Anaconda Mining Inc. (TSX:ANX) reported today the initiation of diamond drilling at the Romeo and Juliet prospect near its Pine Cove gold mine on the Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland. The 2000-meter definition drill program is expected to take approximately 4 to 6 weeks to complete. Detailed metallurgical and mine evaluation work is also ongoing. Depending upon the outcome of the current drill program, the Company may carry out a preliminary economic assessment.
 

President and CEO, Dustin Angelo, stated, “We are very encouraged by the valuable work completed to date on the Romeo and Juliet prospect and feel that the results demand immediate action. Our guiding thesis is that the quartz vein may have the potential to substantially increase gold production at the Pine Cove mill at minimal incremental cost. We will continue to update the market as we reach new milestones in the development of the prospect.”
 

The Romeo and Juliet prospect is a gold-bearing quartz vein system, discovered in 1987, that is exposed approximately 1.5 kilometers northwest of the Pine Cove mine. The prospect is comprised of three zones, referred to as Juliet, Connecting, and Romeo, with a combined strike length in excess of 300 meters. The veins trend about 30 degrees, dip approximately 60 degrees to the southeast and are up to 2 meters thick. Gold is present as fine disseminations within the quartz and as very fine clots and flakes along discrete vein margins. The prospect was previously explored with 18 shallow diamond drill holes which tested the prospect to a maximum vertical depth of 100 meters. In 2012, Anaconda extracted a 1,000-tonne bulk sample from the Juliet zone. Five representative samples of crushed quartz, averaging 12.6 kg, were processed at Accurassay Laboratories in Thunder Bay by cyanide extraction. The weighted average assay of the five samples was 5.71 g/t gold (Anaconda Press Release, April 4, 2013). Anaconda believes that this is representative of the near surface gold grades within the Juliet zone.
 

The Company is pleased to have the support of The Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency through its Productivity and Business Skills Development Program in funding a portion of the research cost associated with this project.
 

This news release has been reviewed and approved by David Evans, P. Geo., with Silvertip Exploration Consultants Inc., a “Qualified Person” under National Instrument 43-101.
 

While the Company has no reason to doubt the accuracy of the historic results, the existing data should not be relied upon until the Company’s own exploration work confirms that the data meet National Instrument 43-101 standards for disclosure. Historic results and the work that generated them predate the enactment of National Instrument 43-101, and may not meet the requirements of that policy. Historical data for the Romeo and Juliet prospect were obtained from assessment files archived by the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources.
 

ABOUT ANACONDA
 

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Anaconda is a growth oriented, gold mining and exploration company with a producing asset located on the Baie Verte Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada called the Pine Cove mine.