N@N

High Desert Gold Corporation: High Desert Gold Announces the Signing of a Letter of Intent with Gryphon Gold Corporation on the

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 15, 2009) - High Desert Gold Corporation ("HDG" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:HDG)(TSX VENTURE:HDG.WT) announces the signing of a binding letter agreement with Gryphon Gold Corporation ("Gryphon"), whereby HDG can earn a 60% interest in the Gold Springs property over a 5 year period by spending US$1 million in exploration expenditures and making payments to Gryphon of US$190,000. First year costs include a US$30,000 payment to Gryphon and a work requirement of US$50,000. The property consists of 129 unpatented lode claims located within Lincoln County, Nevada and Iron County, Utah, comprising a total of approximately 2,500 acres. The Gold Springs property has excellent potential for both bulk mineable (open pit) and high-grade underground mineralization, as indicated by historic mining, drilling and surface sampling.

The Gold Springs project area has a long history of gold exploration and production dating back to 1896. Many high-grade underground gold mines were developed in the district. Mineralization style has similarities to Newmont's large, high grade, Midas Mine in Nevada.

Large, wide, structural zones, often extending for more than a kilometre in length, have been completely altered and silicified and host both high-grade and low-grade gold mineralization. The early mines (late 1800's) extracted the gold from just the high-grade narrow veins in a small portion of the district, leaving substantial widths of lower grade mineralization intact. For example, in the north-south "Jumbo" structural zone on the East side of the property, lower grade mineralization has been drilled previously by Energex and Astral Mining Corporation ("Astral"), over a strike length of 300 metres within the total outcropping strike length of over 1,000 metres. Examples of the drill results obtained from Energex and Astral are shown in the following table: (The J88 series drill hole results were obtained from the Energex drill hole sections. The GS-06-01 data were obtained from the data base provided by Gryphon.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drill Hole Target From To Interval Gold Silver Gold
 (metres) (metres) (metres) gpt gpt Equivalent
 Grade
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern
 Section
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
J88-6 Jumbo 50.3 103.6(i) 53.3 0.35 12.0 0.54
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 including 82.3 103.6 21.3 0.54 20.7 0.87
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GS-06-1 Jumbo 24.4 149.4 125.0 0.657 6.8 0.765
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 including 24.4 74.7 50.3 1.401 10.1 1.564
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 including 24.4 54.9 30.5 2.027 12.3 2.224
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 including 24.4 32.0 7.6 6.715 25.6 7.125
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Middle
 section
 100 m
 South
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
J88-4 Jumbo 13.7 71.6(i) 57.9 1.28 13.9 1.50
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 including 13.7 16.8 3.1 17.07 42.0 17.75
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
J-88-5 Jumbo 16.8 91.4 74.6 0.80 15.4 1.05
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 including 19.8 21.3 1.5 12.48 31.0 12.98
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 and 77.7 79.2 1.5 8.68 53.0 9.53
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
South
 Section
 180 m
 South
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
J88-1 Jumbo 21.3 61.0(i) 39.7 1.68 12.7 1.88
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Including 36.6 51.8 15.2 3.00 16.6 3.27
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
J88-2 Jumbo 27.4 83.8(i) 56.4 1.27 12.7 1.47
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1ncluding 57.9 70.1 12.2 3.16 20.7 3.49
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
J88-8 Jumbo 80.8 118.9 38.1 0.58 15.8 0.83
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
including 96.0 106.7 10.7 1.36 35.5 1.93
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i)J88-1, J88-2, J88-4 and J88-6 end in mineralization of 1.54, 0.33, 0.5
 and 0.41gpt gold respectively.

- Gold Equivalent grade was obtained using the following prices: gold US$1,000/oz and silver US$16/oz.

- True width: The structural zone has irregular boundaries so true width is difficult to determine accurately, however, it is approximately 3/4 of the down-hole length.

The J Series drill hole results were obtained by Energex in 1988 and are pre NI 43-101 requirements, however, the NI 43-101 report issued by Astral, dated July 5, 2005, indicates that the author had viewed the original assay certificates and the report quotes assays from these drill holes. The actual intervals disclosed above are taken from Energex and Astral's drill hole sections and data bases which the Company has in its possession. However, these results have not been verified by the Qualified Person on behalf of the Company. HDG has copies of the Energex drill hole sections with the assays and a data base for the GS-06-1 drill hole provided by Gryphon. HDG has not verified the data but believes it to be representative of the mineralization.

The 300 metre long segment of the Jumbo zone described above is open to the north and south and is likely wider than shown by the drilling. Many of the drill holes ended in higher grade mineralization. For instance, as indicated above the last samples in holes J88-1 and J88-4 were 1.54 gpt gold and 0.50 gpt gold respectively. There is also one hole, J88-7, between the southern and middle sections that only partially penetrated the mineralized zone that ended at 73.2 metres in 8 gpt gold.

Besides the lower grade mineralization potential, there is an excellent chance of discovering more high-grade mineralization similar to that found in the old mines. For example, drill hole J88-4 intersected three metres averaging approximately a half oz. gold (17.07 gpt) and drill hole GS-06-01 intersected three metres averaging 11.93 gpt of gold in the Jumbo zone.

Ralph Fitch, President and CEO of the Company stated "We are very excited to have the opportunity to explore this very large gold system which has never been subjected to a thorough exploration program. With only 7.2 million HDG shares outstanding, we feel that this type of gold project with its excellent demonstrated potential will be very positive for our company and for our shareholders. We have already identified at least six excellent targets, similar to the Jumbo zone, most of which have never been drilled. This is a classic hydrothermal gold system with lots of silicification and hydrothermal gold bearing breccias, a great place to explore for gold, particularly because drilling has already demonstrated that typical ore grades exist."

Gold mineralization is hosted by a series of volcanic rocks related to the Indian Peak resurgent caldera complex and controlled by complex sheeted veins, breccias and stockwork vein zones which consist of quartz, adularia, and bladed calcite with minor sulfides (less than 2%) representing low sulfidation, epithermal gold-silver vein systems. Trace element geochemistry for As (arsenic) and Sb (antimony) show relatively low values similar to other quartz-adularia epithermal vein systems such as the K-2 deposit (greater than 2,000,000 ounces gold) in Washington and the Midas deposit (greater than 3,000,000 ounces gold) in northern Nevada.

The most recent exploration in the area was carried out by Astral in 2006, which completed a limited drill program. A summary of this exploration through 2005 is reported in the Astral NI 43-101 Report, "Gold Springs Project" dated July 05, 2005.

The Qualified Person on the Gold Springs property is Randall Moore, Executive Vice President of Exploration, High Desert Gold Corporation and he has reviewed and approved the content of this press release.

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "should," "estimates," "expects," "believes," "indicates," "targeting," "suggests," "potential," "interpretation" and similar expressions. Information concerning the interpretation of chip sample results and also geology may be considered forward-looking statements, as such information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might be found to be present if and when a project is actually developed. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties, which are more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form filed and publicly available on SEDAR at [ www.sedar.com ]. Actual results may materially differ from expectations, if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Except as required by law, HDG assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason.

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 or accuracy of this release.