Positive Drill Results From Piaba Underground And Genipapo Targets

VANCOUVER - Equinox Gold Corp. reported positive drill results from the Piaba Underground target and the Genipapo target at the Aurizona Gold Mine in Brazil. "The 2020 Piaba underground drill program delivered exceptional results, with 96% of the holes intersecting significant gold mineralization. Drilling extended over 3 km of strike of the currently 4 km-long Piaba deposit and tested depths up to 1 km below surface," said Scott Heffernan, EVP Exploration. "These results further strengthen the Company's conviction that the Piaba underground deposit presents a substantial opportunity to both extend the mine life and increase annual production at Aurizona. Drilling at the Genipapo target also continues to demonstrate the potential to define open-pit, near-surface saprolite resources that could further extend the Aurizona mine life. The Company has planned a $7.3 million exploration program for 2021 at Aurizona, including 49,000 meters of drilling, with the objective of further expanding the Piaba resource and advancing the numerous high-priority, high-potential near-mine and regional targets in the Aurizona district. In addition, a prefeasibility study is underway to assess the potential to operate an underground mine concurrent with the existing open-pit mine, with completion of the study targeted for late 2021."

A total of 23,916 m in 52 holes were drilled in 2020 to increase confidence in the continuity of mineralization, expand the underground mineral resources and upgrade the classification of the resources from Inferred to Indicated to support completion of the prefeasibility study. Every hole intersected gold mineralization and 47 of the 49 holes, for which assays have been received thus far, intersected significant gold mineralization. The 2020 drill program tested the deposit to depths of 1,000 m below surface and results to date have shown that the deposit remains open at depth.

Genipapo, located approximately 1 km east northeast of the existing Piaba open-pit mine, is the most advanced of three targets including Micote and Mestre Chico that potentially host a series of smaller, near-surface deposits. Three phases of reverse circulation (RC) drilling (5,489 m in 74 holes) were completed at Genipapo in 2020 to follow up on drilling discoveries made in 2018. Results continue to demonstrate the potential to develop Genipapo as open-pit feed for the Piaba mill. Results of the first two phases of drilling (3,331 m in 50 holes) are available, with results from the third phase of work pending.