2013 Field Exploration Program Commences at African Queen's Ugunja Gold Project in Kenya's Lakeland District

TSX.V: AQ

Frankfurt: QM0

Vancouver, British Columbia -- AFRICAN QUEEN MINES LTD. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has now commenced its 2013 field exploration program at the Ugunja Gold Project in Kenya's Lakeland District. A technical team is currently on site under the direction of Senior Geologist Marthe Archambault (P.Geol.), a qualified person under N.I. 43-101. The field work underway is a continuation of the Phase 1b Exploration Program commenced last year and includes regional mapping, soil and rock sampling, trenching and ground geophysics.

Previous field work at Ugunja revealed anomalous gold prevalent throughout the area examined. A number of structures were identified in the 2012 program, including a visible gold-bearing quartz vein at the Rariada target which returned reported values of 30.018 g/t Au and 4.8 g/t Ag over a true width of 80 cm (PR dated October 26, 2012). Preliminary results from an Aster satellite image interpretation indicate that the Rariada structure as well as other targets at Ugunja occur in zones of intersection of at least two regional shear zones. These intersections create a favorable environment for the deposition of gold with the potential to host commercial deposits. The current field program is designed to follow up on those targets identified as well as to further explore the regional potential at Ugunja. The Company hopes to identify highly prospective drill targets for a core drilling program to be undertaken later this year.

The Ugunja Project encompasses approximately 370 sq. km in the Busia, Siaya and Kakamega areas (aka the Lakeland District) located N of the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. It is situated approximately 100 km to the NW of the Company's Odundu Project in the Rongo Gold Fields, also on the Lake Victoria greenstone belt, where core drilling was carried out in 2012 (see PR dated July 12, 2012).

The property overlays a portion of the Ndori/Siaya greenstone belt comprising Kavirondian age meta-sediments and older Nyanzian meta-volcanics, and is the western extension of the Kakamega gold trend. It has been affected by large regional shear zones which created abundant tension fractures and structures allowing gold-bearing quartz veins to form. Ugunja's low-grade metasedimentary rocks, chiefly argillites, sandstones and conglomerates, overlie Nyanzian age greenstones which include banded iron formation (BIF) and dominantly metabasaltic lithologies. African Barrick Gold plc recently announced that it has acquired an interest in ground adjacent to the Company's Ugunja Project from Aviva Corporation Limited (see PR dated October 16, 2012).

Under the terms of its Earn-In and JV Agreement with Kenya Discovery Limited, the Company, through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary AQ Kenya Gold Limited, may earn up to an 85% interest in the Ugunja Project by funding prescribed optional stages from exploration through feasibility. The Company serves as manager and operator of the Project.

According to Irwin Olian, CEO of the Company, "We are excited to be back on the ground at Ugunja now to follow up on the positive results of our 2012 field exploration program. Kenya remains relatively tranquil at this time following the recent national election and there are presently no impediments to moving forward with our continuing exploration program at Ugunja. We plan to accelerate our activities at Ugunja to identify the optimal drill targets in order to commence a core drilling program later this year."

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About African-Queen

The Company is an exploratory resource company with diversified mineral properties in East and West Africa. It is exploring its properties in Ghana and Kenya for gold and other metals. In Ghana it has 30.23 sq. km. under license for gold under an agreement with another company. In Kenya it has approximately 850 sq. km. under license for gold and metals, and a further 737 sq. km. of gold and other minerals licenses under agreements with two other companies. The Company's operations in Ghana are carried out through its subsidiary AQ Ghana Gold Limited. Its operations in Kenya are carried out through its operating subsidiary AQ Kenya Gold Limited. The Company has its executive offices in Vancouver, Canada. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada on April 30, 2008, and received certain southern African assets in a spin off transaction related to the acquisition of Pan African Mining Corp. by Asia Thai Mining Co., Ltd.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
AFRICAN QUEEN MINES, LTD.

"Irwin Olian"
Irwin Olian
Chairman & CEO

For more information, contact:

--------------------------------------------------------------- |Irwin Olian, President and CEO |Carrie Howes, Corporate | |E-mail: |Communications Email: | |tigertail@africanqueenmines.com |carrie@africanqueenmines.com| |Phone: (604) 899-0100 Fax: (604)|Phone: Germany - +49 (0) | |899-0200 |21141 740411 U.K. - +44 | | |(0) 870 490 5443 | | | Canada - +1 416 900 | | |3634 | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Dubai - +971 55 | |997 0427 | ---------------------------------------------------------------

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of the information contained herein. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.