VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - June 19, 2013) - Luna Gold Corp. (TSX:LGC)(LMA:LGC) ("Luna" or the "Company") today updated the progress of the Phase I Expansion construction and Phase II Expansion Prefeasibility Study ("PFS") for its Aurizona Gold Mine. Luna also announced results of 11 exploration drill holes completed at the Company's Touro target during the first quarter 2013 and the identification of the new two (2) kilometre long Touro Northwest ("Touro NW") shear zone. This discovery at the Touro target is surrounded by a large gold-in-soil anomaly associated with elevated copper and molybdenum values. These values, in combination with geophysical data, define a prominent sub-circular feature of exploration interest. Updated target maps can be viewed on the Luna Gold website at www.lunagold.com.

Aurizona Phase I Plant Expansion Progress Update

• Overall hours for engineering, procurement, and construction management are 85% complete
  
  
• Engineering is 90% complete and 78% of procurement packages have been awarded
  
  
• Hand-over to construction team and transition of project management and controls team to site is underway
  
  
• Construction progress:
  
  
  • Steel assembly is progressing well for the carbon reactivation kiln ("CRK") and intense leach reactor ("ILR") buildings with the major equipment rough set of both the CRK and ILR completed
    
    
  • Thickener bulk earthworks have been completed and thickener steel began arriving on site in May
    
    
  • Rebar has arrived onsite for the Carbon-In Leach tank foundations and compacted earthworks have been completed
    
    

Visit the Aurizona Phase I Expansion gallery for recent construction photos: http://www.lunagold.com/en/operations/Phase1PhotoGallery.asp.

Aurizona Phase II Mine and Plant Expansion PFS Update

• Phase II PFS considers the Aurizona Gold Mine increasing annual gold production to between 200,000 and 300,000 ounces
  
  
• Delivery of Phase II PFS is tracking to the original release time of fourth quarter 2013 Luna is pleased to announce that Micon International Ltd., Vancouver has been awarded the overall preparation and coordination of the PFS and the process plant expansion study has been awarded to DRA Americas Inc., Toronto
  
  

"I am pleased to announce Phase I Expansion is progressing on time and budget with completion expected at the end of 2013. The Phase II PFS considering a subsequent mine and plant expansion to take Aurizona's total annual production to between 200,000 and 300,000 ounces per year is on track for announcement in fourth quarter 2013. We are looking forward to working together with Micon and DRA to identify a positive business case for Phase II," stated John Blake, Luna's President and Chief Executive Officer.

Touro Exploration Highlights

• Drilling and mapping have identified Touro NW, which is located 800 meters northwest of the Touro Central Shear Zone

• Highlights from this new shear zone are 15.00 metres ("m") @ 1.18 gram per tonne ("g/t") gold (TOURD010), 9.00m @ 3.85 g/t gold including 2.00m @ 15.58 g/t gold (TOURD014), and 1.25m @ 56.53 g/t gold (TOURD012)

• Reinterpretation of all the geologic and geophysical data has defined the principal trend of the Touro mineralized shear zones as east-northeast, consistent with the orientation of mineralized structures at the Aurizona Gold Mine

• Field programs conducted outside the Touro target have discovered a large, sub-circular gold-in-soil anomaly approximately 2.5 kilometers in diameter and associated with elevated copper, cobalt, gallium and molybdenum values.

"The discovery of a new mineralized shear zone at the Touro target is another positive exploration result at our Luna Greenfields property," stated John Blake, Luna's President and Chief Executive Officer. "These regional results demonstrate that Touro is part of a much larger gold anomaly with intriguing structural and geochemical associations. We have now paused drilling at Touro in order to focus on our first priority - the on time and on budget completion of Aurizona's Phase I expansion."

The Touro target is located 17 kilometers southwest of the Aurizona Gold Mine. Seven positive drill holes totaling 1,674 meters were announced on January 28, 2013. This current release announces the results of an additional 11 diamond holes totaling 1,984 meters that were drilled in the first quarter 2013. In total, Luna has drilled 18 holes for 3,658 meters at Touro.

Touro was an active garimpo (artisanal mine) in the 1980s. During this time, quartz veins and stockworks hosted by altered tonalites and diorites were mined from shallow open pits and underground workings along several sub-parallel east-northeast trending shear zones. A large tailings deposit, the product of artisanal mining, extends for one kilometer north-south at Touro Central. Outcrop at Touro is limited to the walls and floors of artisanal pits.

