Gold Canyon Signs Joint Exploration Agreement With JOGMEC

Gold Canyon Resources Inc. announce that the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Gold Canyon Resources USA Inc., have entered into a Joint Exploration Agreement with the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).

JOGMEC is a government organization established under the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and is responsible for fostering international exploration and development of strategic minerals, amongst other mineral and petroleum related activities. With a global mandate to seek a stable supply of natural resources for Japan, JOGMEC reported assets of 222 Billion Yen (as of November 4, 2008) and had an annual budget of 1,657.4 Billion Yen (2008 Fiscal Year).

The Joint Exploration Agreement will conduct Rare Earth Element (REE) exploration in the State of Missouri. The objective of this Joint Exploration Agreement is to identify, analyze and perform metallurgical evaluations leading to production of REEs on Iron Oxide Copper Gold+/-Rare Earth Element (IOCG+/-REE) style deposits. The Company has obtained the mineral rights to the Kratz Spring IOCG+/-REE deposit in the State of Missouri and has formed Gold Canyon Kratz Spring LLC.

IOCG deposits constitute some of the largest known REE resources in the world. Examples include the world-class Olympic Dam deposit (Australia), the Bayan Obo deposit (China), numerous iron deposits in the Kiruna district (Sweden) and the St. Francois Mountains of southeast Missouri (USA).

Under the terms of the agreement, JOGMEC shall be granted the option to acquire an 80% interest in the Kratz Spring project by making an initial contribution of US$75,000 and minimum funding of US$100,000 by March 31, 2009, which is the fiscal year end for JOGMEC. The Joint Exploration program will be managed by the Company.

“We are very pleased to have established this partnership with JOGMEC,” stated Akiko Levinson, President of Gold Canyon Resources Inc. “The agreement is a testament to our technical team and an important milestone for our shareholders. In this new year, we look forward to both pursuing this new opportunity, and continuing exploration of the Springpole and Horseshoe Island Gold Project in Red Lake, Ontario.”