Radius reviews summer 2011 field season in the Yukon

VANCOUVER, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Radius Gold Inc. (TSXV: RDU) is pleased to provide an update on work completed at its Yukon projects during the summer 2011 field season. Early stage work programs were completed at the Scarlet, Face, and Newt projects, and diamond drill testing of gold targets continued at the Sixty Mile projects.

Results from all programs have been delayed due to the major backlogs at the Yukon assay laboratories. Results will be released when received, compiled and interpreted.

Sixty Mile Drilling

In 2010, Radius made two bedrock gold discoveries, which were named the Graben fault zone and the Thrust fault zone, while searching for the source of the extensive placer gold produced from the stream beds and riverbeds of the Sixty Mile River gold district. Initial drill testing of both targets in 2010 returned broad intercepts of strongly anomalous gold values (see Radius news release dated November 16, 2010).

This summer's program was primarily directed at testing the Graben fault zone incorporating CSMAT geophysics with follow-up drill testing of the targets identified by that survey. Sixteen holes were drilled along the eight-kilometre-long belt of strongly altered Carmacks volcanic rocks. Also, four holes tested the quartz sulfide veins hosted by the metasediments of the Thrust zone. Results will be reported when the assays have been received - to date, results have been received for only a small percentage of a total of 3,500 samples submitted to the assay laboratory.

Rackla Belt

Radius owns 230 claims -called the Scarlet East property- covering the prospective stratigraphy along the southeast edge of ATAC Resources Ltd.'s claim block in Yukon's exciting Rackla Belt. The Scarlet East property covers what is believed to be the eastern extension of the belt of rocks that host ATAC Resources' Osiris and Conrad discoveries northeast of Keno City. The Rackla belt is developing into a potentially major cluster of Carlin-type gold systems.

In July, Radius reported the preliminary ridge-and-spur soil sampling results from Scarlet East (see Radius release dated July 13, 2011). Highly encouraging first-pass results outlined anomalous Au-As-Hg-Sb-thallium soil geochemistry in an area of orange-weathering limestone along a ridge.

To follow up these positive early stage results, Radius's geologists completed a detailed, grid-based in-fill soil sampling program this summer, collecting over 8,700 samples on a 50 x 50m grid. The grid is underlain by an orange-weathering silty limestone unit that lies on the north-dipping limb and crest of a southeast-trending anticline. Radius expects that full results for the soil program will not be available until December because of the massive sample backlog at the Yukon assay labs. In addition to the soil grid, Radius's team collected 164 rock and 239 stream sediment samples.

Radius also completed a magnetic and radiometric airborne survey over the Scarlet East property (STW claims) during the summer of 2011. Further geophysical surveys are planned over the Scarlet West (Car and Lin claims) and Face properties (see below) for October 2011.

Radius will not be able to drill at Rackla during the 2011 field season, so this winter's work will include planning for initial drill testing of Carlin-type anomalies in 2012.

Mineralization in the Rackla belt shares many of the characteristics of Carlin-type gold deposits, including similar alteration assemblages and association with the low-temperature arsenic sulphides, realgar and orpiment. Host rocks are two 150- to 250-metre-thick limestone debris flow and turbidite units, referred to as the Osiris and Isis horizons, which occur within basinal silty mudstones.

The Face Claims

The Face property comprises 270 contiguous claims in western Yukon, 8km due east of Eagle, Alaska. The initial claims were staked in September 2010 and are centred on a government regional silt survey Au anomaly, located over carbonate rocks analogous to the Atac Resources' Rackla belt, and with a similar spatial relationship to the Dawson thrust.

A first pass reconnaissance ridge-and-spur soil sampling and stream sampling survey was undertaken in the summer of 2011 with 155 soils and 31 stream sediments collected on the western half of the property. Results define a roughly east-west striking zone with coincident Au-Ag-Tl-Hg-Sb-As-Pb-Cu anomalies, in both soils and stream sediments. Based upon these results, the claim block was extended in August of this year.

A magnetic and radiometric airborne survey is planned for October 2011 to cover the Face property, and a full soil grid survey is planned for the summer of 2012 to further delineate and extend the anomalous zones and to identify potential drill targets.

The Newt Claims

The Newt claims lie southwest of Dawson City close to the Yukon-Alaska border. The claims were staked to cover a conceptual epithermal gold target in a similar structural setting to the Sixty Mile River valley target. Some 779 soils, 31 silts and 11 rock samples were collected this summer in ridge-and-spur traverses and streams sediment sampling where feasible. No results are available yet.

Laboratory

All samples were sent to Acme Analytical Laboratories Ltd. preparation facility in Whitehorse.  The pulps and sieved samples were analyzed at Acme's laboratory in Vancouver.  Gold in rock samples were determined by a 30 gram fire assay fusion - ICP-ES (code 3B01).  An additional 36 elements were analyzed by ICP-MS using a 0.5 gram sample.  Soil samples, dried and sieved to -80 mesh, were analyzed for a 37 element suite, including gold, by ICP-MS (code 1F05) using a 15 gram sample.  Stream sediment samples, dried and sieved to -150 mesh, were analyzed for gold by lead collection fire assay using a 50 gram split code (3B01+3B04).  An additional 30 gram split was analyzed for 53 elements, including gold, by aqua regia digestion and ultratrace ICP-MS analysis (code 1F03).

Chain of Custody

All sampling is conducted under the supervision of the Company's project geologist.  Samples are tracked by the project geologist from the project site to the sample preparation facility and transported by Company personnel or expediters employed by the Company.

Qualified Person

Roger Hulstein, BSc, P.Geo., is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and is the Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Hulstein is responsible for the accuracy of the technical information in this news release.

About Radius

Radius has been exploring for gold in Latin America for nearly a decade.  It has assembled interests in a portfolio of promising gold projects throughout the region, including carried stakes in two small-scale developing gold projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and a number of 100% owned exploration plays, including the HB property in Guatemala. As well, Radius is in the process of spinning out its properties in the Yukon, including those in the Rackla Belt and Sixty Mile placer gold district, to create two strategically positioned companies, one focused on Latin America and the other focused on the Yukon.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Simon Ridgway"
Simon Ridgway, President & CEO

Investor relations:  Ralph Rushton / Erin Ostrom
Symbol: TSXV-RDU; OTCBB-RDUFF
Shares Issued: 86.6-million

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements in this news release contain forward-looking information that involves inherent risk and uncertainty affecting the business of Radius Gold Inc.  Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statement.

SOURCE Radius Gold Inc.