Infinito Gold Ltd. Files Request for Arbitration

Trading Symbol: TSXV: IG

CALGARY, Feb. 10, 2014 /CNW/ - Infinito Gold Ltd. (the "Company") today announced that it has filed a Request for Arbitration under the Arbitration Rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Republic of Costa Rica ("Republic") seeking compensation for losses caused to the Company and to its Costa Rican subsidiary, Industrias Infinito S.A. ("Industrias Infinito"), resulting from Costa Rica's violations of the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica for the Promotion and Protection of Investments ("Canada-Costa Rica Treaty") in regard to the Company and its investments in Costa Rica relating to the Crucitas project.

The filing of the Request for Arbitration follows notice the Company provided to the Republic in April 2013 and July 2013 that it considered the Republic to be in breach of provisions of the Canada-Costa Rica Treaty and inviting the Republic to settle the dispute amicably.

The Company remains hopeful that, despite its having to take the next procedural step of filing the Request for Arbitration, the dispute can still be amicably settled.

In its Request for Arbitration, the Company is seeking to be compensated for expenditures made beginning in 1993 to develop and build a gold mine at Crucitas. Approximately US$94 million has been spent on the Crucitas project, over US$5 million of which was directed to educational and training programs, school improvements, extending power lines to the town of Crucitas and upgrading an important local road that was virtually impassable in the wet season.

Between 1993 and 2010, the Republic granted to Industrias Infinito all the necessary permits and approvals to allow the project to proceed to the construction and development of a gold mine.

These included an exploration permit giving Industrias Infinito the exclusive right to conduct exploration activities in the project area, an exploitation concession giving Industrias Infinito the exclusive right to extract, process and sell minerals from the project area, an approved environmental impact assessment, an executive decree declaring the project to be in the public interest and of national convenience, and a 2010 decision from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica that the resolutions and permits authorizing the project were constitutional and lawful.

Beginning in 2011, however, as a result of decisions of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica contradicting its earlier decisions as well as measures adopted by the Costa Rican executive and legislative authorities, the Crucitas project was cancelled without compensation and Industrias Infinito was prevented from taking any further steps to develop the project.

These and other actions have had the effect of denying the Company and Industrias Infinito, among other things, their right to fair and equitable treatment and to be protected from unlawful expropriation under the Canada-Costa Rica Treaty.

The Company emphasizes that, contrary to some media reports, its objective in pursuing its legal remedies is to recoup the costs that have been spent, plus interest, in developing the project over the past 20 years, as opposed to the profits it reasonably expected to earn had it been allowed to fully develop the project.

Furthermore, the Company is disappointed that this dispute has not yet been amicably resolved and hopes that the matter can be settled without the need for the arbitral process to proceed.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

Certain statements in this press release, including the Company's evaluation of its legal rights and strategic options, address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. These statements are made as of the date of this release but Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking information or statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.

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

SOURCE Infinito Gold Ltd.