Mr. Paul Joyce reports

RUGBY INITIATES FIELD REVIEW OF ITS NEWLY ACQUIRED GOLD PROJECTS IN COLOMBIA

Rugby Mining Ltd. has commenced fieldwork designed to set exploration priorities over its recently acquired Colombian gold projects. To the end of August, preliminary visits were completed on 12 of 61 areas considered the most worthy for early assessment.

The work is being performed by a team of experienced professionals, including individuals previously employed by the major international gold mining company which owned the projects. Early site visits were considered imperative as the very substantial (plus-70-gigabyte) geological database acquired is simply too large to fully evaluate in the timeline envisioned by Rugby.

Rugby's chief executive officer, Paul Joyce, stated: "Over the coming months, our task will be to rate the gold projects as quickly as possible. Priority is being given to high-grade gold-silver systems in these very prospective areas.

"Separately, we welcome after so many years of negotiations, the recent signing of a peace accord between the Colombian government and the FARC movement. We believe this agreement will facilitate renewed foreign investment, particularly in the mining sector."

Granted concessions versus applications

The projects comprise both granted concessions and applications, covering approximately 845 square kilometres. Nearly 10 per cent of the new gold projects are granted concessions whilst the others remain as applications. Encouragingly, Rugby has now been notified that the final review is in process for several of the concession applications (the penultimate step before grant).

Rugby's existing Cobrasco and Comita copper projects are situated in community lands requiring lengthy and somewhat arduous activities including community consultations, community agreements and various environmental permit applications prior to exploration and drilling. Unlike Cobrasco and Comita, the recently acquired gold projects are on private lands where access can be granted directly by the owners of the surface rights. In this way, the detailed work, including drilling, was completed on one of the projects, the El Poma gold project.

Fieldwork in progress

Most field examinations involve an appraisal of the style of mineralization, rather than sampling. However, for one prospect, which the company has named Tantalus, high-level epithermal silver gold mineralization was evident, and 85 channel and rock samples were collected and submitted for assay. The concession application covering the Tantalus prospect is pending approval.

The highest-priority projects are now being sampled by an experienced prospecting team.

Rugby has yet to fully assess the El Poma project (the only project previously drilled), a large low-grade porphyry gold system with some high-grade gold intercepts. The initial field examination confirmed the exploration potential to extend the porphyry-style mineralization; however, a more appropriate geophysical survey is required to better delineate the structural controls of the higher-grade gold mineralization and define potential drill targets.

Colombian staff

Following Rugby's acquisition of the projects in June, 2016, the company has grown its local staff base by successfully securing additional experienced Colombian geologists, a community relations manager and a legal adviser with extensive knowledge of the projects. These key staff engagements are significant for maintaining continuity, community relationships and access over the newly acquired gold projects.

Francisco Montes, Rugby's chief geologist and a qualified person within the definition of that term in National Instrument 43-101, standards of disclosure for mineral projects, has verified the technical information that forms the basis for this news release.

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