Vancouver, B.C. August 25, 2023 — Ascot Resources Ltd. (TSX: AOT; OTCQX: AOTVF) (“Ascot” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the first batch of assay results from the 2023 exploration drill program at the Company’s Premier Gold Project (“PGP” or the “project”), located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. These results are from surface drilling for in-fill and exploration purposes at the Prew Zone in the Premier deposit, southeast of the Premier mill.
Highlights from the drill results include:
- 32.85 g/t Au and 216.18 g/t Ag over 4.90m from a depth of 273.1m in hole P23-2468, including 165.00 g/t Au and 940.00 g/t Ag over 0.90m
- 23.37 g/t Au and 54.28 g/t Ag over 6.52m from a depth of 253.48m in hole P23-2465, including 148.50 g/t Au and 315.00 g/t Ag over 0.95m
- Both high-grade intercepts from holes P23-2468 and P23-2465 occurred outside existing stope shapes and therefore imply stope extensions.
Note: True widths are estimated to be between 75% to 90% of reported interval widths.
For the 2023 exploration season, drilling started on the Prew Zone, where mining is planned to begin at the Premier deposit. After completing 16 holes at Prew, drilling shifted to Big Missouri, and later will shift to the Day Zone. Pending weather conditions in the fall, drilling may shift back south to Premier and Sebakwe. This release summarizes results from the first four holes totaling 1,309 metres drilled from one pad targeting the Prew Zone. An overview of drill hole locations is shown in Figure 1. A summary of assay results is shown in Table 1.
Derek White, President and CEO of Ascot commented, “The 2023 exploration program is off to a great start, with two drill holes intercepting high-grade gold mineralization outside of existing stope shapes. This indicates strong potential for additional mineralization to be converted into near-term mine plans. The Prew Zone was initially delineated in 2017 and is where we plan to start production mining at the Premier deposit in early 2024. With additional assays pending from the Prew Zone including from holes that intercepted visible gold, we are eager to release additional results as we receive them in the coming weeks.”
The exploration program at the Prew Zone consisted of 16 drill holes for a total of 5,355 metres from two pads located between the Premier mill and the old Premier pit. The drill holes targeted stope shapes for additional pierce points, gaps between stopes due to previous drill patterns, and extensions along strike and up dip.
The first four drill holes from this year’s program targeted the eastern part of the Prew Zone, and mineralization was generally encountered at expected depths with two outstanding zones of mineralization in the direct projection of existing stope designs up dip (hole P23-2465) and along strike (hole P23-2468), respectively. One new pierce point inside a stope shape encountered a younger dike and one projected pierce point intercepted a base metal zone with anomalous gold (see Figure 2). Assays are pending for the remaining 12 holes drilled at the Prew Zone, including hole P23-2480 which intercepted visible gold from a depth of 292 metres.
Table 1 – Prew Zone drill results
| Hole # | Azimuth /dip | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) |
| P23-2465 | -63/109 | 253.48 | 260.00 | 6.52 | 23.37 | 54.28 |
| incl. | 257.08 | 258.03 | 0.95 | 148.50 | 315.00 | |
| and | 276.21 | 280.00 | 3.79 | 5.03 | 4.36 | |
| incl. | 276.21 | 278.00 | 1.79 | 9.28 | 7.00 | |
| P23-2466 | -56/121 | 267.67 | 269.76 | 2.09 | 3.37 | 30.02 |
| incl. | 267.67 | 268.51 | 0.84 | 6.80 | 16.80 | |
| and | 294.73 | 297.40 | 2.67 | 1.08 | 2.30 | |
| P23-2467 | -57/126 | 263.15 | 267.08 | 3.93 | 2.98 | 37.96 |
| incl. | 265.08 | 267.08 | 2.00 | 5.50 | 72.95 | |
| and | 296.07 | 300.07 | 4.00 | 1.66 | 3.95 | |
| and | 302.87 | 303.87 | 1.00 | 2.83 | 21.70 | |
| and | 316.86 | 318.17 | 1.31 | 3.22 | 4.40 | |
| P23-2468 | -60/122 | 252.50 | 253.53 | 1.03 | 4.02 | 12.50 |
| and | 257.31 | 259.30 | 1.99 | 4.12 | 10.90 | |
| and | 273.10 | 278.00 | 4.90 | 32.85 | 216.18 | |
| incl. | 273.10 | 274.00 | 0.90 | 165.00 | 940.00 | |
| and | 291.31 | 293.36 | 2.05 | 6.94 | 12.30 | |
| and | 304.00 | 307.50 | 3.50 | 1.65 | 3.89 | |
| and | 316.88 | 320.47 | 3.59 | 5.04 | 17.06 | |
| incl. | 318.97 | 320.47 | 1.50 | 9.04 | 37.60 |
Note: True widths are estimated to be between 75% to 90% of reported interval widths.
Figure 1 – 3D view of the drill pad location and drill hole traces reported in this release.
Figure 2 – East looking 3D-cross section showing the drill holes reported in this release. High-grade gold was intercepted in stope shapes and in the direct projection of existing stope designs up dip (hole P23-2465) and along strike (hole P23-2468), respectively. The projected intercepts of drill holes 2466 and 2467 in the stope encountered a dyke and a base metal zone with anomalous gold respectively.
Figure 3 – Visible gold in hole P23-2480 from a depth of 292 metres, assay results pending
Table 2 – Drill pad locations
| Pad # | UTM N | UTM E | Elevation (masl) | Hole no. |
| 23PREW1 | 437178 | 6213198 | 576 | 2465-2468 |
Qualified Person
Lawrence Tsang, P.Geo., the Company’s Exploration Manager provides the field management for the PGP exploration program. John Kiernan, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer of the Company is the Company’s Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
Analytical work is being carried out by ALS Canada Ltd. (“ALS”). Ascot’s quality-assurance and quality-control program includes the use of analytical blanks to monitor for cross contamination, certified reference material standards to assess analytical accuracy, and duplicate samples to quantify sampling precision. This is in addition to the internal quality assurance program employed by ALS.
Samples are dried and weighed by ALS. They are then crushed to 75% passing 2mm, with 250g split and pulverized to 85% passing 75µm. Samples are processed at the ALS preparation lab in Terrace and sent to ALS in North Vancouver for analysis. There, all samples are dissolved using four acid digestion with an ICP-AES finish and fire assay with AA finish for gold. Samples over 100ppm silver are digested with aqua regia and then volumetrically diluted before an ICP-AES or AA finish (up to 1,500ppm). Samples over 1,500ppm silver are fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Samples over 10ppm gold are fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Identified or suspected metallic gold or silver are subjected to “metallics” assays. Sampling and storage is located at the Company’s secure facility in Stewart, British Columbia.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ascot Resources Ltd.
“Derek C. White”
President & CEO
For further information contact:
David Stewart, P.Eng.
VP, Corporate Development & Shareholder Communications
dstewart@ascotgold.com
778-725-1060 ext. 1024
About Ascot Resources Ltd.
Ascot is a Canadian junior exploration and development company focused on re-starting the past producing Premier gold mine, located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands, in British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle. Ascot shares trade on the TSX under the ticker AOT. Concurrent with progressing the development of Premier, the Company continues to successfully explore its properties for additional high-grade underground resources. Ascot is committed to the safe and responsible development of Premier in collaboration with Nisga’a Nation as outlined in the Benefits Agreement.
For more information about the Company, please refer to the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca or visit the Company’s web site at www.ascotgold.com, or for a virtual tour visit www.vrify.com under Ascot Resources.
