Rio Silver Inc. provided an update on its plans to commence a first phase of diamond drilling at the 100% owned property, the Niñobamba Silver-Gold Project (Niñobamba or “The Property), in south central Peru. Niñobamba comprises seven concessions totaling 4017 hectares. The area has excellent infrastructure and is located 45 kilometres southwest of Ayacucho.

The Property is accessible by several gravel roads off the main highway accessing its northern boundary. The Property is free of any third-party royalties and has had over $10 million US spent on exploration by the Company and previous operators. The database for the Niñobamba project includes over 6500 surface and drill assay results from previous operators.

The precious metal mineralization is associated with a high-sulphidation epithermal system. These types of systems are a principal exploration target of major companies exploring for gold in the South American Andes. More specifically, precious metal mineralization at Barrick's Pierina and Laguna Norte gold mines, and Newmont's Yanacocha are all associated with high-sulphidation systems. Exploration by previous operators from 2002 through to 2009 includes assay results and drill logs for 9743 meters of diamond drilling.

Two discreet zones of precious metal mineralization were identified from this previous work: Main Niñobamba Zone (“Main Zone”) and the Jorimina Zone. Highlights from previous drill programs on the Main Zone by Anglogold included 130 meters of 2.8 oz Ag per ton Ag. in drill hole AN-2 and 7.5 kilometers to the west at the Jorimina zone Newmont had drilled 72 meters of 1.19 grams Au per tonne in dill hole JM-1. Rio Silver then completed an extensive surface trenching program on the Main Zone silver mineralization in 2012.

The trenching program resulted in identifying significant gold potential not recognized by the previous operators. The first trench of the program conducted by Rio Silver was placed in the area where Anglogold drilled an intercept of 130 metres of 2.8 oz/t Ag (ounces silver per ton). The trench exposed extensive high-sulphidation alteration returning an impressive 56 metres averaging 1.03 g/t Au (grams gold per tonne) and 98.9 g/t Ag.

Further trenching 400 metres southwest and along strike continued to expose typical vuggy silica, high-sulphidation-type alteration with the last 21 metres returning 1.32 g/t gold and 102 g/t silver. The extent of the mineralization continues under deep colluvium. The last sample in the trench returned 0.53 g/t gold and 82 g/t silver.