MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Jan. 28, 2014) - Richmont Mines Inc. (TSX:RIC)(NYSE MKT:RIC), ("Richmont" or the "Corporation"), is pleased to announce a significant increase in indicated and inferred gold resources at its Island Gold Deep Deposit located at its Island Gold Mine near Wawa, Ontario. Previously reported Inferred resources containing 771,000 ounces of gold were upgraded to Indicated resources of 456,000 tonnes at an average grade of 11.52 g/t for 169,000 ounces of gold, and Inferred resources were increased to 3,200,000 tonnes at an average grade of 9.29 g/t for 955,000 ounces of gold. This increase continues to indicate that Island Gold Deep has the potential to be developed into an important high grade and long life contributor to Richmont's Island Gold Mine.

Highlights of the new estimated resource:

• Indicated mineral resource of 456,000 tonnes grading 11.52 g/t for 169,000 ounces of gold established in the Deep C Zone;
  
  
• Inferred mineral resource of 3,200,000 tonnes grading 9.29 g/t for 955,000 ounces of gold in established in the Deep C Zone as well as in an additional six previously identified sub-parallel zones;
  
  
• Notable new drill results (all cut grades over true widths) incorporated in the Indicated resource and updated Inferred resource include: 12.50 g/t Au over 6.34 metres, 18.32 g/t Au over 6.70 metres, 11.97 g/t Au over 6.56 metres, and 15.53 g/t Au over 4.43 metres in the C Zone, and 33.89 g/t Au over 8.79 metres in the B Zone. Please see Table 2 for details;
  
  
• Deep C Zone and all additional zones remain open laterally and at depth.

Paul Carmel, President and CEO, commented: "With this latest round of drilling, we have exceeded the million-ounce milestone that we had been hoping for at Island Gold Deep. The zones remain open both along strike and to depth where the potential for adding additional high-grade gold resources is believed to be high. I am pleased that the high grade nature of Island Gold Deep continues to be confirmed and that we have been able to add resources from six sub-parallel gold zones. Richmont will continue to focus on maximizing the Island Gold Mine performance and on advancing the development of the Island Gold Deep deposit in the near term."

In conclusion, Mr. Carmel noted: "Over our 20 year operating history, it has always been Richmont's goal to own a long-life, high grade gold mine in a stable jurisdiction where the Corporation has an operating history. With the inclusion of the Island Gold Deep discovery, the Island Gold Mine site is indeed turning into that cornerstone asset, where we have the added benefit of being fully-permitted, with a stable 200 person workforce, a 7-year operating history and an on-site processing facility."

Chart 1: Composite Longitudinal Section - Island Gold Deep

Chart 2: Island Gold Deep Cross-Section

The mineral resource estimate was prepared by Mr. Daniel Adam, Geo., Ph.D., Vice-President, Exploration, Qualified Person as defined by Regulation 43-101 and employee of Richmont Mines Inc.

Drilling completed in 2013 has enabled the Corporation to expand the C Zone Inferred resource base toward the West and between the two dykes. A portion of Indicated resources is now defined within the C Zone. Several mineralized zones that are parallel to the C Zone have been recognized and interpreted, and a resource estimation has also been completed on these zones, and they are now included in the Island Gold Deep Project mineral resource.

Claim Ownership Information

In a press release issued on October 7, 2013, the Corporation noted that out of a total of 78 claims and 111 mining patents and leases comprising the Island Gold Mine property, all were 100% held by Richmont except for four patented claims on the Goudreau property, for which Richmont owns 69% with the remaining 31% being held by a third party. Of the updated resource estimate detailed in this press release, approximately 90% of the Indicated resource and 56% of the Inferred resource (61% on a consolidated basis, versus 68% previously) lie within three of these four claims. Work is continuing on the Island Gold Deep Project and proceeding according to previously established plans and budgets, with each party to be held responsible for its proportion of the expenditures under the Ontario Mining Act.

Parameters used for Mineral Resource Estimation

The C Zone, as well as the other parallel zones that are being defined at depth, are typical of the Island Gold Mine mineralization with decimeter-sized grey quartz veins, which often contain visible gold, inside plurimetric altered zones with disseminated pyrite.

The current mineral resource estimation of the Island Gold Deep zones was completed for an area which extends over 1,000 metres laterally, between a depth of 450 metres and 1,100 metres, and which is below the area of the Island Gold Mine currently being mined. A total of 273 surface and underground drill holes were used to model the mineralized zones with 3D wireframes using a minimum true thickness of 2 metres.

Mineral resources were estimated by 3D block modeling (with block dimension of 10 metres x 10 metres x 4 metres) with Gems software and using 2 metre composites.

For the C and the B zones, grade estimation was done by Ordinary Kriging using parameters that have been defined with a variographic study done on the C Zone. The first pass of Kriging used a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 20 composites within an ellipsoidal search ellipse of 25 metres x 10 metres x 6 metres. A minimum of 2 and a maximum of 20 composites within an ellipsoidal search ellipse of 110 metres x 60 metres x 40 metres were used for the second pass of interpolation. A high grade assay capping value of 95 g/t Au was used, which is the capping that was defined after a statistical analysis of the C and B zone assay results (a capping of 75 g/t is presently used at the Island Gold Mine).

