Vancouver, May 5, 2011 - Luna Gold Corp. (TSXV: LGC) ("Luna Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the strengthening of its management team as it continues to work to increase production at the Aurizona gold mine, expand the resource base at Aurizona and the Maranhão Greenfields, and to continue development of the Company's Cachoeira project.

Luna Gold welcomes Peter Mah as Vice President Operations and Carlos Paranhos as Director Exploration Brazil.

John Blake, President and CEO said "Luna Gold is indeed fortunate to have Messrs. Mah and Paranhos join the Luna Gold management team. The combination of the high quality of the strength and experience of Luna Gold's current management team with the experience of Peter Mah and Carlos Paranhos will consolidate the quality of the resources of Luna Gold's management team and position Luna Gold to achieve its next level of development as an emerging gold producer."

Mr. Mah and Mr. Paranhos, working alongside the Company's senior management team, will work to oversee production and future expansion of the Aurizona gold mine and the development of the Company's pipeline projects in Brazil.

Mr. Mah has over 20 years of practical mine operations and development experience spanning project studies, construction and operations management with some of the industry's largest major producers. As Group Executive, Newmont Mining Corporation, he was responsible for the strategic business development of 20 to 40 million ounces of early stage global gold projects. Prior to Newmont, Mr. Mah was the Mine General Manager of the Debeers Victor open pit mine, Ontario's first diamond mine. There he led the development of the operating team during construction and operations. In 2009, the project was recognized globally by Mining Magazine as "Mine of the Year." Mr. Mah's international track record includes attracting and leading world-class teams where, as Mine Manager he oversaw construction and operations for Newcrest's 450,000 ounce per annum Kencana gold mine, Indonesia's first underhand cut and fill mine. Mr. Mah's extensive mining operations experience includes various engineering, project, strategic business planning and production roles with Goldcorp's Red Lake and the Campbell Red Lake and Musselwhite Mines formerly owned and operated by Placer Dome. Mr. Mah has extensive experience in the management of safety, health, environment, community engagement, government relations and social responsibility programs.

Mr. Mah holds a Bachelor's of Applied Science in Mining and Mineral Process Engineering and a Master's of Applied Science majoring in Rock Mechanics from the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario, Canada and was formerly a member of the Ontario Mining Association Board of Directors. Mr. Mah will be based in Vancouver and report to the President and CEO.

Mr. Paranhos graduated with a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Para (UFPA) in 1993 and was awarded an M.Sc. in Structural Geology in 1996 from UFPA for his work on the structural framework of the Gurupi Region of northeast Brazil. Mr. Paranhos has spent over 15 years working and managing both greenfields and brownfields gold exploration programs in South America and Africa with AngloGold Ashanti. During his time in Africa, Mr. Paranhos made significant contributions to determining structural controls on several major gold deposits resulting in increased life of mine. Recently Mr. Paranhos acted as Exploration Coordinator for AngloGold Ashanti Brazil in the prolific Iron Quadrangle Region of Minas Gerais State where he was responsible for setting-up and running regional exploration programs targeting an additional 6 million ounces of gold of new inferred resources to the existing AngloGold Ashanti Brazil mineral statement.

About Luna Gold Corp
Luna Gold is a producing gold company, with development and exploration projects. Gold production is from the Aurizona Mine in Maranhão state Brazil, development is the Cachoeira deposit Para, Brazil and the Company is exploring in a large strategically placed land position in Maranhão, Brazil.