TORONTO, Jan. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (RPX.V) ("Red Pine" or the "Company") announces results from four holes at its Wawa Gold Project. The drill holes were part of Red Pine’s 20,000 m drilling program that was completed last fall.

Drilling highlights:

• Discovery of a new high-grade zone in the Jubilee Shear Zone:
  • SD-17-173 5.28 g/t gold over 14.55 metres true width;
     
• Extension of the high-grade mineralization in the Minto Mine South Zone:
  • SD-17-171 contains 6.25 g/t gold over 5 metres;
     
• Discovery of an additional high-grade tension vein in the Minto Stockwork:
  • SD-17-125 contains 11.4 g/t gold over 1.3 metres;

Quentin Yarie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Pine stated, "The intersection in the Jubilee Shear Zone indicates that the high grade zones of the Surluga Deposit remain open. Our team is identifying gaps in the historic drilling in the Jubilee Shear Zone where high-grade mineralization was likely missed because the geometry of the high-grade zones within the Surluga Deposit was poorly understood. We will continue to drill in the area and expect drilling results to further corroborate our model.”

Geometry of the high-grade zones of the Surluga Deposit
The geometry of the high-grade zones in the Surluga Deposit is controlled by a strong linear tectonic fabric. This creates numerous arrays of rod-shaped high-grade zones that extend longitudinally over hundreds of metres. These high-grade zones of the Surluga Deposit have lateral extents between 25 m and 150 m; leaving gaps in the current inferred resource where additional high-grade mineralization is likely to be found that will, if intersected,  improve the current inferred resource of the Surluga Deposit.

*Assay results reported over intersection length. In the Minto Mine South Zone, for SD-17-171;, the intersection length is estimated to be >60% true width.

*Assay results reported over intersection length. In the Minto Mine South Zone, for SD-17-173;, the intersection length is estimated to be >95% true width.

Additional drilling is required to estimate the true width of the Minto stockwork.

Minto Mine South Discovery Area
Red Pine’s infill drilling in the Minto Mine South Zone (“MMSZ”) supports the continuity of the MMSZ. Drilling also continues intersect networks of tension veins with high-grade quartz veins around the MMSZ. Hole SD-17-128 contained lower grade material of 1.18 g/t gold over 3.8 metres. The Company has retained Golder Associates Ltd. to conduct a 43-101 resource on the MMSZ.

JV Partner Updates Position
Red Pine wishes the acknowledge the continued support and commitment of its JV Partner Citabar LP that issued the following statement, “Citabar remains committed to advancing the value of its interest in the Wawa Gold Project and continues to work with Red Pine in the development of the exploration target.”- Citabar LP.

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 are currently operating non-stop- 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.