Update On Sampling And Drilling Plans At Toldafria Project 

TORONTO, ON - Rio Novo Gold reported an updated on its ongoing exploration program at the Toldafria Project, located in the Mid-Cauca belt of Central Colombia.

The Company has carried out a comprehensive channel sampling of the underground workings, continuing a program started by the previous operator and employing the same methodology that was used to delineate the Project's NI 43-101 compliant resource.

To date, Rio Novo has taken 766 channel samples, and recently received assay results for 166 of these samples. Inclusive of previous work done, a total of 3,314 samples have now been taken at the project, covering some 14 km of underground workings. The recent results outline both high grade sheeted vein zones and stockworks, and have extended the area of known gold mineralization to the west and south-east. The total footprint of gold mineralization based on surface and underground sampling has thus been increased to about 650m x 700m, from a previous area measuring 550m x 500m.

The Toldafria deposit is hosted in folded Paleozoic schists of the Cajamarca Formation adjacent to a mid-Tertiary granodiorite intrusive. The rocks are locally altered to Argillic and Propylitic assemblages. Gold is present in stockwork and sheeted quartz-pyrite veins. A sub-vertical sheeted vein system trending N10W to N20E cross-cuts an earlier stockwork vein system. Veins range in thickness from 2 to 25 cm in the stockwork to up to 50 cm in the sheeted veins.

Toldafria was previously mined by artisanal miners, who tunneled along the higher grade sheeted veins but did not attempt any larger-scale mining. Rio Novo's initial exploration has focused on systematic sampling of these underground workings, as well as the limited surface exposures to define the overall extent and distribution of mineralization.

The Antioquia tunnel follows a steeply-dipping high grade sheeted vein zone up to 2m wide trending N10E. Channel samples were taken along the vein at 2m spacing. One interval assayed 9.06 g/t Au (uncut) over 26.0m with the highest grade sample at 69.89 g/t Au. A second interval assayed 15.77 g/t Au (uncut) over 32.0m with individual assays up to 166 g/t Au. Two other intervals ran 3.11 g/t Au over 22.0m and 3.00 g/t Au over 8.0m. These results illustrate the continuity of sheeted vein zones, as well as the existence of higher-grade chutes and may reflect important structural intersections.

In the Ramada tunnel, an 18.0m sample interval averaged 5.66 g/t Au. These tunnel assays extend known mineralization in the SE part of Toldafria and further define a large area of continuous stockwork mineralization.

Samples from the Campamento tunnel averaged 3.51 g/t Au over an interval of 25.0m. In the recently re-discovered Barranco tunnel, on the west side of the deposit a 30.0m interval averaged 1.09 g/t Au. This is the western-most mineralization discovered to date and indicates mineralization remains open to the west.

CEO David Beatty said, "The more than 3,300 Toldafria channel samples along 14,000m of tunnels confirm that there is high grade gold mineralization over a larger area than originally recognized. The mineralized footprint is now 650 meters by 750 meters. We are excited by the dimensions and grade of this mineralization and look forward to drilling Toldafria in March to ascertain the three dimensional continuity of the deposit."