Rainy River Resources Completes Feasibility Study: Establishes Intermediate Production Profile with 4.0 Million Ounces of Gold in Proven and Probable Reserves

RR.TSX

TORONTO, April 10, 2013 /CNW/ - Rainy River Resources Ltd. ("Rainy River" or the "Company" (RR.TSX)) is pleased to announce receipt of a positive Feasibility Study ("FS") for its 100% owned Rainy River Gold Project ("RRGP") in northwestern Ontario, Canada.  The information presented below summarizes the results of the FS for a mine and processing scenario based on the October 10, 2012 National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") mineral resource estimate, which includes assay data up to June 10, 2012.  All currency amounts herein are expressed in Canadian dollars ($) unless otherwise noted. This feasibility study was prepared and compiled by BBA Inc. ("BBA") for Rainy River in cooperation with a number of specialized consultants.

Raymond Threlkeld, Rainy River's President and CEO, stated: "With the release of the Rainy River Gold Project Feasibility Study, we are transitioning to the mine development stage of Canada's newest gold district. The Feasibility Study outlines an outstanding project, located in one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world, conveniently surrounded by infrastructure, and with tremendous exploration potential.

"By continuing to focus on our strategy of delivering a project with the lowest risk to our shareholders and the strongest internal rate of return, we have developed a plan with high production rates, low cash and "all-in" costs and strong margins.

"Our planned mine production averages 326,000 ounces of gold and 494,000 ounces of silver annually in the first 10 years of the combined open pit and underground operation.  Over that period, we will operate at mill head grades of 1.46 grams per tonne of gold and 3.19 grams per tonne of silver, and a low open pit operating strip ratio of 2.8:1, which excludes overburden and capitalized waste.

"The higher grades mined in the open pit and underground will enable the average cash costs in the first five and 10 years to be US$413 and US$468 per ounce of gold including royalties and net of silver credit, respectively, which would place the Rainy River Gold Project in the lowest and second-lowest quartiles for cash costs, respectively, among gold producers worldwide.  The after-tax NPV is $931 million with low "all-in" cash costs of US$771 per ounce gold (at US$1,400 per ounce gold, US$25 per ounce silver, including royalties and net of silver credits).

"This mine plan, combined with the exploration potential in our district, makes the Rainy River Gold Project stand out in Canada as a low risk, high return project.

"A prime example of the district potential is our exciting Intrepid Zone, where last week we saw high grade intercepts of almost half an ounce of gold and almost 3 ounces of silver over 9 metres in drill hole NR 131523.  The Intrepid Zone, which is not included in the Feasibility Study, exemplifies the potential of the district and is expected to add high quality ounces to an already outstanding Rainy River Gold Project."

Areas of Upside Potential for the Project

• Intrepid Zone integration into the mine plan
• District exploration

Note that this news release contains "forward-looking information" as defined in applicable securities laws which include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the cost and timing of the development of the Rainy River Gold Project, as well as the availability of financing for the project. Further information about forward-looking statements is included at the end of this press release.

RAINY RIVER GOLD PROJECT - FEASIBILITY STUDY

Contributors

The independent Feasibility Study was prepared through the collaboration of a number of industry-recognized consulting firms, including BBA Inc. (Montreal, QC), Golder Associates ("Golder", Vancouver, BC), AMEC Environment & Infrastructure ("AMEC", Mississauga, ON), Merit Consultants International Inc. ("Merit", Vancouver, BC), SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. ("SRK", Toronto, ON), SGS Canada Inc. ("SGS", Lakefield, ON), SanZoe Consulting ("Sanzoe", Toronto, ON) and TBT Engineering ("TBT", Thunder Bay, ON). A summary of contributors to the FS is included in Table 1 below.

Table 1 - FS Contributors

Open Pit and Underground Mineral Reserves

The FS mineral reserves are based on the October 2012 resource update (see Rainy River Resources' press release dated October 10, 2012). For the FS, open pit mining dilution and mining recovery are calculated as 9.7% at 0.22 g/t gold and 1.31 g/t silver and 95%, respectively. Approximately 80% of the underground mineral reserves are in long-hole (LH) stopes, with the balance of about 20% of underground reserves in cut-and-fill ("CAF") stopes. Overall, it is estimated that the LH stopes will have approximately 10% dilution grading 1.56 gpt gold and 1.28 gpt silver. Dilution in the CAF areas is estimated to be 9% with a grade of 0.61 gpt gold and 4.16 gpt silver.  Underground resources have been calculated assuming a mining recovery of 95%.

