Luna Gold drills 6.00m of 17.25 g/t Au and 17.00 m of 4.42 g/t Au and extends mineralization at Aurizona to over 300 m vertical depth

VANCOUVER, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Luna Gold Corp. (TSXV-LGC) ("Luna" or the "Company") is pleased to announce positive assay results from the Company's recently completed deep drill program at the Piaba gold deposit, Aurizona. Significant mineralized intercepts are highlighted below.

    -  17.00 m @ 4.42 g/t Au including 5.05 m @ 11.49 g/t Au and 6.00 m
       @ 17.25 g/t Au including 2.00 m @ 49.19 g/t Au in BRAZD271

    -  44.00 m @ 1.20 g/t Au including 4.00 m @ 3.41 g/t Au and 4.00 m
       @ 3.88 g/t Au in BRAZD274

    -  2.00 m @ 51.21 g/t Au and 55.00 m @ 1.31 g/t Au in BRAZD276

Luna's President & CEO, Jim Bahan, comments, "The results of these seven widely spaced holes demonstrate the significant potential to increase the mineral resource at Piaba. These holes intersected the mineralized zone at approximately twice the depth of the limit of drilling used in the January 2009 resource estimate and the zone maintains good continuity at depth and along strike."

Complete assay results have been received for seven deep exploration holes totaling approximately 2737 m drilled in the central portion of the Piaba deposit. All drill holes intersected gold mineralization and the deposit remains open at depth on all sections. Six holes contained visible gold. Significant mineralized intercepts are tabulated below.

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    SECTION HOLE ID  AZI  DIP    DEPTH       FROM       TO     INT   AU (G/T)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    100E  BRAZD276    168   75    346.70      251.00   253.00   2.00    51.21
                                              253.00   308.00  55.00     1.31
                                  INCLUDING   269.00   270.00   1.00     9.91
                                  INCLUDING   307.00   308.00   1.00     8.25
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    100W  BRAZD275    168   75    326.30      225.00   253.00  28.00     1.95
                                  INCLUDING   248.00   249.00   1.00    18.60
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    300W  BRAZD274    168   80    460.35      322.00   366.00  44.00     1.20
                                  INCLUDING   337.00   341.00   4.00     3.41
                                  INCLUDING   354.00   358.00   4.00     3.88
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    500W  BRAZD271    168   75    446.40      238.00   246.00   8.00     1.78
                                              270.00   287.00  17.00     4.42
                                  INCLUDING   281.00   286.05   5.05    11.49
                                              300.00   305.00   5.00     2.39
                                              312.00   318.00   6.00    17.25
                                  INCLUDING   316.00   318.00   2.00    49.19
                                              330.00   343.00  13.00     2.24
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    700W  BRAZD270* 168   70     99.25        0.00    14.00  14.00     1.07
          BRAZD270A   168   70    447.00      203.00   218.00  15.00     1.71
                                              239.60   307.00  67.40     1.09
                                  INCLUDING   295.00   301.00   6.00     3.06
                                              349.00   350.00   1.00     6.94
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    900W  BRAZD272    168   75    333.95      234.50   242.00   7.50     1.39
                                              258.00   262.00   4.00     1.43
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1100W BRAZD273    168   75    372.25      165.00   166.00   1.00    15.00
                                              233.00   259.73  26.73     1.35
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Table 1. Mineralized drill intercepts from the 2009 Piaba deep drill
             program. True widths to be established.

Luna's Exploration Manager, Titus Haggan states, "This drill program was designed to systematically test for down-dip extensions to mineralization well beneath the limit of the current resource boundary. Drilling was conducted on 200m spaced sections covering a 1.2km strike length of the deposit. All holes were drilled at high angles to the SSE and each hole crossed the hanging wall, intersected deep mineralization and terminated in the deposit footwall. Four holes intersected the deposit at vertical depths of approximately 250m and three holes intersected the deposit at a vertical depth of over 300m. A plan map, geologic sections and a complete list of drill results have been uploaded to the Luna Gold website at www.lunagold.com.

    DETAILS
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Drill results are outlined below from east to west along the deposit and can be visualized on the geologic sections on the homepage of the Luna Gold website.

BRAZD276 was sited in the eastern area and intersected a very high grade interval of 2.00m @ 51.21 g/t Au from 251.00 meters core depth followed by a wide interval of quartz veining averaging 55.00m @ 1.31 g/t Au.

BRAZD275 intersected 28.00m @ 1.95 g/t including 1.00m @ 18.60 g/t Au from 225.00 m core depth.

BRAZD274 intersected 44.00m @ 1.20 g/t Au from 322.00 m core depth containing two separate higher grade zones of 4.00m @ 3.41 g/t Au and 4.00m @ 3.88 g/t Au.

Hole BRAZD271 was drilled in the centre of the deposit and intersected two separate very high-grade zones of gold mineralization associated with abundant quartz veining and visible gold. The first averaged 17.00m @ 4.42 g/t Au including 5.05m @ 11.49 g/t Au from 270.00 meters core depth. The second intersected 6.00m @ 17.25 g/t Au including 2.00m @ 49.19 g/t Au from 312.00 m core depth.

BRAZD270A intersected a wide zone of 67.40m @ 1.09 g/t Au including 6.00m @ 3.06 g/t Au from 239.60 m core depth. In this area the deposit maintains a significant width at depth and gold values are accordingly lower within the shear zone.

Drill holes BRAZD272 and BRAZD273 were drilled in the west central portion of the deposit and intersected 7.50m @ 1.39 g/t Au and 26.73m @ 1.35 g/t Au respectively.

Core logging and gold distribution shows a strong structural control on the high-grade lodes at depth consistent with orogenic gold deposits. The deposit dips steeply to the NNW and gold mineralization is preferentially developed in highly fractured tonalites associated with quartz veining, intense hydrothermal alteration, shearing and brecciation. The drill program has added materially to the deep potential of Piaba and future drill programs will focus on both deep and infill drilling and also in defining the continuity of the high-grade structures.

About Luna Gold Corp

Luna is a mineral exploration and development company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold resources and advanced stage gold exploration projects in Brazil. The Company is currently developing its Aurizona gold project in Maranhao, Brazil.

    On behalf of the Board of Directors

    LUNA GOLD CORP.

    Jim Bahan - President and CEO

    Website: www.lunagold.com

    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.

Regulatory Footnotes

Luna operates a rigorous QA/QC protocol on all aspects of sampling and analytical procedure. Drill core is checked, logged, marked for sampling and sawn in half. One half of the HTW (71 mm diameter) core is maintained for future reference and one half of the core is sent for analysis. Samples are collected at approximately 2 meter intervals, which is reduced to 1 meter interval or less when a mineralized zone is encountered. All core and samples are stored in secure locked areas. Samples are transported from the Aurizona project to the ALS Chemex sample preparation facility in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais accompanied by Luna personnel. Samples are assayed at ALS Chemex Labs in Lima, Peru using a 50 gram fire assay with AAS finish. Each sample batch contains 10% of randomly inserted internal control samples consisting of certified analytical standards, blanks (barren rock) and duplicates. These QA/QC procedures provide several measures of data quality and assure the Company that the assay data is representative of the original sample. Additional technical information about the Piaba Gold deposit is available in our technical report dated July 4, 2008, filed on SEDAR.

Titus Haggan Ph.D., EurGeol Certified Professional Geologist #746, Luna's Brazil Exploration Manager is the Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the scientific and technical work on the exploration program and has reviewed the technical disclosure in this press release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors identified in Luna Gold Corp.'s periodic filings with Canadian Securities Regulators. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Luna Gold does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE Luna Gold Corp.