Northquest Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:NQ) ("Northquest" or "the Company") announces that
a high resolution airborne geophysical survey of the Pistol Bay Gold Project,
Nunavut, has commenced. The Pistol Bay Gold Project consists of 96,600 hectares
(241,500 acres) of mineral rights in the Rankin-Ennadai greenstone belt.


The airborne geophysical survey will be carried out by Terraquest Ltd. using
their fixed wing horizontal gradiometer system. The survey will consist of
approximately 6,200 line-kilometres of airborne gradiometer magnetic surveying
at a line spacing of 100 metres. 


Upon completion of the survey, the data will be correlated with the numerous
documented gold occurrences on the property before the commencement of
geological surveying, sampling, and a preliminary phase of drilling in the 2011
field season. There are currently four gold occurrences on the property that
were sampled and verified by Company management in 2010 and another three gold
occurrences in the assessment database which have not been sampled and verified
by management. The gold occurrences will be priority targets for drilling in
2011. In addition, it is expected that the airborne survey data will define
numerous additional high priority drill targets which do not outcrop, or are
concealed by lakes, eskers, or overburden.


Jon North, President and CEO of Northquest Ltd., noted that "the numerous and
varied gold occurrences at the Pistol Bay Gold Project are hosted in magnetic
banded iron formations and magnetite-bearing porphyry intrusions, however,
incredibly, this is the first time an airborne magnetometer survey has been
conducted over these prospective rocks in spite of the fact that the geology is
a mirror image of the Meliadine Project of Agnico Eagle Mines, 80 km to the
north of Pistol Bay. This is one of the amazing things about working in Nunavut
and it underscores the level of opportunity of working in this relatively
unexplored part of Canada".


Northquest is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition,
exploration and development of properties for the mining of gold and other
minerals. Northquest has 22,098,400 shares outstanding (34,320,514 on a fully
diluted basis).