Maple Gold Provides Exploration Update and Outlook at Douay Gold Project

September 9, 2020 – Montreal (Quebec): Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (“Maple Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: MGM, OTCQB: MGMLF; Frankfurt: M3G - https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/maple-gold-mines-ltd/ ) is pleased to provide a recap of its exploration programs during the first half of 2020 and an outlook on exploration work planned at its Douay Gold Project (the “Project”) in northern Quebec, Canada.

“Our exploration team achieved excellent assay results across multiple zones during our winter 2020 program and the data will be used to design upcoming drill campaigns to uncover higher grade targets and to expand and upgrade the known resources at Douay,” stated Matthew Hornor, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Maple Gold has a massive 357-square-kilometre land package with the opportunity to establish a district-scale gold project in the heart of the Abitibi Gold Belt. With our recently closed C$4.75 million financing, we are fully funded to execute on our exploration plans with the aim of completing an updated resource estimate in 2021.”
Summary of H1 Exploration Results
From January to March 2020, Maple Gold completed a 4,370-metre drill campaign where 11 of the 14 holes drilled intersected higher-than-deposit-average-grade gold mineralization (see Figure 2).  Key results from the winter 2020 drill program is included in Table 1. Highlights include:

• Porphyry Zone:  Hole DO-20-281 intercepted 75 metres of 1.23 g/t Au, including 31 metres of 1.61 g/t Au; and hole DO-20-283 intercepted 17 metres of 1.91 g/t Au and 7 metres of 1.06 g/t Au at end-of-hole (see news from May 27 and June 10, 2020). These results were obtained from the western part of the Porphyry zone (“Western Porphyry”), which includes the largest block of indicated resources outside of the Douay West Zone, and confirmed the presence of some of the longest, most continuous, intrusive-hosted intercepts on the Project. This zone will be a key focus for the Company’s subsequent exploration campaigns to add near-surface, higher-grade ounces and upgrade the resource category in the area.

• NW Zone:  A single site (DO-20-272) was drilled to test the western continuity of a near-surface historical intercept near the northwest edge of the current resource conceptual pit as defined by the RPA 2019 NI 43-101 report. Results surpassed those of the historical hole with several significant intercepts obtained from top of bedrock including 3.4 metres of 3.60 g/t Au followed by 20 metres of 1.15 g/t Au, the former starting from 39.6 metres downhole and the latter from 50.0 metres downhole. These intercepts were significant as they not only indicated the potential for expanded near-surface and higher grade resources in the NW Zone, but also the potential presence of similar additional mineralization along this relatively sparsely drilled contact area both to the west and to the east. This contact at the NW Zone marks a major lithotectonic boundary, with significantly younger sedimentary rocks to the north in fault contact with older basaltic rocks to the south. This geological setting is comparable to that of nearby deposits at Casa Berardi and Vezza which contain higher-grade gold mineralization ranging between 5.0 to 6.0 g/t Au. There are multiple drilling gaps within this geological setting along the northern flank of the resource with a total cumulative length of approximately 3.5 kilometres that will be further explored.

• 531 Zone:  Hole DO-20-262X established a third higher-grade area in this zone after it intercepted 3.5 metres of 5.96 g/t Au, including 1.7 metres of 11.35 g/t Au (see news from March 16, 2020). The 531 zone appears geologically similar to the higher-grade Douay West Zone and geophysical surveys completed earlier this year at 531 Zone support the Company’s interpretation that this zone is open laterally and to depth.

Figure 1: Map of drill plan on residual total magnetic intensity image showing distribution of winter 2020 drillholes

Maple Gold also completed holes at the Nika Zone and southeastern part of the Porphyry Zone (“SE Porphyry”), with several notable intercepts but less significant results relative to other zones. Final assay results included several lower-grade assays consisting of over 10-to-15-metre intervals of 0.5 g/t Au.  This includes hole DO-20-273 which intercepted 10.5 metres of 0.52 g/t Au followed by 14 metres of 0.54 g/t Au, including 3 metres of 1.20 g/t Au. Further downhole, two additional higher-grade intercepts were cut including 6.7 metres of 1.07 g/t Au and 3.8 metres of 1.49 g/t Au.  Due to the greater geological complexity at these targets and excellent results obtained from other zones, the Nika and SE Porphyry areas will be less of a focus for the Company in the near term.

In addition to its drilling program, the Company’s modern Induced Polarization (“IP”) winter program has been proven effective at detecting causative sources to depths of 500 metres and has generated very promising IP anomalies.  This work not only supported the Company’s target concept at the 531 Zone, but also showed a new open anomaly on trend with the Main Zone, and detailed a now drill-ready regional discovery target located approximately 4 kilometres to the northeast of the known deposit (NE Target). As a result, the Company expects to continue expanding its IP program to cover the margins of the current resource area as well as more conceptual targets further afield.  Details of promising results from all areas as well as resulting targets will be released once final interpretations are completed.

