Ascot Resources Ltd. May 9 announced an earlier than expected start to the 2022 exploration drill program at its Premier gold-silver mine project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

"Given the high levels of snowfall early in the winter, we were pleasantly surprised by the mild weather in recent months and are excited to get an earlier start than last year on this season's exploration drilling program," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White.

Located on Nisga'a Nation treaty lands near Stewart, BC, Premier is home to a past-producing mine that last operated in the 1990s.

A 2020 feasibility study details plans for a new operation at Premier that is expected to produce roughly 1.1 million ounces of gold and 3 million oz of silver over the first eight years of mining.

This production is based on 3.63 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 5.45 grams per metric ton (637,000 oz) gold and 19.1 g/t (2.23 million oz) silver within the Silver Coin, Big Missouri, and Premier deposits; plus 2.55 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 6.52 g/t (534,000 oz) gold and 20.6 g/t (1.69 million oz) silver at the nearby Red Mountain property.

Ascot continues to expand upon the gold-silver deposits at Premier, including an 18,037-meter drill program carried out in 2021 and a similar scale program slated for this year.

With early snowmelt, this year's drilling is off to a nearly one month earlier start than last year.

Ascot says this year's 18,000-meter program will be equally split between exploration and in-fill holes.

"Exploration drilling will follow up on high-priority targets at the Sebakwe and Day zones – both of which were only discovered in 2021 and 2020, respectively. These zones are proximal to existing and planned underground infrastructure, and represent the highest potential for expanding our resource and reserve base at PGP (Premier gold project)," said White. "In-fill drilling will be concentrated on Big Missouri with a particular focus on stope definition drilling for the early stages of our mine plan and ramp-up phase in 2023 and 2024."

At the end of the 2021 exploration season, two holes were drilled from surface at Sebakwe, a zone that appears to represent an unmined structure immediately north of the Northern Light and Premier zones of the Premier deposit.

Highlights from the two holes drilled at Sebakwe last year include:

• One meter averaging 29.6 g/t gold and 5.3 g/t silver from a depth of 328.5 meters in hole P21-2385.

• 7.1 meters averaging 36.17 g/t gold and 20.6 g/t silver from a depth of 368.3 meters in hole P21-2385.

• 0.9 meters averaging 39 g/t gold and 25.8 g/t silver from a depth of 324.5 meters in hole P21-2386.

Ascot plans to test this new zone with roughly 4,000 meters of additional drilling in 10 holes drilled from last year's pad. These holes will target an area roughly 50 meters along strike and vertically from the high-grade intercepts encountered last year. If consistent mineralization is cut by these holes, the company plans to carry out additional drilling in this area.

The company is planning to carry out at least 2,000 meters of surface drilling at Day Zone, which lies adjacent to the Big Missouri deposit at Premier.

Discovered during the 2020 field season, Day Zone has emerged as one of the most compelling targets for resource growth and potential mine life extension due to its high gold grades and proximity to Big Missouri.

Highlights from drilling at Day over the previous two seasons include:

• 4.1 meters averaging 20.62 g/t gold and 7.9 g/t silver in hole P20-2212.

• 2.05 meters averaging 54.6 g/t gold and 29.3 g/t silver in hole P20-2213.

• 5.6 meters averaging 15.31 g/t gold and 19.2 g/t silver in hole P20-2245.

• 2.46 meters averaging 4.13 g/t gold and 3.5 g/t silver in hole P21-2331.

• 5.66 meters averaging 11.22 g/t gold and 19.1 g/t silver in hole P21-2336.

• 1.9 meters averaging 58.6 g/t gold and 24.8 g/t silver in hole P21-2384.

Given these high grades and proximity to planned development infrastructure, Ascot is evaluating preliminary stope shapes for potential extraction early in the mine life at Big Missouri.

Ascot Resources Ltd.

Surface drilling is following up on high-grade gold drilled last year at Sebakwe, a zone that appears to represent an unmined structure immediately north of the Northern Light and Premier zones of the Premier deposit.

Ascot experienced extraordinary assay lab turnaround delays last year, but a new third-party assay lab being set up at Stewart is expected to shorten the wait for results from this year's drilling. Ascot has signed a priority service contract with this new assay lab to enable faster turnaround times.

"With the new assay lab being established in Stewart, we look forward to receiving and reporting this year's exploration results in a timely fashion," said White. "The expected shorter assay turnaround times will also enable us to adapt our drill plans more effectively as the exploration program runs its course."

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

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