Nighthawk Reports Multiple High-Grade Intercepts at Colomac

Hole C20-02 returned 33.25 metres of 3.89 gpt Au, including 9.25 metres of 10.93 gpt Au, and including 5.50 metres of 16.63 gpt Au

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 20, 2020 / Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk" or the "Company") (TSX:NHK)(OTCQX:MIMZD) is pleased to report assay results for two (2) drillholes (1,533 metres) completed on Zones 1.5 and 3.5 of the Colomac Main Sill, part of the Colomac Gold Project ("Colomac") centrally located within its Indin Lake Gold Property, Northwest Territories, Canada (Figure 1; Table 1).

Nighthawk commenced its 2020 exploration program on March 13 with three drills on a planned 25,000-metre drill program. On March 27, 2020, the Company announced plans to temporarily suspend all activities in light of the Covid-19 ("Covid") pandemic and ceased all operations on April 5, 2020 (see press release dated March 27, 2020). The Company was able to complete five (5) holes, of which two (2) holes for Colomac are reported in today's release. Nighthawk resumed exploration activities during the second week of July and is on schedule to complete its planned drill and regional field exploration programs.

Drilling at Colomac focused on areas lying immediately outside of the current resource, within the areas outlined as the "Exploration Target", as discussed in the Company's 2020 mineral resource estimate (see press release dated July 28, 2020). It is proposed that with 50,000 metres to 75,000 metres of additional drilling within the Exploration Target there exists the potential to add up to 1.50 million ounces ("Moz") of gold to the current resource at grades between 1.8 gpt Au and 2.0 gpt Au. The Company sees this as its best opportunity to quickly and efficiently advance Colomac.

Dr. Michael Byron, President and CEO commented, "Once the challenges imposed by the pandemic on remote operations such as ours were addressed, we resumed all activities without incident and are now on track to drill upwards of 25,000 metres this year. With drilling at Colomac focused on realizing the Exploration Target opportunity we anticipate finishing the year with approximately 20,000 metres of drilling having tested some of these high-profile areas.

"Both holes at Zones 1.5 and 3.5 provided additional drill coverage needed to help convert Exploration Target regions into resources, and successfully extended mineralization in these respective areas by an additional 130 metres to depth, with hole C20-02 at Zone 3.5 intersecting extensive mineralization with higher-grade internal cuts showcasing the higher-grade nature of Zone 3.5. We look forward to reporting on additional drilling as the information becomes available."

DRILLING HIGHLIGHTS:

• Zone 3.5 - Hole C20-02 intersected three well mineralized areas: an upper 8.65 metres of 4.81 grams per tonne gold ("gpt", "Au"), including 4.35 metres of 8.85 gpt Au; an extensive mid level section that returned 33.25 metres (12 metres true width) of 3.89 gpt Au, including 9.25 metres of 10.93 gpt Au, and including 5.50 metres of 16.63 gpt Au; and a lower intercept of 6.50 metres grading 14.61 gpt Au, including 3.00 metres of 31.20 gpt Au;

• Zone 1.5 - Hole C20-01 intersected 63.25 metres (35 metres true width) of 1.28 gpt Au, including 20.50 metres of 2.16 gpt Au, and including 4.50 metres of 4.11 gpt Au;

• Both Colomac holes intersected well mineralized areas within the "Exploration Target", and have extended mineralization to new depths, infilled gaps in drill coverage, highlighting the scale of opportunity that exists.

Note: All assays are uncut (see Table 1)

Table 1. Colomac Drill Results - Summary Table (uncut)

* Lengths are reported as core lengths. True widths vary depending on drill hole dip.

Colomac Drill Summary

Zone 3.5

Nighthawk's previous drilling at Zone 3.5 targeted mineralization to depth and along strike of historical drilling that identified the zone's higher-grade nature (see press releases dated August 30, 2012; September 19, 2012; October 10, 2012; September 11, 2018; and December 3, 2019). Drilling also established a northward expansion to the zone (see press release dated August 20, 2012), and led to the discovery of another higher-grade area plunging beneath Zone 3.0 near the border region with Zone 3.5. Hole C20-02 was drilled to depth within the central part of Zone 3.5 (Figure 1) to begin exploration of a 420 metre gap in drill coverage between previously drilled hole C18-09 and historical hole 3.5-97-008 which intersected 4.57 metres of 7.63 gpt Au and 12.19 metres of 3.24 gpt Au, including 4.27 metres of 8.44 gpt Au at a vertical depth of 900 metres. This area also forms a large portion of the "Exploration Target" within the southern region of Colomac Main. C20-02 successfully extended mineralization 130 metres below C18-09 to 560 metres vertical depth, intersecting a narrow upper section of 8.65 metres of 4.81 gpt Au, including 4.35 metres of 8.85 gpt Au; an extensive mid level section returning 33.25 metres of 3.89 gpt Au, including 9.25 metres of 10.93 gpt Au, and including 5.50 metres of 16.63 gpt Au; and a lower intercept of 6.50 metres grading 14.61 gpt Au, including 3.00 metres of 31.20 gpt Au (Figure 2).

Zone 1.5
Since the initial discovery of higher-grade gold mineralization at Zone 1.5 in 2014, the Company has spent considerable effort defining the zone's dimensions and expansion potential as it is believed to be the best area of the Colomac Main sill to spearhead an underground mining opportunity. This zone has also delivered the best intercepts ever recorded at Colomac highlighted by 2019 hole C19-08 intersection of 56.00 metres of 13.49 gpt Au, including 30.50 metres of 22.12 gpt Au, and including 16.50 metres of 34.18 gpt Au, and including 10.00 metres of 53.57 gpt Au (see press release dated May 28, 2019). Holes drilled to depth within the zone have also shown that the quartz diorite portion of the sill, which hosts all the mineralization, progressively widens to depth from 50 to 60 metres in the near surface to greater than 150 metres at 750 metres vertical (see press releases dated September 18, 2017). It is believed that this represents much of the true morphology of the sill across its mineralized strike length of over 7 kms (see press releases dated May 20, 2020).

Drilling in 2019 established a 500-metre long panel of mineralization spanning Zone 1.5 and the northern part of Zone 2.0, with a near-surface true width up to 50 metres that progressively expands to upwards of 155 metres in true width at 750 metres vertical depth where it remains open. (see press releases dated December 3, 2019; January 20, 2020; and May 20, 2020). Hole C20-01 was drilled below the panel's boundary region between Zone 1.5 to Zone 2.0 to test the depth extension of mineralization below previously drilled holes C19-17 and C19-35, an area that also falls within the previously described "Exploration Target" (Figure 1). The hole intersected 63.25 metres of 1.28 gpt Au, including 20.50 metres of 2.16 gpt Au extending mineralization another 130 metres below C19-35 on this section (Figure 3).

Figure 1. Plan View of Colomac Main Sill - Drillhole Locations