HispanicBusiness

In an event subsequent to the year ended on December 31, Rio Novo is pleased to announce the hiring of Sergio Fernandes Saraiva for the position of Mining Manager for the Almas project and Raulino Batista da Silva for the position of General Manager for Plant construction. Both nominations add significant experience to the Almas construction team and reaffirm management's confidence on the project execution.

Sergio Fernandes Saraiva is a Brazilian Mining Engineer with over 35 years of mining experience in Brazil. He has been an Operations Manager, Mining Manager and Mining Planning Manager at a number of companies such as Anglo American, at the Barro Alto nickel mine in the State of Goias, Yamana Gold at the Alto Horizonte copper mine, also in Goias and Mineracao Rio Do Norte at the Trombetas bauxite mine in the State of Para. He has a graduate degree in Mining Engineering from the Federal University of Ouro Preto.

Raulino Batista da Silva is a Brazilian construction engineer with over 30 years of construction and industrial project management. He has worked for companies such as Vale S/A, Grupo Votorantin, Queiroz Galvao and Tenenge. He has been responsible for the construction and startup of new processing plants for Kinross at the Paracatu gold mine in Minas Gerais and at the Pilar de Goias mine for Yamana Gold. For Vale S/A, he was part of the senior team that built the Salobo Copper Project in the city of Paraopebas, Para State. In addition, he has held the position of Chief Construction Manager for several hydroelectric and thermal power plants throughout Brazil. Mr. Batista has degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics from the Federal University in Bauru and the Ilha Solteria University in Sao Paulo.

Matupa Gold Project (former Guaranta Gold Project)

The Company has been actively exploring the district with two priority targets: the X1 Target and the Matupa target area, plus numerous projects in early exploration. To date, the Company has completed nearly 21,000 m of exploration and resource development drilling in the district.

The Matupa target area consists of a series of Paleoproterozoic granitic intrusives occurring along a 6 Km northwest trend. At least eight porphyry centres have been identified. Gold and silver mineralization is hosted in phyllic and potassic altered granite and monzonite. The area was formerly one of the largest placer gold mining districts in Brazil. During the quarter, Rio Novo focused exploration efforts in the Matupa target. Field work was limited due to the rainy season. The primary work consisted of re-logging existing core from the project and work related to preparation of the next model.

Rio Novo plans to re-initiate field work at the Matupa target after the rainy season. Initial plans call for further trenching, with drilling planned later in the season.

Tolda Fria Gold Project

The Tolda Fria Gold Project is located approximately 10km southeast of the city of Manizales in the Villamaria District, Caldas State, Colombia. The elevation of the prospect ranges from 2,800 to 3,000m above sea level. The Company has registered a 30-year mineral concession and an environmental license for small-scale mining operations. The Company has submitted an updated environmental management plan to Corpocaldas, the state environmental authority, for final approval.

In Q3 2012 Rio Novo completed an exploration program at the Tolda Fria Gold Project, consisting of a first-pass drilling program and a complementary bulk sampling program. The drilling program consisted of 16 drill holes totaling 5,145m. The drilling intersected broad zones of low-grade gold mineralization with a core of high-grade veins. These gold zones generally exhibit a wide area (10m to 70m) of lower grade veinlet mineralization running from 0.3 g/t to 0.7 g/t Au, with internal higher grade veins assaying from 5.0 g/t Au to 36 g/t Au in some areas. Although the drilling cut through the structures projected from underground workings, the high-grade nature of much of the tunnel sampling was only intermittently replicated in the drilling program.