has 105,060,005 issued and outstanding common shares and a fully diluted position of 124,720,102 common shares.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information regarding Erdene contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Erdene believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Erdene cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Erdene currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE

Contact

Peter C. Akerley, President and CEO or
Ken W. MacDonald, Vice President Business Strategy and CFO
(902) 423-6419
E-mail: info@erdene.com
Website: www.erdene.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErdeneRes