Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (TSX:KL) (NYSE:KL) (ASX:KLA) today announced new high-grade results from the ongoing underground drilling programs at the Fosterville Mine in Victoria, Australia. Recent underground infill drilling targeting the down-plunge extensions of Swan continues to return results that provide confirmation of the geological model and continuity of high-grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization on the Swan Fault.

Results from 47 new drill holes, totaling 17,169 m, continue to return intervals with exceptionally high grades and visible-gold outside of the December 31, 2017 Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources in the Swan Zone. Recent drilling demonstrates the continuous nature of high-grade, visible-gold bearing quartz veins with substantial widths covering a down-dip extent of approximately 75 m, approximately 100 m down-plunge of current Mineral Reserves. In addition, drilling has confirmed that high-grade, visible-gold mineralization continues to be prevalent at least 200 m down-plunge from current Mineral Reserves.

Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: “Fosterville continues to generate outstanding results, both from exploration and operating activities. The infill drill results released today clearly demonstrate the continuity of wide, exceptionally high‑grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization covering 75 m down dip, and extending 100 m down-plunge from current Swan Mineral Reserves. We also continue to generate encouraging drill results further down-plunge, with the release of multiple high-grade, visible-gold bearing drill intercepts in a zone extending up to 200 m down-plunge of current Reserves. These intercepts are significant as they increase our confidence that the Swan mineralization continues for a significant distance down-plunge. Today’s drill results will be incorporated into our December 31, 2018 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates, which we expect will include a substantial increase in Swan Mineral Reserves.

“Among other key areas of exploration activity, we recently commenced underground drilling to test the down-plunge potential at Harrier South, following the establishment of an underground drill platform. Harrier South is a high-potential target, where earlier drill results demonstrated a trend of improving grades at depth with increasing amounts of visible gold, not dissimilar to drill results in the Lower Phoenix system prior to the discovery of the Swan Zone. In addition, we are also planning to accelerate resource definition drilling at Robbin’s Hill, where we have also encountered an increasing grade profile with visible gold at depth, and continue work on our regional exploration program, with multiple targets being evaluated.”

Swan Drilling Program

Results from the ongoing underground resource drilling program targeting Swan continue to demonstrate high-grade continuity down-plunge from current Mineral Reserves.

High-Grade, Visible-Gold Bearing Intercepts >1000 gram-m include:

• 598 g/t Au over 6.4 m (ETW 5.8 m), including 1,435 g/t Au over 2.65 m (ETW 2.4 m) in hole UDH2643A;
• 625 g/t Au over 3.6 m (ETW 3.3 m), including 6,123 g/t Au over 0.35 m (ETW 0.3 m) in UDH2483;
• 218 g/t Au over 5.6 m (ETW 5.2 m), including 730 g/t Au over 1.65 m (ETW 1.5 m) in UDH2742; and
• 144 g/t Au over 16.5 m (ETW 14.4 m), including 942 g/t Au over 2.05 m (ETW 1.8 m) in UDH2591A.

High-Grade, Visible-Gold Bearing Intercepts >100 to 1000 gram-m include:

• 251 g/t Au over 3.6 m (ETW 3.2 m), including 562 g/t Au over 1.6 m (ETW 1.4 m) in UDH2485;
• 95.3 g/t Au over 4.6 m (ETW 4.1 m), including 646 g/t Au over 0.65 m (ETW 0.6 m) in UDH2502;
• 105 g/t Au over 5.2 m (ETW 4.4 m), including 1,087 g/t Au over 0.35 m (ETW 0.3 m) in UDH2594;
• 83.9 g/t Au over 5.9 m (ETW 5.4 m), including 333 g/t Au over 1.4 m (ETW 1.2 m) in UDH2595;
• 65.5 g/t Au over 4.4 m (ETW 4.2 m), including 119 g/t Au over 2.2 m (ETW 2.1 m) in UDH2600;
• 95.2 g/t Au over 8.7 m (ETW 7.5 m), including 564 g/t Au over 1.4 m (ETW 1.2 m) in UDH2604;
• 35.3 g/t Au over 5.3 m (ETW 4.9 m), including 100 g/t Au over 1.7 m (ETW 1.6 m) in UDH2631;
• 31.1 g/t Au over 9.6 m (ETW 8.7 m), including 237 g/t Au over 0.9 m (ETW 0.8 m) in UDH2634;
• 74.9 g/t Au over 2.2 m (ETW 2.0 m) in UDH2641;
• 111 g/t Au over 3.15 m (ETW 3.0 m) in UDH2642;
• 38.7 g/t Au over 6.9 m (ETW 6.5 m), including 143 g/t Au over 1.7m (ETW 1.6 m) in UDH2742A;
• 26.0 g/t Au over 7.0 m (ETW 6.3 m), including 49.0 g/t Au over 2.5m (ETW 2.2 m) in UDH2787;
• 52.8 g/t Au over 11.3 m (ETW 9.5 m), including 151 g/t Au over 3.45m (ETW 2.9 m) in UDH2799;
• 246 g/t Au over 5.3 m (ETW 3.8 m), including 2,590 g/t Au over 0.4 (ETW 0.3) in UDH2801;
• 9.7 g/t Au over 20.3 m (ETW 15.9 m), including 84.4 g/t Au over 1.6m (ETW 1.2 m) in UDH2802; and
• 59.7 g/t Au over 5.1 m (ETW 3.7 m), including 180 g/t Au over 1.4m (ETW 1.0 m) in UDH2826.

All drill results are presented in Table 1 and all drill collars are listed in Table 2.
Abbreviations include: Gram-m: gold grade x estimated true width; >: greater than

Since the September 19, 2018 Kirkland Lake Gold News Release, underground diamond drilling into Swan has continued to return encouraging results down-plunge from current Mineral Reserves (Figure 1). Reported drill results are from 47 holes (17,169 m), of which 20 contain visible-gold mineralization, and have >100 gram-m intercepts, with four of those intervals containing >1,000 gram-m (Figure 2). All reported drill results are outside the December 31, 2017 Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources and highlight the continued significant Mineral Reserve growth potential of Swan.

Continued infill drilling into the December 31, 2017 Swan Inferred Mineral Resource has confirmed the strong continuity of high-grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization to a distance of up to 200 m down-plunge of Mineral Reserves. Four intercepts are greater than 1,000 gram-m, with two of these results, 598 g/t Au over 6.4 m (ETW 5.8 m) in UDH2643A and 625 g/t Au over 3.6 m (ETW 3.3 m) in UDH2483, located 75 m and 100 m down-plunge from Mineral Reserves, respectively. A zone of extremely high-grade mineralization identified on the Swan Fault is coincident with the intersection of the Swan Fault with the Swan Footwall Splay Fault (Figures 3 & 4.). Eight of the nine >1,000 gram-m intercepts, reported on the Swan Fault since the September 19, 2018 Kirkland Lake Gold News Release, lie within 40 m of the interpreted intersection lineation position of these two faults, which plunges approximately 20° to the south.

In addition, four high-grade, visible-gold bearing intercepts on the Swan Fault are located between 150 m and 200 m down-plunge from current Mineral Reserves. These intercepts strongly support the results of previous drilling, including drill intercept UDH2494 (September 19, 2018 Kirkland Lake Gold News Release), in demonstrating the continuity of exceptionally high-grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization (>100 gram‑m) at least 200 m down-plunge of Mineral Reserves. Two >100 gram-m intercepts, 251 g/t Au over 3.6 m (ETW 3.2 m) from UDH2485 and 95.3 g/t Au over 4.6 m (ETW 4.1 m) from UDH2502, are located approximately 160 m and 200 m down-plunge from Mineral Reserves, respectively. The UDH2502 intercept at the 3895mRL is 1,265 m below surface and is now the deepest known drill hole intercept containing visible gold, 35 m deeper than previous recorded occurrences of visible gold.

