Rye Patch discovers five Au-Ag targets at Rochester
Ticker Symbol: C:RPM

Rye Patch discovers five Au-Ag targets at Rochester

Rye Patch Gold Corp (C:RPM)
Shares Issued 137,477,445
Last Close 1/6/2012 $0.54
Monday January 09 2012 - News Release

Mr. William Howald reports

RYE PATCH GOLD MAKES NEW GOLD AND SILVER DISCOVERIES ON THE ROCHESTER PROPERTY

Rye Patch Gold Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary Rye Patch Gold US Inc., has released assay results from the company's 100-per-cent-owned LH claims, Rochester property, located on the Oreana trend. The property covers lands located between the Company's Lincoln Hill project to the west of the Rochester Mine, on lands around the northern, western and eastern portions of Coeur d'Alene Mine's (NYSE:CDE)(TSX:CDM) active Rochester open pit silver mine, and on lands surrounding the Packard open pit silver mine south of the Rochester Mine. The LH Claims also cover portions of the Black Fault zone to the east.

HIGHLIGHTS:

--  Five new discovery areas identified - Northwest Rochester, Mystic,

    Limerick Basin, Independence Hill, and Black Fault; 

--  Average assay gold and silver grade of 457 rock-chip channel samples

    greater than the average gold and silver grades being mined at the

    Rochester Mine open pit; 

--  Mystic Breccia zone is a series of high-grade gold and silver breccias

    with an average grade of 0.266 g/t Au and 290.2 g/t Ag; and 

--  Drilling is planned to begin on the Mystic and Northwest Rochester

    targets in late January.

The Oreana trend includes three active mines and three advance stage exploration properties. The mines are Relief Canyon, Rochester, and Packard Mines, and the advance projects are Wilco, Lincoln Hill and Spring Valley. Rye Patch Gold controls over 100 square kilometres along the trend.

"Rye Patch is excited by the initial assay results which constitute five new discovery areas. The assays demand immediate follow up, and at the Mystic and Northwest Rochester targets, drilling. Our geologic team continues to explore and develop the discoveries. Permitting is in process and drilling will commence in late January," stated William C. Howald, President and CEO of Rye Patch Gold Corp.

Based on the initial Phase-1 rock-chip sampling program, the Company has located 5 targets that returned ore-grade gold and silver assays. The targets are the: Northwest Rochester, Independence Hill, Limerick Basin, Mystic, and Black Fault regions. Targets were selected as a corollary to the striking gold and silver values returned from Phase-1 sampling assay results. These new discoveries warrant immediate follow-up, and drilling permit applications are in process with the goal of drilling to commence in late January. Table 1 summarizes the results by target area.

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Table 1: Rye Patch Gold US Inc. Rochester Target Summary Assay Statistics   

 (1)                                                                        

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                                                                      Silver

                                         Gold assay   Silver assay     assay

                        Gold assay range    average          range   average

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                # of                                                       

Target       Samples        Opt     Ppm   opt   ppm    opt     ppm opt   ppm

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Northwest                       0.0025-             0.015-    0.5-          

 Rochester        43    0-0.018   0.613 0.002  0.08  17.39   596.2 1.0  33.4

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Mystic                          0.0025-             0.003-    0.1-          

                  57     0-0.04     1.3 0.004 0.133   55.3  1896.6 4.2 143.3

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Mystic Breccia                    0.09-             0.006-    0.2-          

 zone (2)         27 0.002-0.04    1.33 0.008 0.266   55.3  1896.6 8.5 290.2

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Limerick Basin                  0.0025-             0.006-    0.2-          

                  11    0-0.086    2.94 0.015 0.504  78.61  2695.7 7.3 251.2

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Independence                    0.0025-             0.006-                  

 Hill             26    0-0.255     9.1 0.014 0.481   7.15 0.2-244 1.1  38.2

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Black Fault                     0.0025-             0.001-   0.05-          

                  32    0-0.001   0.062 0.000  0.01  0.522    17.9 0.1   2.8

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(1) Based on November and December 2011 sampling and fire assay results     