Finally, an Artificial Intelligence study with CGI is ongoing to generate gold prospectivity maps and provide additional target areas to validate and rank in advance of the Company's next phases of drilling (see news from July 7).  Preliminary results from this work is expected shortly and will also be considered for the fall 2020 drill campaign. 

Outlook on H2 Exploration

The Company is pursuing an integrated, two-fold exploration strategy at its Douay Project consisting of:

• Defining and drill-testing discovery targets:  Due to the proximity of the Project to the high-grade and past producing Vezza mine (~0.5Moz of 6.0 g/t Au) and Eagle-Telbel mine (1.15Moz @ 6.5 g/t Au) -- located 12 kilometres and 1 kilometre from the Douay property boundary, respectively -- potential for new higher-grade discoveries at Douay is considered excellent.  While mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Project, the Company continues to expand its IP program to detail new discovery targets in search of higher-grade gold zones in the area.

Fall 2020 drilling campaign: a 3,000-metre program, expected to commence in October, is planned and will focus primarily on drill testing new discovery targets with the potential for higher grade mineralization. Permits for several drill sites are already in hand, with additional sites having been requested in early August (additional program details will be released in the coming weeks).

• Advanced definition of near-surface, higher-grade potential starter pit areas: Results from the Western Porphyry and NW Zones obtained during the H1 work program support the Company’s objective of expanding known near-surface, higher-than-deposit-average grade gold accumulations that the Company views as potential starter pit areas. The Western Porphyry, NW and Douay West zones are expected to form part of a key subset of the total contained ounces in terms of initial focus for economic analysis and conceptual mine planning. 

Winter 2021 drilling campaign:  A program consisting of over 10,000 metres is being planned and will take place from January to April 2021.  Drill targets are being planned and will mainly be focused on the above priority areas that have the potential to unlock significant value with further step-out and infill drilling (see Figure 2).

Once the fall and winter drilling programs have been completed, the Company expects to prepare an updated resource estimate and to initiate preliminary economic study work in 2021.

Figure 2:  Drill plan on Residual Total Magnetic Intensity image showing Fall 2020 (red/white dots) and Winter 2021 Target Areas (light blue outline).  The  response reflects different rock and alteration types.  Fall 2020 sites, not all of which will be drilled, are exploration targets on higher ground. Three sites on the NE IP target are located approximately 4 kilometres to the east of this map.

Table 1:  Key Drill Results from Winter 2020 Drill Campaign

All intercepts represent downhole lengths, with true widths generally 75-95% of downhole lengths
*Represents intervals that include assays capped at 10 g/t Au.

Qualified Person
The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc, P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration, of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this news release through his direct participation in the work.
Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC)

Maple Gold implements strict Quality Assurance (“QA”) and Quality Control (“QC”) protocols at Douay covering the planning and placing of drill holes in the field; drilling and retrieving the NQ-sized drill core; drill-hole surveying; core transport to the Douay Camp; core logging by qualified personnel; sampling and bagging of core for analysis; transport of core from site to the ALS laboratory in Val d’Or, QC; sample preparation for assaying; and analysis, recording and final statistical vetting of results. For a complete description of protocols, please visit the Company’s QA/QC page on the website at:
http://maplegoldmines.com/index.php/en/projects/qa-qc-qp-statement
About Maple Gold
Maple Gold Mines Ltd. controls the 357-square-kilometre Douay Gold Project located within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project has an established National Instrument 43-101 gold resource of 422,000 ounces in the Indicated category (8.6Mt grading 1.52 g/t Au) and 2.35 million ounces in the Inferred category (71.2Mt grading 1.03 g/t Au) with significant potential for resource expansion and new discoveries. The Project benefits from exceptional infrastructure access and the Company is currently focused on carrying out aggressive exploration programs to expand and update the known resource.  For more information, please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD.

“Matthew Hornor”

B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO

For Further Information Please Contact: 

Mr. Joness Lang
Executive Vice-President
Cell: 778.686.6836
Email: [email protected]

In Europe:
Swiss Resource Capital AG
Jochen Staiger
[email protected]
www.resource-capital.ch

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains “forward-looking information" and “forward-looking statements” (collectively referred to as “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about the prospective  mineral potential of the Porphyry Zone, the potential for significant mineralisation from other drilling in the referenced drill program and the completion of the drill program. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management’s best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company’s expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.’s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company’s website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.