Drilling Update And Outline For Exploration Plans At Unga Project

VANCOUVER - Heliostar Metals Limited reported he start of its 2021 drill program at the Unga project in Alaska. The company mobilized three drill rigs to the project in April and has completed five holes so far, across the SH-1 and Apollo targets.

CEO, Charles Funk, said, "This program is the earliest commencement of drilling undertaken at the project in its history. With three drill rigs operating, the company plans to complete an initial 7,000 meter program to follow-up and extend the open gold intersections defined last year at SH-1, Apollo, and Aquila. The company has C$7.2 million in cash and investments and closing the recent capital raise has allowed us to expand the Phase 1 program. Heliostar looks forward to some of the earliest assay results from summer projects in Alaska and Canada in 2021 due to this early start."

The company is taking a four-prong approach to the 2021 Unga exploration program to expand upon the existing resource, expand two new open gold intersections and drill test new targets: At the SH-1 Resource (an inferred resource of 384,000 ounces at 13.8 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold), drilling will focus on expanding the resource beneath open intersections; At the historic Apollo-Sitka Mine, drilling in 2020 found gold mineralization beyond the footprint of the former mine and drilling will aim to define the historically defined, but never mined, zones of gold-, silver- and base metal-rich mineralization; Expansion drilling at Aquila, to follow up on the 2020 discovery of 31.6 meters at 1.8 g/t gold, including 5.75 meters at 5.56 g/t gold; and District-scale exploration to advance high priority targets to drill-ready status and drill test the highest ranked opportunities.

This program employs two reverse circulation (RC) drills and a diamond drill core rig. Each drill will be used to maximize its comparative advantages. Diamond drilling will be focused on SH-1 to match previous drilling for confidence in any future resource estimation.

The company will employ RC drilling on the large, earlier stage targets such as Aquila, Apollo, and the broader district prospects. RC drilling has the advantage of rapid penetration for greater speed, ease of transport and small footprint, which are ideal for preliminary assessment work.