The open pit cut-off grade is 0.30 g/t gold-equivalent ("AuEq"), and the underground cut-off grade is 3.5 g/t AuEq. The resulting mineral reserve calculation for the open pit and underground mine plans is shown in Table 2:

Table 2.  Open Pit and Underground Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves (April 10, 2013)^{1, 2, 3, 4}

Mining

The FS assumes the processing of an average 21,000 tonnes per day ("tpd") from a combination of open pit, underground and stockpiled material.  The mine schedule contains two years of pre-production and envisions a mine operating life of 16 years, including six years of reclamation from the stockpiles and excluding the pre-production period. Development of the underground operation would start in Year 1 of mine operations and begin producing at full rates by Year 6.

Conventional open pit mining has been chosen as the primary method to extract the Rainy River deposit because of its proximity to surface. The open pit mine production rate is planned to be approximately 21,000 tpd of mill feed material initially, and is gradually reduced to 20,000 tpd once the 1,000 tpd underground operation reaches full production in Year 6.  The open pit mining plan is based on a declining cut-off grade strategy, whereby low grade material will be stockpiled near the primary crusher for future processing as needed, at the end of the open-pit and underground mine lives. The objective of this strategy is to obtain a higher average milled grade in the early years in order to maximize the Project's cash flow and economics.

An operating cut-off grade of 0.60 g/t AuEq is applied initially, dropping to 0.45 g/t AuEq in the final years.  During open pit operations, material with grade below the operating cut-off grade and at or above 0.30 g/t AuEq is stockpiled near the primary crusher for processing in the last six years. The stockpiled material totals 43 million tonnes ("Mt") at 0.37 g/t Au and 1.97 g/t Ag, and is reclaimed and processed using existing mine equipment after the open pit is exhausted.

The primary mine fleet for the open pit consists of three 28-cubic metre hydraulic shovels, one 15 cubic-metre wheel loader, up to 19 haul trucks (226-tonne-class) and a fleet of support equipment. Initial production drilling will be carried out by a fleet of up to 3 diesel powered track-mounted (DTH) drills. Operating bench heights of 10 metres have been planned for mining operations. Over the life of the mine, a total of 350.6 Mt of waste rock and 80.0 Mt of overburden will be moved. It is anticipated that all overburden will be removed within the first seven years of mine operations.

Waste rock-to-mill-feed operating strip ratios average 2.8 during the first ten years of operations, net of the capitalization of waste material costs. Waste material totalling 32.6 million tonnes ($62.7 million) is excluded from operating expenses and capitalized during the mine life. Mined waste and overburden will be stored in nearby stockpiles or used in dike construction activities associated with the tailings management area.

At the peak of open pit mining (Year 7), a workforce of approximately 299 persons (staff and hourly employees) will be required.

For the underground mine, LH and CAF mining methods are proposed in a ratio of approximately 80:20 by reserves. LH mining will mainly follow a traditional transverse primary-secondary pyramid sequence, using cemented rockfill ("CRF") in the primary stopes and unconsolidated rockfill ("RF") in the secondary stopes. There are minor amounts of longitudinal stoping that will use CRF. The LH stopes are designed with a 25-metre sublevel interval and a hanging wall dip of 60 degrees. The primary stopes are designed to be an average of 10 metres transverse width (across strike) by 10 metres wide (along strike), and the secondary stopes are designed to be 10 metres transverse width by 20 metres wide.

The CAF mining method is proposed in shallower dipping areas that are above the cut-off grade. This method involves mining 5-metre lifts from the bottom up; the lowest lift of a mining zone is mined first. Once complete, this lift is backfilled with unconsolidated rockfill and then the next 5-metre lift above the backfill is mined.

