GFG Announces Final Drill Results and Initiates Expanded Exploration at Pen Gold west of Timmins

GFG Resources Inc. has released assay results for the six remaining holes from the 3,300 m, Phase 1 2020 drill program. In addition, the Company announces a significantly expanded 2020 exploration program at its 100% owned Pen Gold Project (the “Project”) located 40 kilometres west of the prolific Timmins Gold District in Ontario, Canada.

“The results from our Phase 1 drill program were significant. We made a high-grade gold discovery at Nib, intercepted significant visible gold and broad zones of gold mineralization at Slate Rock and expanded the mineralized system at HGM,” stated Brian Skanderbeg, President and CEO of GFG. “Following a successful financing in May, which included welcoming Alamos Gold Inc. as a strategic investor, we are in a position to outline a more aggressive exploration program for the second half of 2020. Beginning in July, we will resume drilling at the Project with a primary focus on the Nib discovery and will test other highly prospective regional targets. The revised exploration program will be our largest drill campaign to date and we are confident that we will continue to demonstrate the potential that exists across our 480 square kilometre land package located in one of the richest gold districts in the world.”

2020 Phase 1 Drill Program Results 
During the first quarter of 2020, the Company completed an eight-hole (3,300 m) Phase 1 drill program testing targets at the Nib, HGM and Slate Rock East prospects (See Table 1 and Figures 1-5). The Company previously reported results from two drill holes (See news release dated April 6, 2020) that included a new gold discovery at the Nib Prospect (PEN-20-47: 71.27 g/t Au over 8.5 m, including 511.00 g/t Au over 1.15 m). The remaining results from the Phase 1 program at the Slate Rock and HGM Prospects are provided below.

Slate Rock 
The Slate Rock region hosts an underexplored and highly prospective mineralized system that is centered on a dioritic intrusive complex that extends for over four kilometres in the largely overburden- and lake-covered northwest part of the Project (See Figures 1-2). 

Broadly spaced drilling at Slate Rock East returned multiple, wide intervals of low-grade gold mineralization in variably deformed diorite and porphyritic diorite that are associated with quartz-carbonate veins and veinlets, moderate to intense quartz-albite-sericite-carbonate alteration and disseminated and veinlet pyrite (See Figures 2-4). 

Despite the low gold grades encountered at Slate Rock to-date, the target remains a high priority for further drilling due to scarcity of drilling, the potential for high-grade mineralization as exemplified from boulder samples and the presence of coarse visible gold in drill core (See Figure 4).

PEN-20-048 targeted the southern contact of the intrusive complex with felsic volcanics, intersected two zones of mineralization within a porphyritic diorite unit internal to the complex that returned 0.22 g/t Au over 7.3 m and 0.31 g/t Au over 14.2 m at 74.5 and 114.4 m down-hole, respectively. 

PEN-20-049 was designed to test modelled structures internal to the complex evident in airborne magnetic data and intersected four broad zones of mineralization. The most significant interval returned 0.29 g/t Au over 25.5 m at 127.5 m down-hole. This intercept included 2.36 g/t Au over 1.0 m and 1.38 g/t Au over 1.0 m with the presence of coarse visible gold within a sheared, biotite-rich interval (See Figure 4). This is the first documented case of visible gold at Slate Rock and its relationship to a previously unrecognized shear zone provides valuable information to vector towards higher grade gold mineralization.

HGM 
The HGM Prospect is in the eastern portion of the Project along the Deerfoot deformation zone.  Drill testing for depth extension at HGM continued to intersect multiple zones of gold mineralization and can now be traced to a depth of 500 m below surface (See Figures 5-7). The mineralized zones occur within a central mafic volcanic unit that is bounded by dominantly ultramafic bodies.  The high-grade nature of the mineralization at HGM has been confirmed with historical intercepts of 7.53 g/t Au over 2.2 m and 25.96 g/t Au over 1.0 m in hole PEN-19-039 and 21.54 g/t Au over 3.9 m in hole DF94-18.

PEN-20-043 was designed to test for an eastward plunge to the gold zones and encountered the target mafic volcanic unit and intersected two zones of gold mineralization. The first zone, occurring in an intensely quartz-sericite altered felsic dike, returned 0.31 g/t Au over 13.4 m at 329.9 m down-hole. The second zone returned 1.31 g/t Au over 1.2 m in a sulphidized, quartz-carbonate altered and intensely deformed mafic volcanics at 449.1 m down-hole.

PEN-20-045 tested for a westward plunge to the gold zones 150 m from PEN-20-043 and encountered three zones of gold mineralization within the target mafic volcanic unit.  The first zone, occurring near the hanging-wall contact with the northern ultramafic body, returned 4.50 g/t Au over 3.1 m and included 12.80 g/t Au over 1.0 m. This zone consists of intensely deformed and quartz-carbonate altered mafic volcanic with stockwork quartz-carbonate veinlets and 3-5% disseminated and veinlet pyrite and an altered felsic dike. The second zone occurs within similar altered mafic volcanic rocks and returned 0.56 g/t Au over 3.0 m and 0.91 g/t Au over 4.9 m. The third zone occurs in intensely deformed mafic volcanics at the southern, or lower, contact with a felsic dike similar to the upper zone.

PEN-20-051 was designed to test the gap between holes PEN-20-043 and PEN-20-045, intersected three zones of mineralization. The upper two zones occur with deformed and altered mafic volcanics and returned 0.37 g/t Au over 3.0 m and 1.89 g/t Au over 1.0 m.  The third zone occurs in an intensely quartz-sericite altered felsic dike with quartz stockwork veining and 3-5% disseminated pyrite.

This association of gold mineralization with felsic dikes observed in PEN-20-45 and PEN-20-051 is not typical of HGM mineralization at shallower depths but does occur 400 m to the west at the Crawford Prospect indicating it is an important characteristic of gold mineralization in this segment of the Deerfoot deformation zone. Drill hole data is currently being reviewed to prioritize drill targets along this trend which has demonstrated its prospectivity for high-grade gold mineralization.

2020 Exploration and Drill Programs
Following the new discovery at the Nib target in April and strong cash position of approximately C$7.1 million, the Company has doubled its 2020 exploration budget for the Pen Gold Project to approximately C$4.0 million. The revised exploration program and budget will focus largely on drilling, a contrast from previous exploration campaigns since acquiring the land package in 2018.

The expanded 2020 exploration program will include approximately 8,500 m of drilling that is anticipated to begin in July and to be completed in December. The majority of the drill program will focus on testing for extensions to the Nib discovery and proximal targets that are in similar geological settings. The drill program will also include follow-up drilling along the Deerfoot corridor and testing new targets such as Broadway and Boundary (See Figure 1).

In addition to the drill program, the Company has initiated several field-based programs that include drone magnetic surveys, IP, till sampling, prospecting and mapping with the objective to advance regional targets to a drill-ready stage.

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