Ascot Resources Ltd. (TSX: AOT) (OTCQX: AOTVF) is pleased to announce additional assay results from the 2021 exploration drill program at the Company’s Premier Gold Project. This release contains the remainder of assay results from exploration drilling at the Day Zone, as well as assays from one hole drilled at the Woodbine target and one at the Boneyard near the Premier mill.

Highlights from the drill results include:

• 58.60 g/t Au and 24.8 g/t Ag over 1.90m from a depth of 35m in hole P21-2384 at the Day Zone. This is in an area where Ascot is internally evaluating preliminary stope shapes for potential extraction early in the mine life at Big Missouri.
• 11.22 g/t Au and 19.1 g/t Ag over 9.35m from a depth of 158m in hole P21-2336 at the Day Zone, including 16.51 g/t Au and 29.8 g/t Ag over 5.66m. This intercept was drilled from a pad approximately 400m south from the initial discovery holes in 2020.
• 5.48 g/t Au and 9.8 g/t Ag over 4.80m from a depth of 188m in hole P21-2387 at the Boneyard near the Premier mill. This hole provides further evidence of mineralization continuing beyond the western limb of the Northern Light deposit.

This release summarizes the results from sixteen surface drill holes at the Day Zone southwest of the Big Missouri deposit, one drill hole at the Woodbine target west of the Premier Deposit, and one hole from the Boneyard near the Premier mill, for a total of 4,074 metres completed from five drill pads.

In addition, the final outstanding assay results from the 2021 exploration season, consisting of 5,982 metres of drilling in 28 drill holes focused on in-filling the Big Missouri deposit, are now being received and will be released in the coming weeks as they become available.

Derek White, President and CEO of Ascot commented, “During the development phase at the Premier Gold Project our exploration strategy has been quite simple: find and expand new high-grade areas of mineralization close to existing and planned infrastructure which will be accretive to our mine plan. In that regard, the Day Zone continues to impress in each successive round of drilling, with this batch being headlined by an intercept of two ounces per tonne gold over two metres.

Since its discovery in 2020, with a modest 32 drill holes we have already outlined a number of high-grade areas at the Day Zone across a known strike length of 550 metres, with mineralization open to the north and south. We are confident in the Day Zone’s potential to contribute to future resource growth on our property and even now are internally evaluating preliminary stope shapes for potential extraction in the early stages of the mine life at Big Missouri.”

Day Zone Target

The Day Zone, initially discovered in 2020 (see News Releases dated September 14, 2020, November 19, 2020, and January 18, 2021), is located on the western side of the Big Missouri Ridge, approximately 5 kilometres north of the Premier mill. Given the growing number of high-grade intercepts encountered in this area and its proximity to Big Missouri, the Day Zone is one of the most compelling targets for resource growth and potential mine life extension. The zone is located just 300m west of reserve stopes at Big Missouri, and mineralization remains open to the north and south.

Ascot recently expanded the Day Zone with a 400 metre southern step-out hole (see News Release dated November 17, 2021). A headline intercept from this current release from hole P21-2336 of 16.51 g/t Au and 29.8 g/t Ag over 5.66m was drilled from the same pad 400 metres south from the drilling done in 2020. This was one of four drill holes that were oriented in easterly directions towards planned development, intercepting mineralization at an elevation that likely corresponds with the Big Missouri zone on the eastern side of the ridge.

The three additional holes were drilled towards the west following positive results in drill hole P21-2331 reported on November 17, 2021. The drill holes intercepted anomalous gold mineralization at several elevations confirming the southward extension of the Day Zone into this area of very limited previous exploration. The 400 metre gap between these holes and the 2021 drill holes is an area of very high potential for future exploration.

Five drill holes (2380-2384) were completed from pad Day-5 that is located at a lower elevation on the western side of the ridge. These short holes were aimed towards high grade intercepts from last year and yielded additional high-grade intercepts as well as additional geological and structural information that is required to properly interpret this relatively new area of high-grade mineralization.

Figure 1 – Illustration of Ascot drilling at the Day Zone to date. Drill holes from 2021 are shown in red while drill traces from 2020 are in black.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6b5868de-cab4-49de-bfde-119b32dc2c0e

Table 1 – Day Zone drill results

Note: The orientation of mineralization in this area is not sufficiently well understood to predict true width.

Drilling at the Boneyard and Woodbine

Earlier in the 2021 drill season, Ascot started surface drilling at lower elevations in the area west of the Premier deposit and near the mill building (see News Releases dated July 8, 2021, August 9, 2021, and November 17, 2021). Following up on the previously reported 50 metre step-out hole to the west of the existing Northern Light resource which intercepted 21.13 g/t Au over 7.0m in hole P21-2320, the final drill hole of the 2021 campaign, hole P21-2387, yielded a high-grade intercept approximately 25 metres to the east. This is another area with high potential for additional resources close to planned infrastructure.

In 2020, the Company drilled nine exploration holes at the Woodbine target to the west of the Premier mill, successfully intercepting high-grade gold mineralization (see News Release dated January 26, 2021). Ascot established a new drill pad in 2021 in order to test gold in soil anomalies at higher elevations that had previously remained untested. Drill hole P21-2332 intercepted anomalous gold at two principal elevations with the lower split into three different zones. The higher intercept is a new zone of mineralization whereas the lower zones roughly align with mineralization that was intercepted last year approximately 200 metres to the southeast. The geology and structure at the Woodbine prospect will require additional work to fully assess its potential. Due to the logistics of operating in the very steep terrain, the decision was made to defer additional work at Woodbine until better access for safe operations can be established.

Table 2 – Woodbine and Boneyard drill results

Note: True widths are likely between 70–90% of reported intervals in hole 2387. There is insufficient data to determine likely true widths for drill hole 2332.

Table 3 – Drill pad locations

Qualified Person

Lawrence Tsang, P.Geo., the Company’s Senior Geologist 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. 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.

About Ascot Resources Ltd.

Ascot is a Canadian-based junior exploration and development company focused on re-starting the past-producing Premier gold mine, located in British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle. 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.