Rainy River Announces Appointment of Nicholas J. Nikolakakis as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/18/10 -- Rainy River Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: RR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Nicholas J. Nikolakakis as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company. He succeeds Mr. James Grinnell, who will continue to serve as Rainy River's Controller.

Mr. Nikolakakis is a financial professional with more than 15 years of corporate finance, accounting and senior management experience in the mining sector. He currently serves as Vice President, Corporate Finance with Barrick Gold Corporation ('Barrick'). In that capacity he has been responsible for corporate finance activities, including capital raising in the public and private markets, management of the balance sheet and long term planning. During his tenure with Barrick, Mr. Nikolakakis has, among other things led Barrick's project finance activities for its key development assets including a US$1 billion financing which was recently concluded; successfully negotiated a US$1.5 billion corporate revolving credit facility; served as a key member of the deal team which structured and executed Barrick's $4 billion equity issue, which is the largest in Canadian history, two recent bond issues totaling US$3.25 billion and the US$1 billion copper-linked notes; and successfully negotiated key terms and conditions with a national government on a multi-billion dollar development project.

Prior to joining Barrick, Mr. Nikolakakis served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Placer Dome Canada, where he was responsible for all financial and accounting functions for Placer Dome's three Canadian gold mining operations, representing a market value of approximately US$1.2 billion and annual production of 845,000 ounces of gold. Mr. Nikolakakis led the coordination and development of Placer Dome's long term strategic business plans for the mines, led a multi-functional team to establish and implement innovative energy management solutions, implemented an innovative and realistic budgeting and forecasting system, provided financial leadership on the construction and development of the CDN$85 million Pamour Pit operation, and contributed his financial expertise to numerous corporate development activities.

Before joining Placer Dome, Mr. Nikolakakis served as Treasurer of North American Palladium Ltd. and was employed with BMO Nesbitt Burns within the Investment Banking - Mining Group.

Mr. Nikolakakis holds an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Geological Engineering from the University of Waterloo (1991) and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (1994).

Mr. Nikolakakis will commence his employment with Rainy River on July 5, 2010. He will be based at the Company's recently opened head office in Toronto.

'We are delighted that Mr. Nikolakakis is joining our senior management team,' commented Raymond Threlkeld, President and CEO. 'Given his extensive experience and impressive track record with successful mining companies, we view his decision to join us as a vote of confidence in the potential of our Rainy River gold project. Nick's expertise in corporate finance and project budgeting and management will be key elements in our continued planning, development and financing of the Rainy River project. In addition, the appointment of Nick and our other senior management hires in recent months gives us the management band width to take on additional projects while staying focused on Rainy River.'

Mr. Nikolakakis has been granted options to acquire a total of 300,000 common shares of the Company at the exercise price of $6.18 per share for a period of 5 years, subject to vesting. In addition, the Company has agreed to issue to Mr. Nikolakakis 50,000 common shares at a deemed price of $6.18 per share as a signing bonus. The share issuance is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

About Rainy River Resources Ltd.

Rainy River Resources Ltd. is a Canadian precious metals exploration company whose key asset is the Rainy River gold project in Richardson Township in Northwestern Ontario. The Company's property is extremely well located, with easy access by a network of roads and in close proximity 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 in Canada. The province of 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.

During the past several years the Company has been conducting a dual-focused exploration program on its Rainy River project, consisting of definition diamond drilling of the main gold resource with accompanying scoping-style studies, and selective diamond drill testing of high-priority gold targets defined primarily by RC drilling within the large gold system centered in the so-called 17/ODM/433 zones. To date its efforts have identified a total inferred and indicated resource of approximately 5 million ounces of gold. With a large land position, approximately CDN $65 million in the treasury, and numerous ore grade intercepts on drill targets outside the main resource of the 17/ODM/433 zones, Rainy River is well positioned to continue with its drill program and to continue planning for future development of a mine.

RAINY RIVER RESOURCES LTD.

Raymond Threlkeld, President and 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, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Contacts:

Rainy River Resources Ltd.

Liz Caridi

(604) 639-4497
lcaridi@rainyriverresources.com
www.rainyriverresources.com