Argonaut Gold Strengthens Management Team and Provides Ana Paula Sale Update

TORONTO, April 1, 2021 - Argonaut Gold Inc. (TSX: AR) (the "Company", "Argonaut Gold" or "Argonaut") is pleased to announce the appointment of Lowe J. Billingsley in the role of Senior Vice President, Operations effective April 12, 2021.

Mr. Billingsley has 32 years of industry experience spanning executive leadership, multi-cultural engagement, operations, project management and technical expertise. He was previously the Mine Manager of the Stillwater East Mining Complex for Sibanye-Stillwater. Prior to, Mr. Billingsley spent 27 years with AngloGold Ashanti in various roles increasing in responsibility, seniority and leadership with the most recent being Senior Vice President, Americas. In this role with AngloGold Ashanti, Mr. Billingsley was responsible for managing the Americas Region, comprising four operations in Brazil and Argentina with annual production of 850,000 gold ounces and a workforce of approximately 5,000 employees and 4,000 contractors. Mr. Billingsley holds a B.A. in Geology from The Colorado College, in Colorado Springs.

Pete Dougherty, President and CEO stated: "We are excited to welcome Lowe to the Argonaut senior management team and look forward to leveraging his experience in managing a multi-asset operations portfolio. Lowe is an accomplished international mining professional with a demonstrated track record of vision, leadership, engagement, sound judgement and execution. His wealth of experience will be a tremendous asset to the Company."

Ana Paula Sale Update

The previously announced definitive agreement to sell its Ana Paula project (see press releases dated September 11, 2020 and January 4, 2021) expired on March 31, 2021. The acquiring company did not fulfill its obligations in relation to financing and receipt of certain regulatory and other approvals.

Pete Dougherty, commented: "Our current growth strategy is focused around the Magino project and secondarily around the Cerro del Gallo project. We felt we had entered into a win-win agreement on the sale of Ana Paula whereby we could bring some value forward and also maintain upside to the project through an equity ownership and royalty. Unfortunately, the acquiring company was not able to fulfill its obligations and after extending the agreement once already, we feel we are better off pursuing other options for Ana Paula at this time. We believe Ana Paula has the ability to be a foundational asset in time and are excited about having exposure to the project. We expect to be in a position to publish an update pre-feasibility study for the Ana Paula project during the second quarter of 2021, which we feel will demonstrate a relatively low capital cost, low operating cost, high-grade open pit project with future underground potential."

About Argonaut Gold

Argonaut Gold is a Canadian gold company engaged in exploration, mine development and production. Its primary assets are the El Castillo mine and San Agustin mine, which together form the El Castillo Complex in Durango, Mexico, the La Colorada mine in Sonora, Mexico and the Florida Canyon mine in Nevada, USA. The Company also holds the construction stage Magino project, the advanced exploration stage Cerro del Gallo project and several other exploration stage projects, all of which are located in North America.

For more information, contact:

Argonaut Gold Inc.
Dan Symons
Vice President, Corporate Development & Investor Relations
Phone: 416-915-3107
Email: dan.symons@argonautgold.com

SOURCE Argonaut Gold Inc.