RIVA ACQUIRES KEY PROPERTIES IN GUYANA AND WELCOMES STUART ANGUS AND RANDY
SMALLWOOD TO BOARD

VANCOUVER, Nov. 29 /CNW/ - Riva Gold Corporation (TSX-V: RIV) ("Riva" or "the Company") announces that it has entered into two agreements (through one of its subsidiaries) with the Pereira Group giving Riva the option to acquire the rights to two groups of mineral properties in Guyana, the Nine Mile Properties and Honey Camp Properties, which include the Puruni Property.

Property Highlights

• Historic mining from Nine Mile Property included 118,000 tons of material milled, yielding 71,113 ounces of gold averaging 18.66 grams per tonne gold.
• Sampling program at Nine Mile Property demonstrates average grades of 7.67 grams per tonne from tailings (ten samples) and 2.62 grams per tonne from mine's low grade stock pile (20 samples).
• Honey Camp Property historically mined for apparently locally derived elluvial and alluvial gold deposits.
• Historical early works at the Honey Camp Property identified 12 distinct gold bearing zones with encouraging data making the zones priority targets for future exploration.
• Three of the mineralized zones tested by surface chip and grab samples by the Company's consulting geologist assayed from nil to 1.648 grams per tonne gold.

"We are pleased to complete this transaction with the successful Pereira Group," said Richard Warke, Riva's chairman and CEO. "Both Nine Mile and Honey Camp demonstrate high grade potential and both have been significant past producers although they have never been subject to any drilling campaigns.  These districts contain very good size potential and we will be starting an aggressive exploration effort immediately."

About the Nine Mile Property

The Nine Mile Property is located 177 kilometres southwest of Georgetown, in the Mazaruni Mining District, #3, in Guyana, and is accessible by road with a well established camp on site and a maintained airstrip (see map attached - http://files.newswire.ca/913/riva1129.pdf). The property consists of 4,116 acres which covers a granite hosted gold quartz vein system that was mined historically by the Pereira Group.  

An estimated 420,000 tonnes were excavated from the existing pit of which approximately 118,000 tonnes of vein material was milled and gold extracted.  71,113 ounces of raw gold was recovered and confirmed as sold to the Guyana Gold Board.  Gold was recovered using centrifugal recovery systems with no chemical treatment employed. This indicates an approximate recovered gold grade of 18.66 grams per tonne.

Historic mining at the Nine Mile Property focused on one main vein or ore chute 36 metres long, approximately 3 metres thick and appears to plunge 20 degrees to the south southeast.  The vein has a mineralized alteration halo approximately 0.5 to 1.0 metre thick.  The main vein occurs within a broader package of mineralization 225 metres long comprised of smaller veins that are both parallel to and at a high angle to the main vein.  These smaller veins are observable 20 metres into the hanging wall and from historic drill data 85 metres into the footwall. 

A due diligence sampling program has been carried out by the Company's consulting geologist and demonstrates an average grade from Nine Mile's tailings of 7.67 grams per tonne for the ten samples collected.  Twenty samples were collected from the mine's low grade stock pile which average 2.62 grams per tonne.

The Company believes the Nine Mile Property represents a very exciting exploration opportunity.  Riva intends to carry out an initial exploration program consisting of mapping and sampling of the exposed rocks and veins in preparation for a drill program to test the mineralization and its extent surrounding the old open pit mine workings.

About the Honey Camp Property

The Honey Camp Property is adjacent to the Nine Mile Property (see map attached - http://files.newswire.ca/913/riva1129.pdf).  All the properties lie within a regional gold mineralization trend extending from the northwest to the southeast across the Guiana Shield. Within this trend are gold projects such as IAMGOLD's Rosabel gold mine, Guyana Goldfields' Aurora and Aranka projects and Sandspring's Toroparu project and the Omai gold mine which produced a total of 3.7 million ounces of gold during the 1990s. 

The Honey Camp Property is an established mining license covering 5,102 acres where the majority of the streams and gullies within the license boundary were mined for apparently locally derived elluvial and alluvial gold deposits.  Local bedrock sources of elluvial and alluvial gold were identified by mining companies and government surveys beginning in 1936.  These early works identified 12 distinct gold bearing zones which were investigated to varying degrees by systematic trenching (every 9.1 metres), sampling of vein material and bedrock and in some cases underground sampling from shallow adits in the saprolite. These early studies on each of the gold bearing zones reported locations, lengths, widths, volume estimates and assays (unverified) making the zones priority targets for future exploration.  Three of the mineralized zones were confirmed during the site visit and tested by surface chip and grab samples by the Company's consulting geologist.  These samples assayed from nil to 1.648 grams per tonne gold.

Riva believes that the Honey Camp Property also represents an exciting exploration target and it is expected that work will focus on surface mapping, trenching and sampling of the veins followed by drilling to test the extent and grade of mineralized zones.

About the Puruni Property

The Puruni Property, which totals approximately 60,240 acres, covers a portion of the headwaters of the Puruni River, which has been a prolific producer of alluvial gold (see map attached - http://files.newswire.ca/913/riva1129.pdf).  The Puruni Property represents a large and interesting grassroots exploration package in a prolific gold district.  The Toroparu gold-copper occurrence is 14 kilometres to the southeast of the property boundary. This land package is currently being prospected by the Pereira Group for alluvial gold occurrences.

