HighGold drills high-grade at Ellis Zone

HighGold Mining Inc. Sept. 6 reported another spectacular gold intercept in the initial batch of assays from the 2023 drill program at its Johnson Tract polymetallic project in Southcentral Alaska.

Located on the west side of Cook Inlet, about 125 miles southwest of Anchorage, Johnson Tract is a 20,942-acre property owned by Cook Inlet Regional Inc., an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regional corporation, more commonly known as CIRI.

Since optioning Johnson Tract in 2018, HighGold has focused on upgrading and expanding the historical JT Deposit and exploring some of the exciting but earlier-stage prospects across the property.

According to the most recent calculation, JT Deposit hosts 3.49 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.33 grams per metric ton (598,000 ounces) gold, 6 g/t (673,000 oz) silver, 5.21% (400.8 million pounds) zinc, 0.59% (43.1 million lb) copper, and 0.67% (51.5 million lb) lead.

Including the value of all the metals, this comes to 1.05 million oz of gold in the indicated resource category.

Starting in early July, HighGold has been undertaking a multi-year advanced exploration plan designed to de-risk the project and support future studies to evaluate the potential for a high-grade underground mine.

The latest results confirm the western extension of high-grade gold mineralization at the Ellis Zone, located approximately four kilometers (2.5 miles) northeast of JT and a primary exploration target during the 2022 field season.

Highlights from the 2022 drilling at Ellis Zone include:

• 14.7 meters averaging 4 g/t gold, 18 g/t silver, 0.27% copper, and 4.18% zinc, including a 5.6-meter subsection averaging 7.8 g/t gold, 36 g/t silver, 0.49% copper, and 9.17% zinc.

• 42.8 meters averaging 3.4 g/t gold, 23 g/t silver, 0.21% copper, and 2.06% zinc in hole DC22-036, including an 18.4-meter subsection averaging 7.29 g/t gold, 50 g/t silver, 0.44% copper, and 3.92% zinc.

• 11.9 meters averaging 21.68 g/t gold, 30 g/t silver, 0.61% copper, and 4.2% zinc in hole DC22-043, including a 3.9-meter subsection averaging 54.2 g/t gold, 71 g/t silver, 1.26% copper, and 8.29% zinc.

• 35.2 meters averaging 4.2 g/t gold, 6.1 g/t silver, 0.12% copper, 1.4% lead, and 3.19% zinc in hole DC22-045, including 13.3 meters averaging 7.81 g/t gold, 6.4 g/t silver, 0.23% copper, 1.31% lead, and 2.35% zinc.

• 14.8 meters averaging 10.14 g/t gold, 13.8 g/t silver, 0.28% copper, and 5.97% zinc in hole DC22-046, including 6.8 meters averaging 21.29 g/t gold, 25.1 g/t silver, 0.55% copper, 0.61% lead, and 10.7% zinc.

Two 50-meter step-out holes cut strong mineralization with high-grade gold in one and high-grade copper in the other. Highlights include:

• 2.3 meters averaging 0.16 g/t gold, 0.5 g/t silver, and 3.55% copper, from a depth of 185.3 meters in hole DC23-069, including 1.5 meters averaging 0.23 g/t gold, 82.6 g/t silver, 4.72% copper, 0.04% lead, and 1.77% zinc.

• 2.2 meters averaging 49.85 g/t gold, 24.6 g/t silver, 1.5% copper, 0.01% lead, and 8.4% zinc from 59.2 meters in DC23-70, including 1.1 meters averaging 71.4 g/t gold, 29.7 g/t silver, 1.51% copper, 0.02% lead, and 11.65% zinc.

"The Johnson Tract project is synonymous with high-grade gold and these first results of our 2023 drill program do not disappoint," said HighGold CEO Darwin Green. "Hole DC23-070 is a near-surface 50-meter step out to the west of the Ellis Zone and is the eighth intersection to date from the recent discovery to yield a 'grade-thickness' greater than 100 gxm AuEq (grams times meters gold-equivalent). Two drill rigs are currently active on site, focused on the continued expansion of the Ellis Zone and JT Deposit as well as exploring for new discoveries."

Drilling in 2022 defined the Ellis Zone mineralization over a strike length of 125 meters and from surface to a depth of 225 meters, with the upper plunging core of the zone averaging 10 to 15 meters true thickness.

Mineralogy, veining, and alteration of the Ellis Zone resemble the main JT Deposit, which has been defined from surface to a vertical depth of more than 300 meters, over a strike length of 600 meters, and has an average true thickness of 40 meters.

This year's program has targeted 8,000 meters of drilling to expand the known zones of mineralization at Ellis Zone and JT, test new high-potential prospects, and conduct geotechnical and hydrogeological studies to inform the design and permitting of an underground exploration ramp.

The program will also include an airborne mobile magnetotellurics (MobileMT) geophysical survey, geological mapping and geochemical sampling, baseline data collection, and environmental studies.

To date, a total of 5,283 meters have been drilled in 23 holes (17 exploration holes and six geotechnical drill holes).

Assay results will be released on an ongoing basis pending review and meeting the company's quality assurance and quality control protocols.