(2) Mystic Breccia Zone is apart of the Mystic Target                       

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NORTHWEST ROCHESTER

The Northwest Rochester target is comprised of altered rhyolite host rocks similar to those found at the Lincoln Hill deposit and the Rochester and Packard mines. Within the rhyolite package, a geologic contact is highly altered and is known for strong silver and gold mineralization in the Rochester open pit. There are several ore projections trending sub-parallel to the Oreana Trend northeast, and from the Rochester pit toward the northwest. The LH claims cover the north and northwest portions of the Rochester open pit - making the Northwest Rochester target a particularly exciting prospect. The Company's phase-1 sampling program yielded average assay grade of 0.08 g/t Au and 33.4 g/t Ag. The highest samples returned assays grading 0.613 g/t Au and 596.2 g/t Ag.

MYSTIC

The Mystic target is located immediately adjacent and north of the Packard open pit mine. The Mystic target is a swarm of breccia zones trending northeast directly toward the Rochester Mine open pit. The Mystic target has the highest average silver assays of all of the new Rye Patch discoveries on the Rochester Property. The highest silver assay is 1,896.6 g/t Ag, with an overall average grade of 0.133 g/t Au and 143.3 g/t Ag based on 57 rock-chip channel samples. The Mystic breccia zone shows the highest grades in gold and silver. The breccia zone is defined by a series of northeast oriented structural zones covering 1,000 metres wide by 3,000 metre long zone. The Mystic zone trends northeast toward the Rochester open pit. Average grade in the Mystic breccia zone is almost double the average for the entire Mystic target, with 0.266 g/t Au and 290.2 g/t Ag based on the 27 rock-chip channel samples collected in the breccia zone.

LIMERICK BASIN

The Limerick Basin target is 1.5 km northwest of the Rochester pit and approximately 3.5 km northeast of Lincoln Hill. Limerick Basin includes the historic Plainview mines located on the eastern edge of the target. Plainview, predominantly mined for silver, produced silver and gold from intrusive dikes and breccia zones similar to the Company's 100% controlled Lincoln Hill project. Rye Patch's highest silver assay from the Phase-1 sampling program was taken from the southwestern edge of the Limerick Basin target. The sample yielded assays grading 2.06 g/t Au and 2,695.7 g/t Ag. The average assay grade for all of Limerick Basin is 0.504 g/t Au and 251.2 g/t Ag.

INDEPENDENCE HILL

Independence Hill is adjacent to and borders the southern boundary of the Lincoln Hill project, and it is 2.5 kilometres west of the Rochester pit. Rochester Rhyolite underlies the target with northwest trending tourmaline-rich Lamprophyre dikes and breccia zones. These features are also found at the nearby Lincoln Hill project and are associated with higher gold and silver values. The Phase-1 sample program assays reinforce this occurrence of higher gold and silver anomalies associated with intrusive and fractured zones. Average assay grades in the Independence Hill region are 0.481 g/t Au and 38.2 g/t Ag, with the highest sample running 9.1 g/t Au and 244 g/t Ag.

BLACK FAULT

The Black Fault target, as the name indicates, is located along a major structure (Black Fault) immediately east of the Rochester and Packard pits. The Black Fault is a roughly north-south trending structure that is directly or closely related to the Rochester, Relief Canyon, and the Spring Valley mines. Major structures are often associated with high-grade mineralization, especially in Nevada. Furthermore, an exposed intrusive on the east boundary of the Black Fault, also known to be associated with mineralization in the Spring Valley deposit adds another layer of icing to the prospecting cake.

As a comparison of the phase-1, rock-chip program with current mining adjacent to the LH claims. Table 2 summarizes the average resource grades from nearby operating gold and silver mines with the assay results garnered from the Rye Patch phase-1 sampling program.

