Pilot Gold's Latest Acquisition Shows Exceptional Potential – Black Pine Oxide Gold Project, Idaho

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwired – Feb. 21, 2017) – Pilot Gold Inc. (TSX:PLG) (“Pilot Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to report on the compilation and interpretation of historic data at the recently acquired Black Pine Project in southeastern Idaho. Black Pine is a past-producing heap leach gold mine that contains a large, shallow, oxidized, district scale Carlin-style gold system, similar in nature and target size to Pilot Gold’s Goldstrike Property in Utah. The high priority target area, as confirmed by historical mining records, drilling and surface sampling, covers a 12 square kilometer area, within a larger claim block covering nearly 32 square kilometres.
While the Company’s focus is on drilling and building a resource at Goldstrike, the addition of Black Pine provides us with another opportunity to advance and define a large, Carlin-style oxide gold resource in the Great Basin of the United States. Target generation at Black Pine is currently underway, in advance of a drill program expected later in 2017.
Pilot Gold acquired 100% of the Black Pine Property from Western Pacific Resources Corporation on June 16, 2016, and began an intensive data compilation effort in order to generate a 3D interpretive model and high-priority drill targets. Pilot Gold has locational, geology and assay data from 1,866 shallow holes, totaling 191,481 metres and has identified three broad target types for drill testing, including: 1) down-dip extensions of gold mineralization from mined pits under shallow cover; 2) unmined bodies of mineralization identified by previous operators; and 3) undrilled, high priority gold-in-soil anomalies.
Key Points:

• Drill program planned for Q3/Q4 2017.
• An existing Plan of Operations allowing for drilling activity in selected areas came with the project acquisition.
• Mineralization controls are both structural and stratigraphic. The average, historic life-of-mine head grade was 0.63 g/t Au, with gold mined from 7 separate pits. There was significant variability in mined head grade, with 30% of production coming from 3 pits averaging 1.2 g/t gold. This is reflected in high grades obtained during drill definition of the historic mineralization in these pits, including:
  • 14.66 g/t Au over 19.8 metres
  • 19.13 g/t Au over 24.4 metres
  • 7.15 g/t Au over 32.0 metres
  • 2.56 g/t Au over 88.8 metres
  • 4.69 g/t Au over 44.2 metres
• A large number of holes contain unmined gold intercepts proximal to and below the historical 7 mined pit areas, including:
  • 1.80 g/t Au over 50.3 metres
  • 2.85 g/t Au over 22.9 metres
  • 3.63 g/t Au over 16.8 metres
  • 6.88 g/t Au over 10.7 metres
  • 1.16 g/t Au over 60.9 metres
  • 1.91 g/t Au over 42.7 metres
• Twelve targets have been identified for drill testing. Many of these targets remain untested owing to the historic nature of drilling, which was largely shallow and production driven in a sub-US$400 gold environment, as evidenced by key statistics extracted from the database:
  • 257 of 1,866 drill holes (14%) ended in > 0.2 g/t Au and 92 (5%) ended in >0.5 g/t Au.
  • 93 metres is the median drill hole depth, with only 31 drill holes (<2%) over 200 metres.
• Of the 1,866 historical drill holes, 787 holes, or nearly 42%, have unmined gold intercepts of > 1.5 metres grading > 0.30 g/t Au.
• As-mined topographic maps, blast hole data, block models and other data are being used to build an accurate model of geology and remaining gold mineralization pursuant to drill targeting.
• Pilot Gold has recently staked an additional 55 claims on the south and southeast corner of the claim block bringing the total to 400 federal lode claims covering 31.7 km². These claims were staked after the recovered database revealed historical drill holes with mineralized intercepts located outside of the acquired claim block.

For more details about the Black Pine Property, including location, geology & geochemistry maps and past production and target figures, please click here: https://www.pilotgold.com/images/Presentations/2017/BlackPineFeb2017.pdf
Moira Smith, Ph.D., P.Geo., Vice-President Exploration and Geoscience, Pilot Gold, is the Company’s designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) and has reviewed and validated that the information contained in the release is accurate.
About Black Pine
The Black Pine property is located in southeastern Idaho, northwest of Snowville, Utah, between Utah State highway 30 and Interstate highway 15. The property includes 400 federal lode claims, covering 31.7 km². The mineralized zone was extensively drilled in the immediate pit areas, with mining carried out by Pegasus Gold Corp. from 7 shallow pits over a 6-year period from 1992 to 1997 in a run of mine heap leach operation. The mining operation produced 435,000 ounces of gold from ore averaging 0.63 g/t gold, with a reported recovery of 65%.
Black Pine is an early-stage exploration project and does not contain any mineral resource estimates as defined by NI 43-101. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource for any of the targets disclosed herein.
Some of the data presented herein, includes legacy data developed by previous operators of the Black Pine property prior to the introduction of NI43-101. Drill intersections are reported as drilled thicknesses. True widths of the mineralized intervals are unknown. Production data sourced from Pegasus internal yearly statements on production and remaining Reserves and Mineralized material. Pilot Gold is providing this legacy data for informational purposes only, and gives no assurance as to its reliability and relevance to the Company’s current results and proposed exploration program at Black Pine. Pilot Gold has not completed any quality assurance program or applied quality control measures to the legacy data, nor has a Qualified Person done sufficient work to verify the source of the legacy data. Accordingly, the legacy data should not be relied upon. While Pilot Gold plans to verify some or all of the legacy data, the anticipated timing and results of that data verification cannot be ascertained at this time. Confirmation work may produce results that differ substantially.
ABOUT PILOT GOLD
Pilot Gold is led by a proven technical and capital markets team that continues to discover and define high-quality assets. Our core projects are Goldstrike in Utah, Black Pine in Idaho and Kinsley Mountain in Nevada. The Company also holds important interests in two Turkish assets, Halilaga and TV Tower, and has a pipeline of Western US projects characterized by large land positions and district-wide potential that can meet our growth needs for years to come.
For more information, visit www.pilotgold.com.
All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are “forward-looking information” with respect to Pilot Gold within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements that address potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, potential size and expansion of a mineralized zone, proposed timing of exploration and development plans. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “seek”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “continue”, “planned”, “expect”, “project”, “predict”, “potential”, “targeting”, “intends”, “believe”, “potential”, and similar expressions, or describes a “goal”, or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “should”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made including, among others, assumptions about future prices of gold, and other metal prices, currency exchange rates and interest rates, favourable operating conditions, political stability, obtaining governmental approvals and financing on time, obtaining renewals for existing licences and permits and obtaining required licences and permits, labour stability, stability in market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral resources, timing and likelihood of deployment of additional drill rigs, successful delivery of results of metallurgical testing, the release of an initial resource report, successful resolution of disputes and anticipated costs and expenditures. Many assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Pilot Gold and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.
Such forward-looking information, involves known and unknown risks, which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, risks related to the interpretation of results and/or the reliance on technical information provided by third parties as related to the Company’s mineral property interests; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; current economic conditions; future prices of commodities; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; the costs and timing of the development of new deposits; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; the timing and success of exploration activities generally; delays in permitting; possible claims against the Company; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals, financing or in the completion of exploration as well as those factors discussed in the Annual Information Form of the Company dated March 17, 2016 in the section entitled “Risk Factors”, under Pilot Gold’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Although Pilot Gold has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Pilot Gold disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.