For all the other zones, grade estimation was done using an inverse squared distance weighted interpolation. A minimum of 2 composites and a maximum of 20 composites (within an ellipsoidal search ellipse of 60 metres x 60 metres x 40 metres) were used for the interpolation. A high grade assay capping value of 40 g/t Au was used, which is the average capping that was determined for these zones.

A density of 2.80 t/m3 was used for the tonnage calculation of all the zones, which is based on one URSTM laboratory measurement completed on a composite sample of four C Zone core intercepts (a density of 2.82 t/m3 is presently used at the Island Gold Mine).

Mineral resources were estimated using a minimum average grade of 3.75 g/t Au inside the modeled mineralized zone. This cut-off is based on a gold price of US$1,225 per ounce, and an exchange rate of CAN$1.06 = US $1.00. The mineral resource area was cut into the C Zone wireframe using an extrapolation of approximately 30 metres from drill hole intercepts, an extrapolation of about 20 metres has been used for the other zones. All the blocks inside the clipped wireframes are accounted for in the mineral resource. Inside the mineral resource area, the drill spacing average is approximately 50 metres although there are areas with a larger spacing as well as areas with tighter spacing.

Considering the present drill spacing, about 20% of the gold ounces of the C Zone resources have been categorized as indicated. The Indicated resource blocks that have been defined are located within areas that have been interpolated with the first pass of Kriging. The other portions of the C Zone resources, as well as the totality of the resource blocks in the other zones, have been categorized as inferred.

Details about the Island Gold Mine Property

The 59.0 km2 (5,900 hectares) Island Gold property is located 83 km northeast of Wawa, Ontario. Ore from the Island Gold Mine is processed at Richmont's on-site mill, an 850 tonne per day rated CIP facility. Since Island Gold began commercial production in October 2007, Richmont has produced more than 256,000 ounces of gold. Underground operations are accessed via a ramp, and mining activities currently reach a vertical depth of approximately 400 metres.

About Richmont Mines Inc.

Richmont Mines has produced over 1,400,000 ounces of gold from its operations in Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland since beginning production in 1991. The Corporation currently produces gold from the Island Gold Mine in Ontario and the Beaufor, Monique and W Zone mines in Quebec. The Corporation is also advancing the Island Gold Deep project located directly beneath the Island Gold Mine in Ontario. With over 20 years of experience in gold production, exploration and development, and prudent financial management, the Corporation is well-positioned to cost-effectively build its Canadian reserve base and to successfully enter its next phase of growth. Richmont routinely posts news and other important information on its website (www.richmont-mines.com).

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that include risks and uncertainties. When used in this news release, the words "estimate", "project", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "believe", "hope", "may" and similar expressions, as well as "will", "shall" and other indications of future tense, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and apply only as of the date on which they were made.

The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements include changes in the prevailing price of gold, the Canadian-United States exchange rate, grade of ore mined and unforeseen difficulties in mining operations that could affect revenue and production costs. Other factors such as uncertainties regarding government regulations could also affect the results. Other risks may be set out in Richmont Mines' Annual Information Form, Annual Reports and periodic reports.

Cautionary note to US investors concerning resource estimates

Information in this press release is intended to comply with the requirements of the Toronto Stock Exchange and applicable Canadian securities legislation, which differ in certain respects with the rules and regulations promulgated under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended ("Exchange Act"), as promulgated by the SEC. The reserve and resource estimates in this press release were prepared in accordance with Regulation 43-101 adopted by the Canadian Securities Administrators. The requirements of Regulation 43-101 differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC").

U.S. Investors are urged to consider the disclosure in our annual report on Form 20-F, File No. 001-14598, as filed with the SEC under the Exchange Act, which may be obtained from us (without cost) or from the SEC's web site: http://sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

Regulation 43-101

The exploration program was conducted by qualified persons as defined by Regulation 43-101. Specifically, the program was overseen by Mr. Daniel Adam, Geo., Ph.D., Vice-President, Exploration, who is a Qualified Person as defined by Regulation 43-101, and an employee of Richmont Mines Inc. Mr. Adam verified and approved the information in this press release. The analyses were conducted at Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Geraldton, Ontario, Swastika Laboratories Ltd. in Swastika, Ontario, Lab Expert laboratory in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and at the AGAT Laboratories Ltd. in Mississauga, Ontario, by means of fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AA) and gravimetric finish. Samples from some holes were assayed at the Wesdome Laboratory in Wawa in order to expedite results; these samples will be re-assayed in a commercial laboratory.

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Investor Relations:
Jennifer Aitken
RICHMONT MINES INC.
514 397-1410 ext. 101
[email protected]
Web Site: www.richmont-mines.com