Nighthawk Announces 2018 Drilling Program

Nighthawk Gold Corp. (TSX:NHK) announced the initiation of its 2018 drill campaign consisting of a 25,000-metre diamond drill program on its 100 percent owned Indin Lake Gold property in the Northwest Territories, Canada.

As quoted in the press release:

Three drill rigs will be in operation from early March until late September focussed on the continued exploration for high-grade gold zones within the Colomac Gold Project (“Colomac”), the ongoing delineation of known high-grade gold zones such as Zone 1.5, and drilling of select priority gold targets within its vast regional land package (Figure 1).  Extensive geological mapping, prospecting, and ground geophysical programs will begin by mid-June, directed at better defining known targets and generating new opportunities, with the goal of advancing Nighthawk’s many regional showings and deposits to a drill ready status.

Highlights are as follows:

• Drilling will continue to expand Colomac Zones 1.0, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, Goldcrest, and Grizzly Bear (Figure 1) along strike and to depth, and to explore for other potential zones of higher-grade mineralization within the sills.
• One drill will be active throughout the regional Indin Lake Gold Property for the entire 2018 program testing gold targets within the Leta Arm Gold Project (“Leta Arm“, which includes the North Inca and Diversified Mines, the #3 and Lexindin showings), the Damoti Lake gold deposit, Treasure Island showing, and other top prospects.
• Drilling has commenced at Leta Arm to test North Inca and Diversified from lake setups to follow up on the Company’s 2011 drill results as well as test the down plunge and strike extensions of the vein systems.
• Drilling is planned for the Company’s high-grade Damoti Lake gold deposit (“Damoti“). A 2005 resource estimate* pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, reports a measured and indicated resource, at a cut-off grade of 8.00 grams per tonne gold (“gpt”, “Au”), of 40,600 tonnes grading 26.17 gpt Au, and an inferred mineral resources of 17,800 tonnes grading 16.38 gpt Au (see press release dated, November 17, 2005, for Anaconda Gold Corp.). The Company believes there is opportunity to grow this resource beyond it’s current high-grade core.
• Damoti is central to the logic for consolidating the Indin Lake Gold Camp, as it represents a very high-grade satellite deposit that could augment any future Colomac gold production. It also shows the prospective grade and contained gold ounces that regional assets may contain, and their potential to strengthen Nighthawk’s 100% controlled district play centered on Colomac, a mutli-million-ounce deposit with significant growth possibilities.
• 2018 will see the continuation of focused mapping and prospecting programs directed at advancing Nighthawk’s many regional showings and deposits in preparation for drilling, and to generate new opportunities through escalated exploration activities.
• The main objectives of the 2018 program are to better define and expand on the dimensions of higher-grade mineralization intersected to-date, to explore for other new zones of near surface higher-grade material, to become more aggressive with regional exploration and drilling activities, and to advance the Company’s many priority deposits and showings that are key to the evolution of this early gold camp and potential mining activities at Colomac.

Dr. Michael Byron, president & CEO, commented:

Our 2018 exploration season will be more aggressive than our 2017 season, which was our most active and extensive to-date. With a cash balance of $26 million, our planned budget of approximately $11 million will allow us to expand our exploration activities outside of Colomac to advance some of our most prospective Indin Lake area deposits and prospects as we continue to develop our core theme of an evolving gold camp centred on Colomac’s exceptional multi-million-ounce growth potential.  Our Damoti Lake deposit is key to this thesis, being an example of the incredible high-grade gold mineralization over sizable widths that we feel is indicative of the untapped opportunities this gold camp has to offer. We are confident that our evolving understanding of the camp will fuel many additional new discoveries, that like Damoti, will play a significant role in the economical viability of a future Colomac mining operation.

Click here to read the full Nighthawk Gold Corp. (TSX:NHK) press release.