VIKING GOLD ANNOUNCES NEW PRESIDENT

/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. WIRE SERVICES/

TORONTO, Oct. 12 /CNW/ - Viking Gold Exploration Inc. (the "Company") announces that Mr. Mark Edwards has been appointed as its new President and Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Edwards fills the vacancy left by the resignation this past June of Dr. Robert Ginn.

At its recent annual general and special meeting, the shareholders elected David Brace, Mark Edwards, John Hansuld, Garfield Mitchell, John McCleery and Larry Smith as directors, and approved the continuation of the Company's 10% rolling stock option plan and the re-appointment of McGovern Hurley Cunningham LLP as the Company's auditors.

During the follow-up board meeting, the directors approved:

• the appointments of Mark Edwards as the Company's new President & CEO, George Supol as Chief Financial Officer, Jaime McVicar as Secretary and John Hansuld as Chairman;
• the granting of an aggregate of 1,200,000 stock options to the Company's directors, officers and service providers under the Company's Stock Option Plan exercisable at a price of $0.125 (25% over market) for a period of five years; and
• a proposed private placement of 3,000,000 units at a price of $0.08 per unit, with each unit being comprised of one common share and one common share purchase warrant; each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 24 months following the closing of the offering; the net proceeds of the proposed private placement will be used for general working capital purposes

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

For further information:

[phone] ext. 227 or visit our website at: www.vikinggold.ca