HighGold Mining Inc. June 30 announced the start of the 2020 exploration program at its Johnson Tract gold project in Southcentral Alaska. During the initial phase of this program, the company plans to complete 7,000 to 10,000 meters of diamond drilling to investigate five targets surrounding the property's JT deposit.

"We are excited to launch on the first serious exploration drill program in 25 years at Johnson" said HighGold Mining President and CEO Darwin Green.

According to a calculation earlier this year, JT hosts 2.14 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.07 grams per metric ton gold, 5.8 g/t silver, 5.85% zinc, 0.57% copper, and 0.71% lead. Including the value of the silver and base metals, this comes to 10.93 g/t (750,000 ounces) gold-equivalent, at a 4 g/t gold-equivalent cut-off grade.

"HighGold's work in 2019 generated numerous quality drill targets within an 800-meter radius of the high-grade JT deposit mineral resource, several of which will be drilled for the first time this year," Green added.

The five priority targets for the first phase of 2020 Johnson Tract drilling are:

• JT Deposit Expansion – The edges of the JT Deposit are open to expansion along strike, particularly the deeper portions of the deposit where the thickest and highest-grade mineralization has been intersected. Plans include step-out drilling northeast of JT19-090, a 2019 hole that cut 75.1 meters averaging 10 g/t gold, 9.4% zinc, and 0.6% copper.

• Northeast Offset – Situated roughly 500 to 800 meters northeast of the JT deposit, Northeast Offset represents an interpreted fault-displaced continuation of the resource and mineralized zone. Limited wide-spaced historical drilling has encountered the same distinct alteration and metal signature at NE Offset that is associated with mineralization at the main JT deposit.

• North Trend – A more than 1,000-meter trend of mappable hydrothermal alteration north of JT with no previous drilling. A new exploration model developed by the HighGold technical team suggests the potential for multiple mineralized zones along this trend.

• Footwall Discovery – Tapped during the 2019 drill program, Footwall Discovery is a distinct zone of silver-rich mineralization in the footwall to the JT deposit. The only hole to test this zone, JT19-089, cut 20.7 meters averaging 32 g/t silver, 2.4% copper, and 4.9% zinc.

• Southwest Extension – A zone of previously undrilled alteration and mineralization that lies immediate southwest of the JT deposit.

Green said the drilling will initially focus "on expanding the mineral resource base and discovering new zones of mineralization, with early emphasis given to the Northeast Offset target where limited drilling by previous operators identified what is believed to be the fault-displaced continuation of the deposit."

Based on the results of this initial phase of the 2020 program, HighGold said additional drilling may be undertaken in a second phase during the latter half of 2020 field season.

In addition to drilling in and around JT, HighGold's technical teams will carry out geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysical surveys aimed at developing new drill targets on the 21,000-acre (8,500 hectares) Johnson Tract property, which covers a series of underexplored regional prospects that span a 7.5-mile- (12 kilometers) long mineralized trend.

One such prospect is Difficult Creek, which lies about three miles (five kilometers northeast of JT deposit that was tested with two holes in the 1990s.

DC-001, cut three meters of 7.54 g/t gold, 3.72% zinc, 0.11% copper, 1.15% lead, and 27.4 g/t silver; and DC-002 encountered 13 meters of 8.57 g/t gold, 4.7% zinc, 0.5% copper, 0.9% lead, and 37.7 g/t silver.

Limited reconnaissance work in 2019 discovered a new vein system at Difficulty Creek. Chip samples collected from there returned up to 22.1 g/t gold, 1.1% copper, and 20% lead over 1.5 meters.

HighGold Mining Inc.

Green said COVID-19 mitigation plans are in place at Johnson Tract and crews are on-site and ready to begin exploring this intriguing gold property.

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

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