Argo Gold Inc. announced that drilling has begun at the Lloyd oil well proximal to Lloydminister, Alberta. The Lloyd oil well is a mulit-lateral horizontal oil well targeting 3000 metres in the Sparky oil formation. Argo's interest in Lloyd is pursuant to Argo's second participation agreement with Croverro Energy, whereby Argo is paying the operator 25% of the cost to drill, complete, and fully equip or abandon the well to earn an 18.75% interest in the well.

Estimated costs are $450,000 and Argo's 18.75% share of oil production is estimated to be 30 barrels of oil per day. Argo also announces that Judy Baker, CEO of the company, is loaning Argo $310,000 to fund a portion of drilling at the Lloyd oil well. The secured loan has a term of 10 months and bears an interest rate of 10% per annum.

The loan is a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The loan transaction is exempt from the MI 61-101 valuation and minority approval requirements for related party transactions pursuant to the exemptions contained sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, as neither the subject matter of, nor the consideration for, the loan, exceeds 25% of Argo's market capitalization. Argo is currently completing a non-brokered private placement of up to 12,000,000 common shares at a price of $0.10 per share, for gross proceeds of up to $1,200,000.

The proceeds of the financing will be used for participation in the Sparky oil wells at Lloyd and Lindbergh, and for general corporate purposes. Finder's fees may be payable to qualified individuals pursuant to which the finder may receive a finder's fee equal to 8% of the gross proceeds of the financing attributable to such finder.