Red Pine Initiates Program to Update Inferred Resource and Sample 42,000 Metres of Historic Core at Its Wawa Gold Project

TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2016 - Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RPX) (the "Company" or "Red Pine") will mobilize this week to begin the process of logging/sampling over 42,000 metres (m) of historic core. The historic core library available on-site will be a key element to define additional gold resources in the Wawa Gold Corridor and will save the Company an estimated 4.2 million dollars of drilling costs. The core is primarily from holes drilled into the Surluga Deposit, with little to no sampling in the areas outside the Jubilee Shear Zone that contains the entirety of the inferred resource. Red Pine's program will sample known and newly identified gold bearing intersections in the hanging wall material of the Surluga Deposit with the intent of adding these to the existing inferred resource¹ (Figure 1: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/2550a.jpg).

Quentin Yarie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Pine states, "Having access to such a large amount of well preserved historic core is an incredible opportunity for the Company. By sampling historic core, we'll be able to fill in gaps in known mineralized zones and sample newly identified zones without having to undertake a drilling program. Red Pine is in an enviable position at this time - it can realise significant savings compared to what a similar drill program would cost, continue to develop the Wawa Gold Project, and thereby continue to maximize shareholder value."

Historic Core Sampling Program

During its Fall 2015 exploration program, the Company amalgamated approximately 42,000 metres of drilling from 318 underground and 119 surface drill holes drilled in the Wawa Gold Corridor. This extensive core library will be progressively described and selectively sampled to extend or define additional gold zones in the footwall and hanging wall of the Surluga Deposit, and to extend some gold zones of the Surluga Deposit that were not entirely sampled in the past.

As an example, Table 1 lists historical and 2014-2015 drill holes with gold intersections that were not included in the existing inferred resource calculation. The Company is very encouraged by these results, especially considering that many of the historical intersections in the footwall and hanging wall were not entirely sampled by previous operators. 

Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Gold (g/t)	Length (m)*
VO-89-01	0.6	5.7	15.1	5.1
S284	156.4	159.4	5.3	3.0
VO-90-39	9.8	12.4	4.8	2.7
D82-04	28.7	31.1	4.8	2.4
VO-89-14	2.6	7.6	4.7	5.0
D83-04	112.8	115.2	4.1	2.4
S050	50.5	53.7	4.0	3.2
S088	7.0	9.6	3.9	2.6
S183	99.8	107.9	3.3	8.1
VO-89-02	4.5	7.2	2.7	2.7
S214	83.8	89.5	2.6	5.6
VO-89-24	7.7	23.4	2.6	15.7
MP02	45.7	49.1	2.5	3.4
SD-15-11	185.3	228.0	2.5	42.7
MP08	91.4	93.6	2.5	2.1
07-385	57.0	66.9	2.4	9.9
S008	1.4	9.9	2.3	8.5
D82-02	19.2	22.3	2.2	3.1
VO-90-51	3.8	45.0	2.1	41.2
S210	196.3	199.0	1.9	2.7
VO-89-23	27.7	41.9	1.9	14.2
S133	65.7	71.6	1.8	5.9
S278	116.4	119.8	1.8	3.4
S238	8.8	24.2	1.7	15.4
S308	110.6	114.5	1.7	3.8
S350	8.2	17.4	1.6	9.1
S355	11.3	14.3	1.6	3.1
S287	50.4	57.5	1.6	7.0
S140	13.1	57.2	1.5	44.0
S088	301.7	312.1	1.5	10.4
S248	72.7	80.8	1.5	8.1
07-388	46.4	55.6	1.4	9.2
VO-90-45	11.9	17.0	1.4	5.2
D84-05	53.3	55.8	1.4	2.4
07-391	603.2	631.7	1.4	28.5

Table 1. *True widths have not been calculated.

