TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or “the Company”) provides detail of response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an update on exploration activities in Finland at the Pahtavaara Project.

The Company is committed to the ensuring the health and safety of its staff and is following the recommendations of the Finnish Government. To date no-one has been diagnosed with COVID-19, staff are working from home where possible, minimising direct contact and ensuring strict hygiene standards. Rupert’s geology and care & maintenance teams are resident in Sodankylä, Finland, a 35km drive from the Pahtavaara Project which has enabled the exploration programs to continue. Rupert has a strong balance sheet following the $13.1 million investment by Agnico Eagle in February and has the flexibility to scale up and down the planned work programs. The Company is actively monitoring the situation and will take appropriate actions as circumstance or advice changes.

Exploration update

Over 15,000m of regional exploration and 6,500m of mine exploration drilling has now been completed this winter with results confirming multiple new gold / gold-copper occurrences across the licence holding and extensions to known mineralisation. Assay results remain pending for approximately 6,000m of drilling and will be released with further updates.

Area 1 – Five new gold discoveries in the first 15 months exploring an area with no previous work. Area 1 represents just 10% of the Pahtavaara Project licences and only 5km of the 20km long domain bounding structure that is a focus of our regional exploration. The end of this year’s winter drilling program has focussed on the Heinä South prospect. This prospect has the highest concentration of high-grade base of till anomalies (up to 11g/t Au) on Rupert’s property. The first holes have intersected a pyrite-quartz vein stockwork that trends towards the ENE, is up to 10-20m wide and so far has a projected strike length of 240m, remaining open to the north east, the south and at depth.

Pahtavaara Mine – Drilling at the fully permitted gold mine was completed in March and geological modelling is now underway. The program successfully identified new mineralised zones at Harpoon, NFE, East Pit and T-Zone. On receipt of remaining assays resource modelling will commence with expected completion in the next 3 months.

James Withall, CEO of Rupert Resources commented “The strategy of Rupert Resources is to demonstrate the economic potential of the entire Pahtavaara Project, including the permitted mine. The team have transformed Area 1 from a conceptual regional target, into a highly prospective mineralised region with multiple gold and gold-copper occurrences. Drilling here will focus defining the scale of these occurrences and our generative exploration program will evaluate other targets on our large strategic landholding. Further, the success of drilling new high-grade zones at the Pahtavaara mine and depth extensions to the Hirvi satellite project bring potential to add to our existing resource base.”

Town hall webinar - April 16, 2020 (11am EDT)

James Withall will present an overview of Rupert's strategy and provide an update on exploration activities at the Pahtavaara Project. Registration is via the following link:

Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports

In compliance with National Instrument 43-101, Mr. Mike Sutton, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person who supervised and approved the preparation of the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

Base of till samples are prepared in ALS Sodankylä by dry-sieving method prep-41, and assayed by fire assay with ICP-AES finish for gold. Multi-elements are assayed in ALS laboratories in either of Ireland, Romania or Sweden by aqua regia with ICP-MS finish. Rupert maintains a strict chain of custody procedure to manage the handling of all samples. The Company’s QA/QC program includes the regular insertion of blanks and standards into the sample shipments, as well as instructions for duplication.

About Rupert

Rupert is a Canadian-based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “RUP”. The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (“Pahtavaara”). Pahtavaara has an Inferred mineral resource at a 1.5 g/t Au cut-off grade of 4.6 Mt at a grade of 3.2 g/t Au (474 koz) (see the technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report: Pahtavaara Project, Finland” with an effective date of April 16, 2018, prepared by Brian Wolfe, Principal Consultant, International Resource Solutions Pty Ltd., an independent qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects). The Company also holds a 100% interest in two properties in Central Finland - Hirsikangas and Osikonmaki; the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake, Ontario; and the Surf Inlet Property in British Columbia.

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Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements which, other than statements of historical fact constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements with respect to: results of exploration activities, mineral resources. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 28, 2019 available at . Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.

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