The mining areas are accessed by a main ramp that is 6.0 metres wide by 5.5 metres high with an average gradient of 15%. The underground mine will require main ramps, footwall accesses for LH stopes, and the infrastructure required to support mining activities such as a small underground shop, sumps, and ventilation drifts and raises. Mined waste will either be used as backfill, when possible, or hauled to the waste storage facility at surface. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the underground waste will remain underground as backfill.

The underground mine production rate is estimated to average 1,000 tpd. A fleet of 5.4 cubic-metre load-haul-dumps ("LHDs") and 27 cubic-metre trucks has been selected as the primary underground production equipment. At peak operation, the underground will have approximately 42 pieces of mobile equipment (including production, development and support equipment) and have a ventilation capacity of approximately 350 m³ per second.

At peak operation, the underground will require a workforce of 187 persons (staff, hourly and contract employees).

Both mine areas will deliver material to a central gyratory crusher for primary reduction and delivery to the processing plant.

Metallurgy and Processing

Metallurgical testing has been conducted over a period of almost three years at SGS Canada Inc. in Lakefield, Ontario.  Based on the results, BBA has developed a conventional flow sheet including:

• primary crushing and grinding;
• gravity recovery;
• whole-ore leaching followed by a carbon-in-pulp circuit;
• electro-winning and smelting to produce gold doré; and
• a cyanide destruction circuit.

Major equipment for the processing facility includes a 54'' x 75" gyratory crusher, a 36' by 20', 15 MW dual pinion drive semi-autogenous grind ("SAG") mill and a 26' by 40.5', 15 megawatt ("MW") dual-pinion drive ball mill.  Mill feed will be ground to a P₈₀ size of 75 microns before entering a leaching circuit for final metal recovery. Equipment has been sized for the 80^th percentile of expected ore hardness.  The average leach time is 30 hours.

Metallurgical recoveries for gold and silver over the life of the mine are expected to average 90.4% and 64.1%, respectively. One tailings pond is envisioned, and will be located approximately three kilometres northwest of the plant.

It is estimated that 89 people (staff and hourly employees) will be required for the process plant operations.

Infrastructure

The RRGP benefits from world-class infrastructure, services and available labour in the immediate area.  The project site is located only 65 km from the town of Fort Frances (population 8,000) and is accessible year-round by a network of sealed provincial highways.

Infrastructure is anticipated to include:

• Plant site and haul roads, gate house, parking, bus station and weigh station;
• Separate administration building, mine office and process building;
• Assay lab;
• Mine maintenance garage, warehouse;
• Fuel storage facilities;
• Fresh water supply and fire protection;
• Sewage treatment;
• One tailings management facility;
• Two mine rock overburden/rock stockpiles;
• Various water management ponds;
• Power to the project supplied by a new 17 km long 230-kV transmission line connecting to the provincial power grid, with the total power draw expected to be 57 MW.
• Highway 600 realignment, east access road.

Operating and Capital Costs

Total operating costs for the RRGP are summarized in Table 3 (a) as follows:

Table 3 (a) - Average Life-of-Mine Operating Costs (in Canadian dollars per tonne)

Total cash costs for the RRGP are summarized in Table 3 (b) as follows:

Table 3 (b): Average Gold Cash Costs^{1, 2}

The breakdown of open pit and underground pre-production and sustaining capital costs is provided in Tables 4 and 5, respectively.

Open pit pre-production capital costs include overburden stripping, which is necessary to expose the bedrock material to be mined, as well as waste rock stripping.  Open pit sustaining capital costs include the construction of a tailings management facility and certain ongoing overburden stripping to expose mineralized material as the pit expands.

Table 4 - Open Pit Capital Costs

Table 5 - Underground Capital Costs

Project Permitting

In anticipation of future project permitting, the Company has been working closely with both Federal and Provincial regulatory agencies for several years.  Environmental baseline studies were initiated in 2008 and have been followed by extensive annual regional field assessments. Recent milestones have included the acceptance of the Mine Project Description by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency as well as the submission of the Provincial Terms of Reference to the Ontario Ministry of Environment.  Additionally, the Rainy River Gold Project was selected by the Federal/Provincial Regulatory Reform Working Group to receive enhanced project alignment considerations and involvement from senior government executives and Ministers thereby providing direct support towards an efficient and effective project review.