Swan Footwall Splay Fault

The Swan Footwall Splay Fault is a recently identified mineralized footwall fault that emanates from and branches off the Swan Fault at approximately 6400mN and 4000mRL (Figures 3 & 4). Infill drilling and ongoing interpretation has further defined the Swan Footwall Splay Fault. Mineralized widths containing significant gold grades are typically largest on this fault immediately footwall to the Swan Fault. The interpreted Swan Footwall Splay Fault dips approximately 50°, is marginally steeper than the Swan Fault, and has been defined down to the 3825mRL at a maximum separation distance of 20 m from the Swan Fault.

Key Gold Intercepts:

• 79.4 g/t Au over 0.7 m (ETW 0.6 m) in hole UDH2497;
• 6.8 g/t Au over 4.6 m (ETW 3.7 m) in hole UDH2582;
• 4.8 g/t Au over 5.75 m (ETW 4.8 m) in hole UDH2594; and
• 8.8 g/t Au over 3.65 m (ETW 3.4 m) in hole UDH2702.

To view a PDF of the figures referenced in this News Release, visit the links below. 

[http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b3b06d77-918c-48c0-8cad-db725fbe8af6] – Figure 1

[http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5ca6f9a3-f1af-4ae4-9900-96e68599e6df] – Figure 2

[http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c410b77b-1a4e-467c-b5cd-f52911afaa66] – Figure 3

[http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b172cb54-2823-408a-805e-15cdc84c4760] – Figure 4

Qualified Persons

Troy Fuller, MAIG, Geology Manager, Fosterville Gold Mine, is a “qualified person” as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this News Release.

Drilling and Underground Sampling Assay QAQC

Kirkland Lake Gold has in place quality-control systems to ensure best practice in drilling, sampling and analysis of drill core. All diamond drill hole collars (Table 2) are accurately surveyed using a Leica TS16 Total Station instrument and down-hole deviations are measured by either electronic gyro or single-shot instruments.

Sampling consisted of diamond drill core that was either full core or half core sampled. Half core samples were cut longitudinally in half with a diamond saw; one-half of the drill core was sent to an independent laboratory for analysis and the other drill core half retained for reference. Sample pulps are returned from the assay laboratory for reference and future geological or metallurgical studies. Drill core sample intervals vary between 0.3 and 1.2m in length and were determined from logging of sulfide and visible gold to geological boundaries.

Samples containing visible-gold or considered likely to contain visible-gold were separated from sulfide gold samples and dispatched independently for assaying. At the laboratory “visible-gold” jobs were processed through a single pulverizer and material barren of gold (‘quartz wash’) was crushed before and after each sample to minimize the potential for gold to contaminate successive samples.

Assays are based on 25-gram charge fire assays. Mean grades are calculated using a variable lower grade cut-off (generally 2 g/t Au) and maximum 2 m internal dilution. No upper gold grade cut is applied to the data. However, during future Mineral Resource studies the requirement for assay top cutting will be assessed.

All samples were assayed at On Site Laboratories, an independent laboratory in Bendigo, Victoria. The facility is registered ISO 9001:2008 (CERT-C33510).

About Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. is a mid-tier gold producer operating in Canada and Australia that is on track to achieve significant production growth over the next three years, including target production of 740,000 – 800,000 ounces in 2019, 845,000 – 910,000 ounces in 2020 and 945,000 – 1,005,000 ounces in 2021. The production profile of the company is anchored by two high-grade, low-cost operations, including the Macassa Mine located in Northern Ontario and the Fosterville Mine located in the state of Victoria, Australia. Kirkland Lake Gold’s solid base of quality assets is complemented by district scale exploration potential, supported by a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.