Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX: EQX) (NYSE American: EQX) is pleased to announce positive drill results from the Piaba Underground target and the Genipapo target at the Company’s 100%-owned Aurizona Gold Mine in Brazil.

“The 2020 Piaba underground drill program delivered exceptional results, with 96% of the holes intersecting significant gold mineralization. Drilling extended over 3 km of strike of the currently 4 km-long Piaba deposit and tested depths up to 1 km below surface,” said Scott Heffernan, EVP Exploration for Equinox Gold. “These results further strengthen the Company’s conviction that the Piaba underground deposit presents a substantial opportunity to both extend the mine life and increase annual production at Aurizona. Drilling at the Genipapo target also continues to demonstrate the potential to define open-pit, near-surface saprolite resources that could further extend the Aurizona mine life.

“The Company has planned a $7.3 million exploration program for 2021 at Aurizona, including 49,000 metres of drilling, with the objective of further expanding the Piaba resource and advancing the numerous high-priority, high-potential near-mine and regional targets in the Aurizona district. In addition, a prefeasibility study is underway to assess the potential to operate an underground mine concurrent with the existing open-pit mine, with completion of the study targeted for late 2021.”

Piaba Drill Highlights¹ (Figure 1)

• 5.56 grams per tonne gold over 24.0 metres including 9.85 g/t Au over 11.0 m in D696
• 96.8 g/t Au over 1.0 m in D698
• 4.18 g/t Au over 11.0 m and 6.15 g/t Au over 11.0 m including 55.3 g/t Au over 1.0 m in D708
• 2.58 g/t Au over 19.2 m in D713
• 8.24 g/t Au over 6.0 m and 3.43 g/t Au over 15.0 m in D722
• 3.62 g/t Au over 9.0 m and 4.42 g/t Au over 11.0 m in D730
• 4.35 g/t Au over 37.0 m including 7.16 g/t Au over 10.0 m in D737
• 9.10 g/t Au over 6.0 m in D742

Genipapo Drill Highlights¹ (Figure 3)

• 1.43 g/t Au over 25.0 m and 1.41 g/t Au over 90.0 m including 11.0 g/t Au over 4.0 m in P630
• 3.15 g/t Au over 19.0 m including 6.22 g/t Au over 9.0 m in P631
• 1.10 g/t Au over 20.0 m in P638
• 1.63 g/t Au over 17.0 m in P650
• 17.7 g/t Au over 5.0 m in P662

For a complete table of Piaba UG drill results, click here
For a complete table of Genipapo drill results, click here

Piaba Underground Deposit

A total of 23,916 m in 52 holes (Figure 1) were drilled in 2020 to increase confidence in the continuity of mineralization, expand the underground mineral resources and upgrade the classification of the resources from Inferred to Indicated to support completion of the prefeasibility study. Every hole intersected gold mineralization and 47 of the 49 holes, for which assays have been received thus far, intersected significant gold mineralization. The 2020 drill program tested the deposit to depths of 1,000 m below surface and results to date have shown that the deposit remains open at depth (Figure 2).

Figure 1 – Piaba Underground Drilling Highlights

Figure 2 – Piaba Deposit Long Section (looking north)

Genipapo Deposit

Genipapo, located approximately 1 km east northeast of the existing Piaba open-pit mine, is the most advanced of three targets including Micote and Mestre Chico that potentially host a series of smaller, near-surface deposits (Figure 3). Three phases of reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling (5,489 m in 74 holes) were completed at Genipapo in 2020 to follow up on drilling discoveries made in 2018. Results continue to demonstrate the potential to develop Genipapo as open-pit feed for the Piaba mill. Results of the first two phases of drilling (3,331 m in 50 holes) are included in this press release, with results from the third phase of work pending.

Figure 3 – Genipapo Drilling Highlights

About Equinox Gold

Equinox Gold is a Canadian mining company with seven operating gold mines and construction underway at an eighth site, a multi-million-ounce gold reserve base and a clear path to achieve one million ounces of annual gold production from a pipeline of development and expansion projects. Equinox Gold operates entirely in the Americas, with two properties in the United States, one in Mexico and five in Brazil. Equinox Gold’s common shares are listed on the TSX and the NYSE American.

Qualified Person and Disclosure Statement

Scott Heffernan, M.Sc., P.Geo., the Company’s EVP Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. Drill composites for underground targets were calculated using cut-off values of 1.0 g/t, 3.0 g/t or 10.0 g/t gold as specified in the drill table and contain no more than 3 metres of internal waste. Drill composites for open-pit targets were calculated using cut-off values of 0.3 g/t, 1.0 g/t or 5.0 g/t gold as specified in the drill table and contain no more than 5 metres of internal waste. Drill intersections are calculated using uncut assays and are reported as drilled thicknesses. True widths of the mineralized intervals are interpreted to be 60 to 90 percent of the reported lengths depending on the angle of intersection of the drill hole relative to the mineralized zone. The Company maintains a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program at Aurizona that follows industry best practices and is consistent with QA/QC protocols used by each of the Company’s exploration and development projects. All samples were submitted to ALS Chemex in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for sample preparation. Sample pulps were then sent to ALS Chemex in Lima, Peru for geochemical analysis for gold by fire assay of a 30-gram charge with an Atomic Absorption finish (AA) and for a 33 multi-element geochemical suite by 4-acid digestion and Inductively-Coupled Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Samples with AA gold values over 10.0 g/t are re-assayed by Screen Metallics fire assay. Control samples (accredited standards, blanks and duplicate samples at the field and preparation stages) were inserted on a regular basis. Results were monitored upon receipt of assays.