Gold mineralization at Touro is hosted in sheared and altered tonalite and diorite of Paleoproterozoic age, with tonalite being the dominant host. Tonalite alteration consists of silicification, sericitization, carbonatization, sulfidation, albitization along with introduced tourmaline. Bleaching is widespread. Pyrite is the dominant sulfide in mineralized material but gold is also associated with quartz veins and stockworks. The exploration results are positive and set the stage for future drill programs at this target.

Luna completed a large soil survey combined with geological mapping in the area surrounding the Touro target. Numerous new saprolite and alluvial artisanal pits have been mapped and a large gold-in-soil anomaly some 3 kilometers in diameter has been defined extending outwards from Touro. Two new target areas, Canis and Draco, have also been defined adjacent to the Touro target. This soil anomaly is coincident with a large sub-circular feature defined by elevated copper, cobalt, gallium and molybdenum values which suggest that Touro may be part of a larger intrusive related mineralizing system. Geophysical magnetic features are also coincident with these geochemical anomalies. Luna is working to determine the significance of this data and is excited by the potential scale and structural setting that the exploration programs are defining. The results can be viewed on maps that are located in the Touro section of Luna's website.

Website Link to Touro Section: http://www.lunagold.com/en/projectsoperations/lunagreenfields.asp

Table 1. Mineralized drill intercepts from the Touro exploration drill program. Intervals are calculated as composites using a 0.30 gram/tonne Au cut-off and a maximum of two (2) meters of internal waste. True widths to be established. Mineralized surface tailings material is not reported in the intervals.

About Luna Gold Corp.

Luna is a gold production company engaged in the operation, expansion, and exploration of gold projects in Brazil.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

LUNA GOLD CORP.

John Blake, President and CEO

Regulatory Footnotes

Luna operates a rigorous QA/QC protocol on all aspects of sampling and analytical procedure. Diamond drill core is checked, logged, marked for sampling and sawn in half. One half of the HQ diameter core is maintained for future reference and one half of the core is sent for analysis. Samples are collected at approximately 1 meter intervals which is reduced when a mineralized zone is encountered. Reverse Circulation drill samples are collected at the RC drill rig using 4.5 inch core tools. The entire RC sample is sent to the commercial laboratory for preparation and analysis. Samples are collected at both 1 and 2 meter intervals. Channel sampling is supervised by geologists and mining technicians and recorded on special log sheets. All areas intended for sampling are assessed and marked-up for sampling by geologists. For surface channel sampling all sample faces are cleaned to a depth of 15 centimeters and marked for sampling which is conducted at nominal 1 meter intervals using appropriate sampling tools which are cleaned between each sample. Sample intervals are surveyed using a Total Station. All core, RC and channel samples are stored in secure locked areas under Luna supervision. Samples are transported from the Aurizona project to the ALS Chemex sample preparation facility in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais accompanied by Luna personnel. Samples are assayed at ALS Chemex Labs in Lima, Peru using a 50 gram fire assay with AAS finish. ALS Chemex is an international laboratory and is independent of Luna. Each sample batch contains 10% of randomly inserted internal control samples consisting of certified analytical standards, blanks (barren rock) and duplicates. These QA/QC procedures provide several measures of data quality and assure the Company that the assay data is representative of the original sample.

Titus Haggan Ph.D., EurGeol Certified Professional Geologist #746, Luna's Vice President Exploration is the Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the scientific and technical work on the exploration program and has supervised the preparation of and reviewed the exploration technical disclosure in this press release. Non-qualified persons currently work on Luna's exploration programs under the guidance of Titus Haggan. Dr. Haggan takes responsibility for work, information and advice generated by non-Qualified persons on the exploration programs and has taken the steps required to ensure that the work, information and advice is sound.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future gold production and/or the results of analysis on gold production. Forward-looking statements are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors identified in Luna Gold Corp.'s periodic filings with Canadian Securities Regulators. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drill results and other exploration data, the potential for delays in exploration or development activities, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, accidents, equipment breakdowns, title matters, labor disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in production and operations, fluctuating metal prices, unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations, currency fluctuations, regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability, competition, loss of key employees, and other related risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.