Red Pine Provides Update on its Wawa Gold Project

TORONTO, May 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: RPX) ("Red Pine" or the "Company"), in anticipation of the revised resource estimate for the Surluga Deposit, provides the following update on its Wawa Gold Project, located 2 kilometers southeast of Wawa, Ontario. The Company has now finished compiling the results from its 2018/19 drill program that will be included in the new resource estimate for the Surluga Deposit expected at the end of June 2019. A total of 39 holes for 11,317 metres of drilling was completed at the Surluga Deposit with the aim to shift the deposit from a lower-grade open pit to a higher-grade underground resource. 

The 2018/19 Surluga Deposit resource expansion program included infill, confirmation and exploration drilling intended to expand and fill in areas of the deposit that were either never previously tested, or given a value of “0” in the previous resource estimate. Results, as reported in previous news releases (see news releases of August 14, 2018, March 1, 2019 and March 4, 2019), indicate new, high-grade gold zones within, above and below the current resource. The new resource will also incorporate the results (see news release of October 4, 2016, November 22, 2016, December 7, 2016, December 20, 2016, January 10, 2017 and January 19, 2017) of the Company’s sampling of 42,000 metres of historic drill core (from 318 underground and 119 surface drill holes) that were not assayed by previous operators and that showed significant gold intercepts, also were not included in the previous resource.

Red Pine’s drilling to date totals more than 59,900 metres, with extensive exploration drilling to the north/northeast and south of the Surluga Deposit. This led to the discovery of the Wawa Gold Corridor, a gold mineralization zone that extends at least 6 kilometres, and the delineation of the new, high-grade Minto Mine South Deposit, with a resource of 100,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 6.8 g/t  at a cut-off grade of 3.5 g/t gold (Initial Technical Report for the Minto Mine South Property, Golder Associates Ltd., effective Nov. 7, 2018)  in the area adjacent to the south of the Surluga Deposit (Figure 1). The Minto Mine South Deposit is open in all directions and the Company believes that the resource can be expanded significantly. It will be the subject of extensive exploration in the near future. The recent discovery of the Cooper Gold Structure, 1 kilometre east of the northernmost extension of the Surluga Deposit supports Red Pine’s belief that more than one Minto-like deposit exists on the Wawa Gold Property.

Quentin Yarie, Red Pine’s President and CEO, stated, “Over the past four years, we have developed an understanding of the structures that control gold mineralization at the Wawa Project. We’ve discovered areas of significant gold mineralization that were overlooked by previous operators. We have made new discoveries along a “gold corridor” with a strike length of more than 6 kilometres. Understanding the factors that control mineralization has been crucial in developing and perfecting our model. Our infill and exploration drilling results at the Surluga Deposit, have shown that we were able to target, intersect high-grade mineralization and prove that there is continuity in mineralization. Furthermore, we have shown that that gold mineralization is pervasive in all rock types on the property.

“We look forward to receiving the revised Surluga resource estimate. We believe it will support the work we’ve done over the past 4 years and show how we’ve improved the economics of the resource. All our geological and geophysical modelling have also shown us that gold mineralization extends beyond what we initially anticipated, and we know that we’ve only scratched the surface of what is possible at Wawa.” 

Figure 1. Plan map of 2014-2019 drilling

The Wawa Gold Project Timeline

2014

• Red Pine enters into an assumption agreement with Augustine Ventures and Citabar LP in December.  The project features an inferred gold resource, the Surluga Deposit, of 1.1 million ounces at 1.49 grams per tonne (“g/t”) contained within 22.4 million tonnes open along strike and at depth.
   
• Red Pine drills six exploration holes (1,575m). It confirms the gold grades reported by historical underground drilling and identifies new zones of high-grade mineralization that were not included in the 2012 resource.

             
2015

• The Company completes 4,021 metres of infill drilling on the Surluga Deposit (“Surluga”) in its Winter/Spring Drilling campaign.  Gold mineralization is identified in both the hanging wall and footwall of the Surluga Deposit (previously deemed to be barren); and the Surluga Deposit mineralization is characterized as a series of high-grade, 5 to 30 metre-thick ore shoots surrounded by halos of lower grade gold mineralisation.
   
• Red Pine issues a revised inferred resource for the Surluga Deposit: 1,088,000 ounces at 1.71 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold contained in 19.824 million tonnes (using an average 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade). The resource increases 14.7% in gold grade and 1.5% in gold content within less tonnes of ore. (Mineral Resource Statement, Surluga-Jubilee Gold Deposit, Wawa Gold Project, Ontario, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc (effective May 26, 2015)).

