Rainy River Announces Board Approval of Increased Exploration Budget

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 19, 2010) - Rainy River Resources Ltd. ("Rainy River" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:RR) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors approved an increase in the Company's budget for the calendar year 2010 from $18.7 million to $24.8 million at the Company's August 11, 2010 Board meeting. The increase of $6.1 million for 2010 is a result of the excellent success in defining higher grades in the 433, ODM17, Beaver Pond, and South zones. In addition, the Company will be spending $3.0 million at the very high potential TPK joint venture in Northern Ontario.

The increased budget for the remainder of 2010 will add to the amount of drilling from the current 53,000 metres completed to over 90,000 metres by year end at the Rainy River Project. The budget will be concentrated on the following activities:

• Exploration of newly defined targets including the VMS potential, extensions of high grade VMS-style mineralization and geophysical targets in the South/Cap zones, the high grade 433 Footwall Zone where three high grade intercepts have been discovered and previously reported, the Beaver Pond Deep Zone and westward extensions of the Beaver Pond Zone.

• Delineation of the open pit and underground mineralization in the ODM17 and 433 zones to move resources into an Indicated category for scoping and resource updates. Current delineation drilling from the surface will be spaced on 40 metre and 50 metre centres down to a depth of 650 metres. The increased drilling is meant to further define an all underground option, where recent analysis has shown average grades of 9.3 gpt gold and 15.5 gpt gold in the ODM and 433 zones respectively, (using a 3 gpt cut-off) over a minimum width of 4.0 metres (see press release dated July 20, 2010).

• Permitting of an underground Advanced Exploration program to establish underground access to the ODM17, 433 and South zones. Underground access will allow the collection of a bulk sample and provide access for deeper exploration during 2011.

• Preparation of a detailed scoping study and resource report to incorporate all 2010 investigations including a process flow sheet; geotechnical designs for the open pit and underground options; and environmental baseline and financial analysis. The study will be released in the first quarter of 2011.

• Exploration of the TPK Gold Project in cooperation with Northern Superior Resources in Northern Ontario. Rotary drilling is currently underway and core drilling of our targets will commence in October.

"We are extremely pleased that the Board has provided our technical team with the budget they need in order to advance both the Rainy River and TPK projects," commented Raymond Threlkeld, President and CEO. "The stepped up exploration program at Rainy River for the remainder of 2010 will provide us with the detailed information that we require in order to determine the best and most value accretive development approach for this highly prospective project."

About Rainy River

Rainy River is a Canadian precious metals exploration company whose key asset is the Rainy River Gold Project. With over $60 million in its treasury, the Company is well funded to conduct a dual-focused drilling program consisting of: 1) definition diamond drilling of the main gold resources in preparation for scoping and prefeasibility studies, and 2) selective diamond drill testing of high-priority gold targets defined primarily by RC drilling within the large gold system centered in Richardson Township. The Company's property is extremely well located in the southwestern corner of Northern Ontario near the U.S. border. It is accessed by a network of roads and is close to hydro-electric infrastructure. The Rainy River district has a skilled labour force and is one of the lowest-cost areas for mineral exploration and development. Ontario has low political risk and, according to the annual Fraser Institute global survey of the mining industry, has consistently ranked as one of the top jurisdictions embracing mineral development.

RAINY RIVER RESOURCES LTD.

Raymond Threlkeld, President & CEO

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, contin