Mesquite Gold Mine Measured & Indicated Resources Increase

VANCOUVER - Equinox Gold Corp. reported that exploration success during the first half of 2020 has significantly increased Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources at the Company's Mesquite Gold Mine in California. Highlights: Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves increased 28% to 658,000 ounces (oz) of contained gold net of mining depletion to June 30, 2020; Measured and Indicated ("M&I") Mineral Resources increased 94% to 837,000 oz of contained gold, exclusive of reserves; Inferred Mineral Resources increased 38% to 703,000 oz of contained gold; Ongoing exploration continues to demonstrate growth potential at the Brownie deposit; initial drilling highlights include: 35.1 meters ("m") at 0.51 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold; 33.5 m at 0.66 g/t gold; and 52.6 m at 0.85 g/t gold; and 44.2 m at 0.58 g/t gold

Scott Heffernan, EVP Exploration, said, "Exploration efforts at Mesquite in the first half of 2020 more than replaced mined reserves and significantly increased mineral resources, providing additional mine life at what has been our best-performing mine this year. Drilling in the Brownie deposit also yielded excellent results and points to potential for a multi-year mine life extension from in-situ mineralization and overlying mineralized dumps."

Building on improvements achieved in the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates, this mid-year 2020 update includes an additional 10,785 m (77 holes) of bedrock drilling, 36,785 m (661 holes) of drilling  targeting historical dumps, and updated geologic and grade-shell domains.

Mesquite Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves at June 30, 2020 are estimated at 37.8 million tonnes ("Mt") grading 0.54 g/t gold for 658,000 oz of contained gold during the first half of 2020, the updated Mineral Reserve represents a 28% increase (142,267 oz). The updated Mineral Reserve estimate uses the same design and parameters as the December 31, 2019 estimate. A redesign will commence upon completion of exploration and geotechnical drill programs.

Mesquite Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources at June 30, 2020, exclusive of Mineral Reserves, are estimated at 66.7 Mt grading 0.39 g/t gold for 837,000 oz of contained gold. This represents a 94% increase when compared to the previous Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource estimate of 432,000 oz of gold. Inferred Mineral Resources at June 30, 2020 are estimated at 69.2 Mt grading 0.32 g/t gold for 703,000 oz of contained gold, representing a 38% increase compared to the previous estimate of 510,000 oz of gold.

At year-end 2019, the Company had identified approximately 40 million short tons of potentially mineralized material from previous operations that had not been drill tested and the Company initiated a 35,000 m exploration drill program. Drilling in the Big Chief, Midway and Brownie dumps yielded significant gains in Mineral Resources. Indicated Mineral Resources in the dumps have increased more than fourfold to 22.7 Mt grading 0.22 g/t gold for 160,000 oz of contained gold. Inferred Mineral Resources in the dumps have increased 31% to 36.6 Mt grading 0.22 g/t gold for 255,000 contained oz of gold. The increases as noted do not reflect depletion of resource material contained in the 2019 year-end Mineral Resource that has already been stacked on the leach pad.

Drilling in 2019 provided confirmation that the dump material overlying the Brownie deposit area contains significant gold resources and that in-situ mineralization was present adjacent to and extending from the resource pit. A follow-up 13,897 m drill program was carried out to test the potential to extend mineralization along strike and down dip. Drilling results include highlights of 35.1 m at 0.51 g/t gold, 33.5 m at 0.66 g/t gold, 52.6 m at 0.85 g/t gold, and 44.2 m at 0.58 g/t gold. The results increase confidence in the geological model and highlight the potential for further expansion potential to the north, northwest and southeast of the existing resources.