Phase 1 Development Program For South Railroad Project

VANCOUVER, BC - Gold Standard Ventures Corp. reported plans for the 2020 Phase 1 development and exploration program on its 100%-owned/controlled Railroad-Pinion Project in Nevada’s Carlin Trend.  The program includes an estimated 20,410 m of reverse-circulation (RC) and core drilling in 136 holes.  Three drill rigs are currently active on site at Pinion.

The Phase 1 2020 program objectives are: (1) convert Pinion Phase 4 to Measured and Indicated confidence level (see attached Pinion Phase 1 drilling illustration); (2) drill test additional near-surface targets at Dark Star with the goal of expanding the oxide resource; (3) further advance the Feasibility Study for the South Railroad Project; (4) file the south Railroad Plan of Operations; and (5) begin step out exploration drilling at the LT oxide discovery.  Funding for this program was obtained through an at-the-market (ATM) equity program previously announced, and the recent investment by Orion Mine Finance. The ATM equity program has been completed, where 15,097,478 common shares of the Company were issued for net proceeds of $13,984,881 after payment of applicable fees and expenses. Orion has also completed its purchase of additional Gold Standard common shares through a non-brokered private placement.

Jonathan Awde, CEO and Director, said, “Our pre-feasibility studies have demonstrated that South Railroad is a robust project at gold prices well below current levels. What we want—and what we expect—is a longer mine life to drive prospective returns to another level as we move the project through Feasibility.  To achieve this objective, we have designed this year’s programs to upgrade known inferred resources to indicated and also better define the potential in recently discovered new targets. That’s our expectation for 2020. We are also very pleased to have Orion as a new strategic shareholder in the Company and look forward to potential financings from them in the future.”

Key Highlights for Phase 1 include: At the Pinion deposit, drill up to 75 RC and core holes (about 16,200m) to decrease drill spacing on the inferred oxide resource for potential conversion to Measured and Indicated, provide material for additional metallurgical testing, and complete additional geotechnical and hydrology studies.  Current drilling will tighten the drill spacings near historic Cameco holes SB-136, an RC hole that intersected 102.1m of 1.38 g Au/t, and SB-162-99, a core hole that twinned and verified the SB-136 results with an intercept of 112.0m of 1.24 g Au/t; Additionally, geologic mapping of recently exposed bedrock has identified a ~500m by ~300m zone of alteration and structural intersections – the SB target – to the southeast of the current Pinion drill pattern.  This emerging opportunity extends into an area of historic surface rock samples ranging from 0.1 to 0.31 g Au/t.  Follow-up surface mapping and sampling is ongoing; At the Dark Star deposit, drill up to 20 holes (about 1,140m) to test additional targets with the goal of expanding the oxide resource.  Targets include: 1) at Saddle, drilling will look to expand Main Dark Star mineralization to the north; 2) expand drill coverage along the Sirius fault, to the south of Main Dark Star, into areas of >0.14 g Au/t in outcrop samples; 3) drill testing the projection of gold-bearing west northwest-striking faults where they intersect the West fault, a known feeder to gold mineralization, west of the North Dark Star reserve; and 4) at East Dark Star, extend and define the limits of near-surface oxide mineralization where bedrock and Quaternary gravel-hosted mineralization remains open along an approximate 600m north-south strike length; M3 Engineering & Technology Corporation is advancing a Feasibility Study for the South Railroad Project.  The Feasibility Study will include detailed engineering, geotechnical and hydrology studies to further de-risk the Project, along with updated resources and reserves estimates. Completion of the Feasibility Study is anticipated in Q2 2021; The South Railroad Plan of Operations (PoO) is on track for Q4 2020 submission to the US Bureau of Land Management.  When the PoO is deemed complete, this will allow for the commencement of the EIS process; & At the LT target, six step out drill holes (about 1,180m) will test structural and stratigraphic targets to the north and south of LT19-02, a 2019 RC hole that intersected 12.2m of 1.58 g Au/t (see November 12, 2019 news release).  LT is a new, near-surface oxide target located approximately 3 km north-northwest of the Pinion oxide gold reserve. The LT19-02 intercept is located approximately 185m north of surface outcrops that returned assay values ranging from <0.005 to 12.90 g Au/t from over a 400m by 200m area.