TORONTO, Jan. 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (RPX.V) ("Red Pine" or the "Company") announces results from two drill holes completed as part of the 20,000 m drilling program completed earlier this fall in the Jubilee Shear Zone.

Drilling highlights for the northern extension of the Surluga Deposit include (see Table 1 and Figure 1):

• The discovery of higher-grade zones in the Jubilee Shear Zone (“JSZ”), and the gold zones of the JSZ hangingwall (Figure 1);
  
  • The extension of the high-grade JSZ intersection in SD-16-45 (14.66 g/t gold over 15.2 metres) in SD-17-109 that contains 3.46 g/t gold over 10.3 metres, including 9.05 g/t gold over 3.7 metres in the JSZ;
  
  • SD-17-113 contains 1.13 g/t gold over 17.6 metres, including 6.77 g/t gold over 2.3 metres, in a quartz vein network in the hangingwall of the JSZ.

Quentin Yarie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Pine stated, "We are actively exploring to expand the existing Surluga Deposit beyond the current inferred resource to the north, south and into the hangingwall.  Our drilling efforts indicate that multiple networks of high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins exist in the hangingwall.  The Company will continue to define these discoveries so that they can be included in a forthcoming revised 43-101 resource estimate.”

Table 1. Highlights of the 2017 drilling in the northern extension of the Surluga Deposit

*Assay results reported over intersection length. For holes SD-17-109 the intersection lengths for the mineralization controlled by the JSZ is estimated to >85% true width. As it was just discovered, no true width estimations are available for the quartz vein network in SD-17-113.

Wawa Gold Project Background
The Wawa Gold property package consists of over 5,500 hectares and hosts several former mines with a combined historic production of 120,000 oz gold¹.  To date, the largest gold deposit on the property is the Surluga Deposit, which hosts a NI 43-101 Inferred Resource of 1,088,000 oz gold at an average grade of 1.71 g/t (using a 0.5 g/t cut-off) contained within 19.82 million tonnes².

Since December 2014, Red Pine's exploration work has involved the ongoing sampling of 42,000 m of historic core that was never sampled by previous operators of the project, and aggressive drilling campaigns. To date, the Company has completed over 31,000 m of drilling and made four discoveries along the extension of the Surluga Deposit: the Surluga North Zone; the Hornblende-William Zone; the Minto Mine South Zone and; the Grace-Darwin Zone. These are part of the Wawa Gold Corridor, a gold-mineralization zone that extends for more than 5 km.

Red Pine’s on-going drill program is designed to potentially expand the size of the existing inferred gold resource and connect the other zones of gold mineralization along the newly-discovered Wawa Gold Corridor. Two drills have been operating on the property - one is targeting the Surluga North discovery, while the second drill is targeting the Minto Mine South Zone discovery.

The Company is well positioned to fund its share of the Wawa Gold exploration program.
As such, the sampling and drill programs are expected to continue in 2018.

On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) Measures
Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags and then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage if further work or verification is needed.

Red Pine has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. As part of its QA/QC program, Red Pine inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to random standards, blanks, and duplicates.

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 LLP. 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