             
2016

• Following its 2015 exploration programs, the Company speculates that some of the gold zones in the footwall and hanging wall of the Surluga Deposit were not sampled in the past. Red Pine progressively samples approximately 42,000 metres of historic drilling (from 318 underground and 119 surface drill holes) and discovers significant gold mineralization that was not included in resource estimate (109 g/t gold over 0.86 m; 22.8 g/t gold over 1.74 m).
   
• The Company also makes two discoveries near the Surluga Deposit: the Surluga North Zone (14.66 g/t gold over 15.21 m true width in SD-16-45 (February 28, 2017)) and the Hornblende-William Zone. These are part of the Wawa Gold Corridor, a gold-mineralization zone that extends for more than 6 kilometres.

2017

• Augustine Ventures become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Red Pine Exploration
   
• Red Pine discovers the Minto Mine South Deposit (19.93 g/gold over 3 m core length in SD-17-73 (June 13, 2017)) in the extension of the historic Minto Mine and discovers a high-grade gold zone in the extension of the Darwin-Grace Mine (57.31 g/t gold over 3.14 m core length in DG-17-56 (March 3, 2017)).
   
• Red Pine completes a 6,238-metre drill program and follows it immediately with a 25,000 metres diamond drilling program designed to expand the Minto discovery and the Surluga North discovery.
   
• Red Pine identifies 3 Exploration Targets at the Wawa Gold Project in collaboration with Brian Thomas, P. Geo. of Golder Associates Ltd.: Hanging Wall Exploration Target, Footwall Exploration Target and Minto Mine South Target. The Company elects to focus its future drilling programs on converting the targets into mineral resources.

2018

• Red Pine completes its 25,571 metres diamond drilling program and begins a strategic optimization of the gold assets of the Wawa Gold Project to accelerate the project development plan. The discovery of the Minto Mine South Zone and the re-evaluation of the high-grade zones of the Surluga Deposit suggest that multiple high-grade gold deposits could be delineated on the property. Red Pine initiates a 10,000 m drilling program to continue the delineation of its Minto Mine South discovery.
   
• Red Pine completes a 11,209 m drilling program on the Minto Mine South Deposit and issues its first mineral resource estimate: 100,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 6.8 g/t (using a cut-off grade of 3.5 g/t gold) (Initial Technical Report for the Minto Mine South Property, Golder Associates Ltd. (effective Nov. 7, 2018)). Mineralization remains open in all directions.
   
• Red Pine’s initiates an 10,000 m confirmation, infill and exploration drilling program in the Surluga Deposit with the objective of confirming and extending the footprint of the higher-grade core of the existing resource.

2019

• Drew Anwyll and Andrew Baumen join the Board of Directors.  Both bring experience in advancing projects into production. 

• Red Pine identifies a new high-grade gold structure - the Cooper Structure, 1 km east of the northernmost extension of the Surluga Deposit and 2.8 km northeast of the Minto Mine South Deposit. Geologically, the Cooper Structure is similar to the Minto Mine South Structure, the host of  the Minto Mine Deposit. This supports Red Pine’s hypothesis that more than one Minto-like deposit could exists on the Wawa Gold Property.
   
• Red Pine completes its 11,317 m confirmation, infill and exploration drilling program on the Surluga Deposit. Significant zones of high-grade gold mineralization are intersected in the Surluga Deposit in the Jubilee Shear Zone (42.2 g/t over 2 m within 34.6 m at 3.7 g/t true width in SD-18-243a (March 1, 2019); 34.4 g/t over 3.7 m within 12.7 m at 10.6 g/t true width in SD-18-255 (March 4, 2019)). Red Pine also discovers additional zones of mineralization above (1.1 g/t gold over 51.4 m core length in Minto B Shear Zone (March 1, 2019)) and below (7.74 g/t gold over 2.9 m core length in SD-17-172 (August 14, 2018)) the Jubilee Shear Zone (host of the Surluga Deposit).
   
• Results of a ground gravity survey, completed in March 2019, confirm the extension of the Jubilee Stock and the Jubilee Shear Zone to the SW, opening new areas for gold exploration on the property. 

Qualified Person
Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release.

About Red Pine Exploration Inc.
Red Pine Exploration Inc. is a gold and base-metals exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RPX".

Red Pine has a 60% interest in the Wawa Gold Project with Citabar LP. holding the remaining 40% interest. Red Pine is the Operating Manager of the Project and is focused on expanding the existing gold resource on the property.

For more information about the Company visit www.redpineexp.com

Or contact:  
Quentin Yarie, President & CEO, (416) 364-7024, qyarie@redpineexp.com

Or Mia Boiridy, Investor Relations, (416) 364-7024, mboiridy@redpineexp.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may”, “should”, “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

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