Nighthawk Gold Corp. Aug. 8 reported that 11 recently completed holes at Grizzly Bear – one of five deposits that make up the Colomac gold project on the company's Indin Lake property in Northwest Territories – cut gold mineralization.

Grizzly Bear is located roughly 4,000 meters south-southwest of Colomac high-grade Zone 1.5, and 600 meters south of the Colomac airstrip. Prior to 2017, Nighthawk had not drilled the deposit, however historical drill results were reported as part of the company's 2018 mineral resource estimate, outlining 807,000 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.04 grams per metric ton (27,000 ounces) gold.

"Drilling to-date has largely focused on the Colomac Main sill, which contains the majority of the ounces in the current resource estimate," said Nighthawk Gold President and CEO Michael Byron. "The smaller and lessor known Grizzly Bear accounts for about 1 percent of the total contained ounces; however, its historical higher-grade gold intercepts remain unexplored, and given its shallow nature and proximity to the Colomac Main sill, we consider it as a promising candidate for resource expansion."

Nighthawk tested this promise in 2017 with two holes drilled into the central portion of the deposit to undercut historical higher-grade intervals. One of these holes cut 12.6 meters of 4.96 g/t gold, giving credibility to the deposit's potential and laying the ground work for the 2018 campaign which has focused on expansion potential to depth and along strike beyond known historical shallow intersections.

The company said all 11 holes drilled this year at Grizzly Bear cut gold mineralization, including several broad zones which remain open to depth.

Highlights from the 2018 holes at Grizzly Bear include: 6.25 meters of 4.04 g/t gold in hole GB18-02, including 2.50 meters of 7.78 g/t gold and 1.5 meters of 9.06 g/t gold; 17.25 meters of 2 g/t gold in GB18-02B, including 4.5 meters of 5.13 g/t gold; and 16 meters of 1.98 g/t gold in GB18-03, including 8.5 meters of 3.15 g/t gold and 3.5 meters of 4.75 g/t gold.

Nighthawk said this drilling confirms the presence of broad zones of shallow mineralization with internal higher-grade intervals and Grizzly Bear is an underexplored deposit with promising resource growth potential.

"Grizzly Bear is not a silicified competent sill like the Colomac Main and Goldcrest sills, but being a brittle host, it has the capacity to house higher-grade mineralization. Initial drilling has confirmed this, raising the possibility that a high-grade gold system may be present. We look forward to the continued exploration of its untapped potential," said Byron.

Exploration activities are currently ongoing at Colomac and across Nighthawk's Indin Lake property as the company continues to aggressively advance its objective of growing the 50.3 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.62 g/t (2.61 million oz) gold outlined so far at Colomac; generating and advancing regional prospects to augment Colomac; and unlocking the potential of this vastly underexplored gold camp.

Toward these objectives, Nighthawk completed a C$2.5 million flow-through financing in July that has enabled the expansion of its 2018 drill program from 25,000 meters to around 30,000 meters.

–SHANE LASLEY