Rubicon Minerals Corporation (TSX: RMX) (OTCQX: RBYCF) provides assay results from its 2018 infill drilling program at the Phoenix Gold Project.

Assay Results Highlights (as of January 15, 2019) representing approximately 20,000 metres (“m”) of infill drilling in 2018:

Infill drilling program at the 305-, 610-, and 685-m levels with the objective of potentially upgrading the 2018 Mineral Resources to higher confidence categories (not true widths, more details in the ‘Qualified Persons and QA/QC’ section below):

• 305-18-05: 15.16 g/t Au over 4.1 m (High-titanium basalt units (“High-Ti Basalts“))
• 305-18-06: 13.91 g/t Au over 7.6 m (including 24.06 g/t Au over 0.5 m, 20.78 g/t Au over 0.5 m, and 100.94 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (High-Ti Basalts)
• 305-18-08: 32.85 g/t Au over 2.8 m (including 111.87 g/t Au over 0.5 m) (High-Ti Basalts)
• 305-18-12: 45.86 g/t Au over 2.0 m (High-Ti Basalts)
• 610-18-05: 16.73 g/t Au over 7.9 m (including 67.06 g/t Au over 0.6 m, 15.77 g/t Au over 0.4 m, 22.77 g/t Au over 0.8 m, and 42.25 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (High-Ti Basalts)
• 610-18-06: 7.54 g/t Au over 7.1 m (including 19.53 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (High-Ti Basalts)
• 685-18-13: 7.37 g/t Au over 4.4 m (including 18.31 g/t Au over 0.6 m and 22.85 g/t Au over 0.5 m) (High-Ti Basalts)

2018 Infill Drilling Results from the 2018 Exploration Program

In 2018, Rubicon completed approximately 20,000 m of oriented diamond drilling from the 305-, 610- and 685-m levels. The primary purpose of the drilling was to potentially upgrade the Inferred Resources of the 2018 Mineral Resource Estimate of the Project, to the Measured and Indicated categories. At the end of this news release, a summary of the assay results from the 20,000 m drilled in 2018 is presented in Table 1. Longitudinal, plan and section views of the drilling, which highlight intersections in the High-Ti Basalts, are presented in Diagrams 1 to 22 at the end of the news release. In 2019, the Company continues drilling activities from the 685-m level and 610-m level exploration drift to target the deeper portions of the F2 Gold Deposit, between the 854- and 1,600-m levels.

CEO’s Comments

Rubicon President and Chief Executive Officer George Ogilvie, P.Eng., stated, “Our infill drill program in 2018 was focused on upgrading Inferred Resources within the Project to Measured and Indicated categories, from the 854-m level and above. Our near-term goal is to grow the Measured and Indicated Resources to a level that will allow us to advance the Project to a Feasibility Study stage. We are currently evaluating the infill drill data, which will contribute towards an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate that we plan to deliver in the first half of 2019. We are also encouraged by the drill results from the 610-m level, which demonstrate robust grades over 7- to 8-m wide intercepts, which we intend to follow up on in 2019. We believe these results provide us an excellent opportunity to grow the Measured and Indicated Resources. Our 2019 Exploration Program also includes the delivery of, at a minimum, a new Preliminary Economic Assessment, in the second half of the year.”

Qualified Persons and QA/QC

The content of this news release has been read and approved by George Ogilvie, P.Eng., President and CEO, and Michael Nerup, P.Geo., Senior Geologist, for Rubicon. Both are Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101.

Underground drilling was conducted by Boart Longyear Drilling of Haileybury, Ontario and was supervised by the Rubicon exploration team. All assays reported are uncut unless otherwise stated. All samples reported herein were performed by SGS Mineral Services of Red Lake, Ontario.  All NQ core assays reported were obtained by fire assay with AA-finish or using gravimetric finish for values over 10.0 g/t Au.

Intercepts cited do not necessarily represent true widths, unless otherwise noted, however drilling is generally intersecting interpreted mineralized zones at angles between -30^o and +30^o. True width determinations are estimated at 65-80% of the core length intervals for the 305-m level drilling, and estimated at 75-95% of the core length for the 610- and 685-m level drilling.  Rubicon’s quality control checks include insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates to ensure laboratory accuracy and precision. 

About Rubicon Minerals Corporation

Rubicon Minerals Corporation is an advanced gold exploration company that owns the Phoenix Gold Project, located in the prolific Red Lake gold district in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Additionally, Rubicon controls over 285 square kilometres of prime exploration ground in Red Lake and more than 900 square kilometres of mineral property interests in the emerging Long Canyon gold district that straddles the Nevada-Utah border in the United States.

Table 1: Summary of the 2018 Infill Drilling Assay Results, up to January 15, 2019