Sandy Lake Gold Inc. Announces Award in Arbitration

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 20, 2017) - Sandy Lake Gold Inc. (the "Company" or "SLG") (TSX VENTURE:SLAU) announces that the Arbitral Tribunal has made an award with regard to the first part of the arbitration underway with respect to the property known as the Weebigee Project. The award upheld the declaration of force majeure made by the Company on July 27, 2016 pursuant to the option agreement between GPM Metals ("GPM") and Goldeye Explorations Limited ("Goldeye") dated April 15, 2015 relating to the Weebigee Project (the "Option Agreement"). GPM's rights under the Option Agreement were acquired by the Company as previously announced on July 21, 2016.

The Arbitral Tribunal's decision found that:

1. a force majeure event under the Option Agreement occurred and was declared on July 27, 2016;
2. the force majeure event existed continuously, without change, until June 7, 2017;
3. the force majeure event was not within the control of SLG; and,
4. the failure of SLG to comply with its obligations under the Option Agreement to incur the required exploration work expenditures of $1,000,000 (the "Work Expenditures") by April 15, 2017 was caused by, or arose out of, the force majeure event.

There were a number of findings in the reasons for the award that will assist the Company as it manages its operations, including that (a) SLG can unilaterally communicate and manage the issues on site with the First Nations; and (b) Goldeye has no basis under the Option Agreement to control or direct any of SLG's exploration work. The Company will continue to engage in consultations with the local First Nations in order to resume exploration work.

As announced previously, the arbitration has been bi-furcated and accordingly, the second part of the arbitration is expected to take place in December 2017.

About Sandy Lake Gold Inc.

Sandy Lake Gold Inc. is a Toronto based mineral exploration company focused on the exploration of the 1,785 contiguous mineral claims in the underexplored Sandy Lake Archean Greenstone Belt in Northwestern Ontario.

The Company's district-scale land package comprises approximately 28,000 hectares comprising 1785 contiguous claim units along a 60 km E-W strike length of the Sandy Lake Greenstone Belt (SLGB) along the north shore of Big Sandy and Sandy Lake. The structural architecture is dominated by the 40 KM long, trending E-W, Central Sandy Lake Shear Zone. These properties lie within the traditional territories of the adjacent First Nation communities of Keewaywin and Sandy Lake.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy and / or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements - Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Sandy Lake, including, but not limited to the timing and results of the second part of the arbitration, the effect of any future discussions with First Nations groups, the nature of any resolution to the matters giving rise to disputes (if any such resolution is reached at all), the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.