January 18, 2008 - Vancouver, British Columbia: West Hawk Development Corp. (TSXV: WHD; Frankfurt: H5N) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of 1,845,850 units (the "Units"), at a price of $0.20 per Unit (the "Offering") for gross proceeds of $369,170, which represents the remainder of the previously announced non-brokered private placement. A combined 6,658,350 units have been issued from both tranches of the private equity placement for total proceeds of $1,331,670.

Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable into one additional Share for a period of 24 months following the closing at an exercise price of $0.40 per share. The Warrants will be subject to early expiry if, following the date that is four months following the Offering, the daily volume-weighted average trading price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange over a period of 10 consecutive trading days is equal to or greater than $0.60.

All of the securities issued in the second tranche will be subject to a hold period until May 19, 2008. The aggregate proceeds raised will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Dr. Wm. Mark Hart,
President and Chief Executive Officer

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT YET REVIEWED AND DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

About the Company: West Hawk Development Corp is focused on providing valuable, high-demand energy products from a variety of sources. Assets include the Figure Four natural gas property located in the Piceance Basin, Colorado, being developed under a drilling and development agreement; the Tulita coal property in the Northwest Territories; the Groundhog coal property located in northwest British Columbia; and the Ellesmere Island, Nunavut Territory coal property.

Cautionary Note: This news release contains forward looking statements, particularly those regarding cash flow, capital expenditures and investment plans. Resource estimates, unless specially noted, are considered speculative. The Company has filed a National Instrument 51-101 Report on the Figure Four property. The Company has filed National Instrument 43-101 Reports for each of the Tulita coal property in the Northwest Territories, the Nunavut Coal property and the Groundhog Coal property. Any and all other resource or reserve estimates are historical in nature, and should not be relied upon. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on factors that will or may occur in the future. Actual results may vary depending upon exploration activities, industry production, commodity demand and pricing, currency exchange rates, and, but not limited to, general economic factors. Cautionary note to U.S. investors: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission specifically prohibits the use of certain terms, such as "reserves" unless such figures are based upon actual production or formation tests and can be shown to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.