Option Agreements

The two option agreements with the Pereira Group are summarized as follows:

1.	The Nine Mile agreement grants the Company the option to acquire, or have converted into a class of mineral properties that it can then acquire, the following:
	a)	a 100% right and interest in the mineral rights currently comprised of a contiguous block of 153 small scale claims known as Nine Mile  ("Nine Mile Property"); and
	b)	a 100% right and interest in the mineral rights currently comprised of one prospecting permit, with the possibility of up to an additional five prospecting permits being added, in the immediate vicinity of the Nine Mile Property (together with the Nine Mile Property, referred to as the "Nine Mile Properties").
2.	The Honey Camp agreement provides the Company the option to acquire, or have converted into a class of mineral properties that it can then acquire, the following:
	a)	a 100% right and interest in the mineral rights currently comprised of a large scale mining license known as Honey Camp ("Honey Camp Property"); and
	b)	a 100% right and interest in the mineral rights currently comprised of a contiguous block of 53 prospecting permits in the headwaters of the Puruni River ("Puruni Property", and together with the Honey Camp Property referred to as the "Honey Camp Properties").

The Nine Mile Properties and the Honey Camp Properties ("Collective Properties") are all in the Mazaruni Mining District #3, in Guyana.

Agreement Details

Either option may be exercised independently from the other option; however, the primary economic terms and conditions of the two option agreements on a collective basis are as follows (all in US Dollars, unless otherwise noted):

• In order to exercise both options on the Collective Properties, over a period of three years Riva must pay the Pereira Group a cumulative total of $2,100,000 in cash and issue a cumulative total of 1,000,000 common shares of Riva ("Riva Shares") in conjunction with certain work expenditure commitments, with the right to accelerate at any time;
• Riva must maintain work expenditure levels on the Collective Properties in each of the three years for a cumulative total of $4,750,000; and
• The Pereira Group retains a 3% Net Smelter Return Royalty ("NSR") on the Collective Properties upon commencement of commercial production, however, Riva is entitled to buy-down part or all of the NSR for certain fixed amounts on either or both of the properties prior to certain milestone dates as set out in the terms of the NSR.

The transaction is conditional on the Company obtaining approval from the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") within 30 days of signing the agreements.

Board of Directors Update

Riva is also pleased to announce the appointment of two directors, R. Stuart Angus and Randy Smallwood, to the Company's Board of Directors.

Mr. Angus is an independent advisor to the mining industry. He was most recently Managing Director - Mergers & Acquisitions for Endeavour Financial. Prior to joining Endeavour he was a partner at the Canadian law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin and headed that firm's Global Mining Group. For over 30 years, Mr. Angus has focused on significant international exploration, development and mining ventures, and all aspects of their structuring and finance.  Mr. Angus is also the Chair of Nevsun Resources Ltd. and Tirex Resources Ltd. and a founding Director of Plutonic Power Corporation. He was a Director of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. until June 2005 and resigned as a Director of Canico Resource Corp. on completion of a takeover by CVRD and resigned as a Director of Bema Gold on completion of a takeover by Kinross. He was also Chair of the Board of BC Sugar Refinery Limited.

Mr. Smallwood is President of Silver Wheaton Corp. Prior to being appointed to this position in December 2009 he was Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. Since 2007 has been primarily focused on growing Silver Wheaton into the largest pure-silver mining company in the world. Prior to 2007, Mr. Smallwood was Director of Project Development for both Silver Wheaton and Goldcorp/Wheaton River Minerals. In this role he was responsible for all project evaluations through a six-year period of acquisitions and corporate mergers, ultimately building Goldcorp into the one of the largest gold companies in the world. Earlier in his career Mr. Smallwood also worked with Homestake Mining Company, Teck Corp. and Westmin Resources. He holds a geological engineering degree from the University of British Columbia.

Riva's Board of Directors is now comprised of Richard W. Warke (Chairman), R. Stuart Angus, Michael Cawood, Donald Clark, Purni Parikh and Randy Smallwood.

Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports

All technical information discussed in this press release has been reviewed, verified and compiled by Hendrik Veldhuyzen, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Mr. Veldhuyzen is a consulting geologist retained by the Company.  He is a member of APEGBC and OGQ and has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in geology.

About the Pereira Group

The Pereira Group is comprised of Ryan Pereira, Julio Pereira, Patrick Pereira and Pereira Mining Company Ltd. as well as another interested individual and company.  The Pereira Group is a family business that has been involved in exploration and alluvial gold mining for the past three decades. The Pereira Group is one of Guyana`s top local gold producers and has an excellent reputation based on its success in the alluvial gold mining business.

About Riva

Riva is a Canadian mineral exploration company focusing on opportunities in Guyana.   The Company controls a total of 125,799 acres of land in highly prospective and under-explored areas of Guyana and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RIV".

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained in this news release, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include, but are not limited to, statements or information with respect to: the exploration and development of the mineral properties being acquired by the Company; the Company's future business and strategies; and expectations regarding the ability of the Company to close the acquisition.

Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, we have made numerous assumptions including among other things, that no significant adverse changes will occur to our planned exploration expenditures, that there will be no significant delays of the completion of our planned exploration programs; as to the continuing availability of capital resources to fund our exploration programs; and that the Company will not experience any adverse legislative or regulatory changes. Although our management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statement or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: general economic, market and business conditions; land use rights; adverse industry events; the ability of the Company to acquire additional mineral properties of merit; seasonality and weather conditions; and currency fluctuations.

Although we have attempted to identify factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those disclosed in the forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Also, many of the factors are beyond the control of the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update any forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. All forward-looking statements and information herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.

Riva Gold Corporation
On behalf of the Board of Directors for Riva:
Richard Warke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Neither 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.

For further information:

For additional information please visit www.rivagoldcorp.com or contact:
Letitia Cornacchia, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Tel: [phone]
Email: [email protected]