Community

The Company remains an active member of the local community, supporting a wide variety of community events and training programs. Regular public information meetings and a quarterly community newsletter combined with site tours are some of the ways in which the Company continues to engage and inform the local population as to the Project's progress.  These efforts will be amplified and expanded further, in tandem with the release of the Mine Environmental Assessment report during the latter half of 2013.

The Company also continues to work closely with our Aboriginal partners in support of project permitting.  Through regular communications and the completion of various agreements, a framework supporting anticipated mine operations has been well advanced.

The peak construction workforce would total 405 during the 23-month construction period. Employment levels at the RRGP during operations would vary according to production requirements, but would peak at approximately 601 persons, including 89 employees in the process plant, 26 employees in General and Administrative roles, 299 employees in the open pit mine and 187 employees in the underground mine.

Project Economics

The first five years of mining yields cash costs (including royalties and net of silver credits) of US$413 per ounce of gold, placing RRGP in the lowest quartile of cash costs for global gold projects, based on published industry cost curves.  In years 1 - 10, cash costs average US$468 per ounce of gold, placing the RRGP within the second-lowest quartile of cash costs for global gold projects. Life-of-mine cash costs, net of silver credits, after the processing of low-grade stockpiles in years 11 to 16, are calculated to be US$544 per ounce of gold. This life-of-mine average places the project within the second-lowest quartile of global gold projects, based on published industry cost curves (Brook Hunt, 2017 Cash Cost Curve).

On an "all-in" cost basis, which includes all cash costs, pre-production capital and sustaining capital costs, the Rainy River Gold Project's all-in costs are approximately US$771 per ounce of gold in the first 10 years and US$861 for the life-of-mine, (including royalties and net of silver credits).

Production volumes and cash costs are shown in Tables 6(a) and (b) and 7 below.

Table 6(a) - Gold and Silver Production Profile: Open Pit ¹

Table 6(b) - Gold and Silver Production Profile: Underground

Table 7 - Combined Open Pit and Underground Production, Cash Costs

The updated FS study returns an after-tax IRR of 23.7% and NPV of $931M, at a 5% discount rate. Economic parameters are provided in Table 8 below.  The FS assumes that capital costs commence upon the initiation of construction.

Table 8 - Economic Parameters and Summary of FS Results

NEXT STEPS

Technical:

• Detailed Engineering.

Exploration

• Focussed exploration of Intrepid Zone;
• First Mineral Resource on Intrepid Zone - Q3/13.

Community and Environment:

• Continue community engagement programs and consultation with Aboriginal partners;
• Submission of Environmental Assessment Report in support of mine permitting.

The full NI 43-101 Technical Report for the FS will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days, and will be posted to Rainy River Resources' website at www.rainyriverresources.com at that time.

FEASIBILITY STUDY CONFERENCE CALL

Rainy River will hold a conference call on Thursday April 11, 2012 at 9:00 am Eastern Daylight Time.  During the call, senior management will be available to discuss the Feasibility Study and respond to questions from analysts and investors.  To join the call, please dial:

• 1-800-319-4610 in Canada and USA toll-free
• 1-604-638-5340 outside Canada and USA

The conference call will be recorded and available until May 10, 2013. Playback details are as follows:

• 1-800-319-6413 in Canada and USA toll-free
• 1-604-638-9010 outside Canada and USA
• Passcode: 5589 followed by the # sign.

Independent Qualified Persons ("QPs")
Independent QPs from BBA, Golder, AMEC and SRK who have prepared or supervised the preparation of the technical information relating to the Feasibility Study include:

• David Runnels, Colin Hardie, Patrice Live (BBA)
• Donald Tolfree (Golder)
• David Ritchie, Sheila Daniel (AMEC)
• Glen Cole, Dorota El-Rassi (SRK)

The mineral resource statement was prepared by Dorota El-Rassi, P.Eng. (APEO #100012348) and Glen Cole, P.Geo (APGO #1416), of SRK, both "independent qualified persons" as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.

Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" as defined in applicable securities laws (referred to herein as "forward-looking statements"). Forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the cost and timing of the development of the Rainy River project, the other economic parameters of the project, as set out in its feasibility study; the success and continuation of exploration activities; estimates of mineral reserves and resources; acquisitions of additional mineral properties; the future price of gold; government regulations and permitting timelines; estimates of reclamation obligations that may be assumed; requirements for additional capital; environmental risks; and general business and economic conditions. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "intends", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any of its future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the assumptions underlying the feasibility study not being realized, decrease of future gold prices, cost of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment rising, the availability of financing on attractive terms, actual results of current exploration, changes in project parameters, exchange rate fluctuations, delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of First Nations, title risks, regulatory risks and uncertainties with respect to obtaining necessary surface rights and permits or delays in obtaining same, and other risks involved in the gold exploration and development industry, as well as those risk factors discussed in the section entitled "Description of Business-Risk Factors" in Rainy River's 2012 Annual Information Form and its other SEDAR filings from time to time. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, the availability of financing for the Company's exploration and development activities; the timelines for the Company's exploration and development activities on the Rainy River Property; the availability of certain consumables and services; assumptions made in mineral resource estimates, including geological interpretation grade, recovery rates, gold price assumption, and operational costs; and general business and economic conditions. All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by this cautionary statement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

For additional information with respect to the key assumptions, parameters, risks and other technical information underlying to the mineral resource estimates and the feasibility study discussed in this news release, refer to: (i) the technical report entitled "Technical Report for the Rainy River Gold Project, Northwestern Ontario, Canada", dated April 9, 2012, with respect to the mineral resource estimates, available at www.sedar.com; (ii) the press release dated October 10, 2012 with respect to the updated resource statement, and (iii) the technical report entitled "Feasibility Study of the Rainy River Gold Property, Ontario, Canada", with respect to the feasibility study, to be filed at www.sedar.com.

This new release uses the terms "proven mineral reserves", "probable mineral reserves", "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". The Company advises readers that these terms are defined in accordance with Canadian regulations NI 43-101. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize mineral resources. Readers are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted in to reserves. In addition, "inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, or economic studies, except for a Preliminary Assessment as defined under NI 43-101. Investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.

Non-GAAP Measures
Cash cost per ounce, all-in costs, costs per tonne milled and cost per tonne mined have no standardized meaning under IFRS.

Cash cost per ounce figures, also known as "total cash costs" per ounce figures are calculated in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, which was a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products and included leading global gold producers. The Gold Institute ceased operations in 2002, but the standard is widely accepted as the standard of reporting cash costs of production in the global industry. Adoption of the standard is voluntary and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Total cash costs include mine site operating costs such as mining, processing, administration, royalties and production taxes, but excludes amortization, reclamation, capital and exploration costs. Total cash costs are reduced by silver revenue and then divided by ounces sold to arrive at the total cash costs per ounce sold. The measure, along with sales, is considered to be a key indicator of a company's ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations.

Qualified Persons

Rainy River's engineering assessment in Richardson Township is being supervised by Garett Macdonald, P.Eng. (PEO #90475344), Vice-President Operations and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Other than as specified herein, Garett Macdonald, P.Eng. (PEO #90475344), is also the qualified person who reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. Rainy River's exploration program in Richardson Township is being supervised by Kerry Sparkes, P.Geo. (APEGBC #25261), Vice-President Exploration, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Rainy River

Rainy River Resources Ltd. is a Canadian precious metals exploration company whose key asset is the Rainy River Gold Project, a large gold system centred in Richardson Township (part of Chapple Township). As at December 31, 2012, the Company had approximately $102 million in cash and cash equivalents, and it remains well funded for its ongoing activities, including: 1) commencement of detailed engineering work and ongoing permitting and environmental assessment work; 2) continuing to grow the existing resource through exploration; 3) conducting a condemnation program in areas identified for potential mine facilities; and 4) continuing regional exploration. RRGP is very well located in northwestern Ontario. It is accessed by a network of roads and is close to hydro-electric infrastructure. The Rainy River district has a skilled labour force and is one of the lowest-cost areas for mineral exploration and development in Canada. Ontario has low political risk and, according to the annual Fraser Institute global survey of the mining industry, has consistently ranked as one of the top jurisdictions embracing mineral development.

RAINY RIVER RESOURCES LTD.

Raymond W. Threlkeld
President & CEO

SOURCE: Rainy River Resources