Table 2: Comparison of Rye Patch Gold Surface Assays and Adjacent Mine      

 Operations                                                                 

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                                GOLD                       SILVER           

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Areas                   opt    g/t    ppm    ppb    opt    g/t    ppm    ppb

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Coeur Rochester (1)   0.005  0.171  0.171 171.45  0.570 19.545 19.545  19545

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Florida Canyon (2)    0.018  0.614  0.614 613.79    n/a    n/a    n/a    n/a

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Hycroft (3)           0.013  0.446  0.446 445.70  0.293 10.047 10.047  10047

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Rye Patch Gold (4)    0.002  0.067  0.067  66.50  0.817  28.03  28.03  28030

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(1) Figures based on January 1,2011 Coeur Rochester Technical Report        

(2) Figures based on October 19-20, 2002 GSN Fall Field Trip Guidebook      

(3) Figures based on Allied Nevada November 07, 2011 3Q Report              

(4) Figures based on Rye Patch Gold US INC November 19, - December 05, 2011 

 sampling (457 samples)                                                     

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The Rochester property covers 30.3 square kilometres (7,493.2 acres), and the District Court has enjoined the Company from conducting exploration activities on approximately 7.4 square kilometres (1,839.3 acres) in the immediate Rochester Mine area. It is the Company's position that the LH claims within the enjoined area are and continue to be valid senior unpatented mining claims containing up to 20% of Rochester's reserves and a significant portion of the known resource, based on Coeur's December 5, 2011, news release.

As announced on May 18, 2010, May 11, 2009, and June 2, 2009, in respect of the Lincoln Hill, Wilco, and Jessup projects, Rye Patch Gold's resource inventory along the Oreana trend now totals 1,182,780 ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the measured and indicated category plus 2,727,100 ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the inferred category. Table 3 summarizes Rye Patch Gold's precious metal inventory in Nevada, USA excluding any resources within the LH claims.

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Table 3: Rye Patch Gold's NI43-101 Resource Inventory(1)                    

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                                                                  Contained 

                              Gold  Silver Contained  Contained Gold & Gold 

          Resource   Tonnes  Grade   Grade      Gold     Silver  Equivalent 

Property  Category (X 1,000)  (g/t)   (g/t)   Ounces     Ounces   Ounces (4)

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Wilco (2) Measured    7,526   0.69   4.595   164,000  1,111,000     186,220 

          Indicated  30,844   0.51   3.601   522,000  3,638,000     594,760 

          Inferred  121,838   0.41   5.075 1,660,000 19,871,000   2,057,420 

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Jessup(2) Measured    7,775   0.51   8.745   128,000  2,184,000     171,680 

          Indicated  12,642   0.41   7.167   172,000  2,906,000     230,120 

          Inferred    4,494   0.55   7.922    77,000  1,146,000      99,920 

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Lincoln   Measured                                                          

 Hill(3)                  -      -       -         -          -           - 

          Indicated       -      -       -         -          -           - 

          Inferred   17,215   0.69  17.143   380,000  9,488,000     569,760 

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Total Oreana Trend Measured & Indicated                                     

 Resources                                   986,000  9,839,000   1,182,780 

Total Oreana Trend Inferred Resources      2,117,000 30,505,000   2,727,100 

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(1) All resources on 100% basis. Metallurgical recoveries and net smelter   

 returns are assumed to be 100%. Conforms to 43-101 resource definitions;   

(2) Cutoff grade for Wilco Measured and Indicated resource is reported at   

 0.2 g/t Au for oxide mineralisation and 1.45 g/t Au for sulphide           

 mineralisation. The Inferred resource cut-off grade is reported at 0.2 g/t 

 Au for oxide, sulphide and carbonaceous ore types; however, a higher opt   

 Au cut-off grade may be required to upgrade the inferred resource to the   

 measured and indicated resource category. Cut-off grade for Jessup is      

 reported at 0.2 g/t Au for oxide mineralisation and 0.34 g/t Au for        

 transition and sulphide mineralisation; and                                

(3) The Inferred resource is reported at a cut-off grade of 0.34 g/t (0.01  

 opt) Aueq for oxide and transitional ore types;                            

(4) Wilco, Jessup and Lincoln Hill resources includes Au equivalent ounces  

 (Aueq.); where Aueq. = (Au ozs) + (Ag ozs X $Ag/oz)/$Au/oz, for Au/oz =    

 $1,200, and Ag/oz = $24.                                                   

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Mr. William Howald, AIPG Certified Professional Geologist #11041, Rye Patch Gold's CEO and President, is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. He has verified the information contained in, and has reviewed and approved the contents of, this news release.

We seek Safe Harbor.

© 2012 Canjex Publishing Ltd.