Sampling of the Footwall Gold Zones (Hornblende and William)

During the last drill program, Red Pine discovered shallow gold zones in the footwall of the inferred resource with grades and thicknesses similar to the Surluga Deposit in the Jubilee Shear Zone (Figure 2). This type of gold mineralization, related to pervasive replacement of the host intrusive rocks, was previously un-recognized on the property and comes without diagnostic visual indicators. The Company speculates that some of the footwall gold zones were not entirely sampled and sampling gaps remain in some gold mineralized zones (e.g. HS-15-29 with 3.63 metres un-sampled in Hornblende Shear Zone; HS-15-30 with 5.2 metres un-sampled in the Hornblende Shear Zone). Additional sampling will be undertaken to fill any existing sampling gaps.

Figure 2 - Long section showing some of the numerous gold zones of the Wawa Gold Corridor that includes the Surluga Deposit and the sampling gaps in the Wawa Gold Corridor: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/2550b.jpg

Ronacher McKenzie Geoscience Retained to Update Current Resource

As part of the merger process, Augustine Ventures Inc. is required to provide an updated 43-101 report of the Wawa Gold Project to its shareholders. Ronacher McKenzie Geoscience will update the May 26, 2015 report with the inclusion of the following information completed since its issuance:

• Geophysical investigations:
  • Max-min Survey
  • Ground Magnetic Survey
• Drilling of 13 diamond drill holes
  • HS-15-27 to 31
  • SM-15-32 to 39
• Trenching
• Prospecting
• Staking

2014-2015 On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") Measures

Red Pine drill core samples are transported in security-sealed bags for analyses at Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Timmins, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags that are then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage at the Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Timmins, Ontario as required in the event that 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.

Historic Core Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") Measures

No information is available about the sample preparation, analyses and security of historic drill core. However, Duke (2012)² assumed that core from surface drill holes was split using a core splitter and that core from underground drill holes were either assayed as whole core or also split by a core splitter. Duke (2012) also indicated that samples may have been analyzed by an assay laboratory on site initially. In the 1980s and 1990s, the samples were likely sent to Wawa Assay Laboratory, an unaccredited laboratory in Wawa. Duke (2012) assumed the assay method to have been fire assay with a gravimetric finish. No information about quality control measures and sample security is available.

2007 Samples

Details about the sample preparation, analyses and security of core samples from the 2007 drilling program were described by Duke (2012). The core was cut in half using a core saw; one half was returned to the core box, the other half was put in a sample bag and sent to Accurassay Laboratories ("Accurassay") in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Accurassay is accredited for gold under the ISO/IEC 17025 guideline. At Accurassay, the samples were dried, crushed, split and pulverized. A 30g aliquot was used for fire assay analysis with an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish. Accurassay was independent of the property owner (Duke 2012).

Qualified Person

Quentin Yarie, PGeo., 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 30% interest in the Wawa Gold Project and is part of a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Citabar LLP and Augustine Ventures Inc. Under the terms of the JVA, Red Pine is the Operating Manager and continues to explore and advance the current gold resource on the property.

On December 17, 2015, Red Pine and Augustine Ventures conjointly signed a Letter of Intent to merge. The merged exploration company will own 60% of the Wawa Gold Project.

For more information about the Company visit www.redpineexp.com.

¹NI 43-101 inferred resource of 1,088,000 ounces of gold at a 1.71 grams per tonne (g/t) using a 0.40 g/t gold cut-off grade for pit-constrained and 2.50 g/t gold cut-off grade for underground-constrained resources (overall cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t), contained in 19.82 million tonnes open along strike and at depth. The Cut-off grades are based on a gold price of US$1,250 per once and a gold recovery of 95 percent (Mineral Resource Statement*, Surluga-Jubilee Gold Deposit, Wawa Gold Project, Ontario, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc (effective May 26, 2015)). The report is available on www.SEDAR.com under Red Pine's profile.

² Duke, C.J., 2012, Amended technical review and mineral resource estimate for the Jubilee-Surluga property, near Wawa, Ontario, Canada: Independent Technical Report for Augustine Ventures Inc., October 15, 2012

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