LONGUEUIL, CANADA--(Marketwire - Sept. 17, 2012) - Reunion Gold Corporation (News - Market indicators) ("Reunion or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its exploration activities at the Matthews Ridge manganese project in Guyana, South America.

As previously informed, the Company has concluded its planned drilling program of bedrock mineralization, completing a total of 47,570 meters of Diamond drilling in 735 holes and 17,361 meters of reverse circulation drilling in 283 holes. Reunion has to date received complete assay results from 685 drill holes, of which 571 were previously released. New results from 54 Diamond drill holes and 60 reverse circulation drill holes done in 2012 are reported in this press release. Reunion expects to receive the balance of the assay results by the end of October 2012.

An independent consultant is currently doing the geological modeling of manganese mineralization for the western half of the Project, covering Hills 5 to 9, while the database of the eastern half (Hills 4 to 1) is being readied, with the objectives of completing an initial resource estimate and a technical report compliant with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 in the second half of 2012.

Reunion has also launched comprehensive programs to sample both the mineralized tailings of the previous operation and the detrital cover of bedrock mineralization already drilled. The tailings sampling is being done using a manual Banka drill suitable for the wet conditions of the valley where the tailings are deposited. The detrital material is being sampled by mechanized and manual pits. One hundred pits have been already dug on the western half of the Project, from Hills 5 to 9, and the average thickness of this material is approximately 1.5 m.

Highlights of the most significant new assay results are presented in Table 1. Refer to Appendix 1 for complete new results.

Drilling results continue to indicate an excellent correlation with trench intersections, confirming that mineralization persists regularly throughout the saprolite zone and continues as proto-ore in the fresh rock. Maps showing the various target hills and location of mineralized zones in relation to the drill holes are provided in Appendixes 2 and 3. Drilling has been done to the saprolite-fresh rock interface. The Company intends to define resources in the saprolitic, detrital and tailings materials, which are amenable to simple earth-moving extraction.

Project description

The Matthews Ridge Project consists of four Prospecting Licenses covering an area of 185 km² located in northwest Guyana, in and around the former Matthews Ridge mine. The Company also holds two Permissions for Geological and Geophysical Surveys ("PGGS") for manganese over an area of 14,970 km² surrounding the four Prospecting Licences. Manganese ore was mined from 1960 to 1968 by Union Carbide and exported via railroad and a fluvial port. Mining was done on five of a series of nine hills extending for 15 km and striking northeastern-southwestern (see Appendix 2). 

Manganese mineralization is hosted by the Barama Group sedimentary sequence of Proterozoic age and consists of typical mantle and detrital deposits formed as a result of supergene enrichment of manganese-rich sediments under a tropical climate. The mantle deposits are formed by manganese oxide and hydroxide minerals occurring along the crest of hills and are related to the weathered profile, reaching 100 m below surface.

Quality assurance and quality control

Diamond drilling was done using HQ-diameter casing and triple-tube core barrel to maximize recovery. Half of the core was used for sampling at regular 1.5 m intervals. Reverse circulation drilling was done with four-inch casing, sampling at every meter and splitting the rock chips once in the field and processing an entire half sample. Banka drilling of tailings is being done with six-inch casing and sampling at every meter. Sampling of detrital material is being done by 30 cm-wide vertical channel samples in pits. Standard reference materials, internal standards, blanks and duplicate samples have been used to control laboratory accuracy and precision. Core sample preparation was done by Activation Laboratories Ltd. and ACME Laboratories at their facilities in Georgetown, comprised of crushing to minus 2 mm and pulverization passing 200 mesh, followed by XRF assays for manganese and other relevant oxides at their laboratories in Canada. Sample preparation and XRF assay of reverse circulation drill samples were done by FILAB Guyana Laboratories on site using the same methodology described above. Samples of tailings and detrital material are being processed by a jigging plant operated by FILAB under the supervision of GMining Services, as part of the metallurgical testing of mineralized materials.

Carlos H. Bertoni, P. Geo., a qualified person as defined under the terms of NI 43-101, has verified the data and approved the technical information contained in this press release.

About the Company

Reunion Gold Corporation is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in the Guyana Shield of South America. The Company through its 100% indirectly owned subsidiary Reunion Manganese Inc., has assembled a large, strategic land position to conduct exploration and development activities for manganese in the North West District of Guyana. The Company also has the right to acquire a 100% interest in a gold exploration project located in the Lely Mountain area in Eastern Suriname.

Manganese is the fourth largest metal consumed in the world, behind iron, aluminum and copper. It is a key component in steel and iron production with no viable substitute.

Additional information about the Company is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and at www.reuniongold.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information. Although the Company believes in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the results of the exploration activities and interpretation of such results, the nature, potential size and continuity of the mineralization system, the timing and completion of future work programs, mineral resource estimate and geological modelling. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Appendix 1, 2 and 3 are available at the following link:  http://file.marketwire.com/release/RGD_appendix_maps.pdf.