Ascot Resources Ltd. Aug. 25 reported that drills have tapped high-grade gold outside the currently planned stopes at Prew Zone, which is the first area of the Premier deposit to be mined when a new era of operations begins at the Premier gold project near the town of Stewart at the south tip of British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

A 2020 feasibility study envisions four underground mines feeding ore to an updated version of the Premier mill. At 2,500 metric tons per day, this operation is expected to produce roughly 1.1 million ounces of gold and 3 million oz of silver over the first eight years of operation.

This mine plan 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 Big Missouri, Silver Coin, 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 project.

While much of this year's work at Premier is focused on completing the earthwork and other activities needed to begin a new era of gold production at the historical Premier mine early next year, Ascot continues to carry out drilling in areas that will supply ore to the revamped mill.

This drilling began with 16 holes at Prew Zone, which lies about 500 meters southeast of the mill.

Ascot has received assays from the first four holes; highlights include:

• 6.5 meters averaging 23.37 g/t gold and 54.3 g/t silver in hole P23-2465.

• 4.9 meters averaging 32.85 g/t gold and 216.2 g/t silver in P23-2468.

The company says both high-grade intercepts are outside the currently planned underground stopes that carry the ore to be mined.

"The 2023 exploration program is off to a great start, with two drill holes intercepting high-grade gold mineralization outside of existing stope shapes. This indicates strong potential for additional mineralization to be converted into near-term mine plans," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White. "The Prew Zone was initially delineated in 2017 and is where we plan to start production mining at the Premier deposit in early 2024."

Assays are pending for the remaining 12 holes drilled at Prew. The company is particularly excited to get results back from hole P23-2480, which cut visible gold at a depth of 292 meters.

"With additional assays pending from the Prew Zone including from holes that intercepted visible gold, we are eager to release additional results as we receive them in the coming weeks," White added.

Ascot Resources Ltd.

In addition to encountering expected mineralization within the planned stopes, holes P23-2465 and P23-2468 cut high-grade gold up-dip and along strike of the areas in the mine plan.

Drilling has now shifted to Big Missouri, a deposit about six kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the mill.

Ascot also plans to carry out drilling at Day Zone, an extension of Big Missouri. Weather permitting, the company may also conduct additional drilling at the Premier deposit in the fall.

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