Minera Alamos Inc. (TSX-V:MAI) is pleased to report the second round of results from its Phase 1 drill program at the Santana gold project, Sonora, Mexico. The 2018 drill program is the first exploration drilling to be conducted at Santana since 2011. The new holes drilled were intended to evaluate the southwest extension of the Nicho main zone which was previously intersected by Hole S118-116 – see news release “Minera Alamos Drills 93.5 Metres of 0.65 g/t Gold from Surface at Santana Project” dated October 10, 2018. All drill holes analyzed to date continue to encounter zones of disseminated gold mineralization.   

Drilling Highlights:

• Hole S18-117 – 80.4 m of 1.05 g/t Au
• Hole S18-118 – 8.0 m of 1.0 g/t Au; and 24.5 m of 0.81 g/t Au

“The recent drill results continue to demonstrate the potential for growth of the mineralization contained within the Nicho deposit and we expect these results to have a positive impact on the ongoing pit design.” stated Darren Koningen, CEO of Minera Alamos.  “While we continue to expand the footprint of the Nicho zone we also look forward to pending drill results from new areas to the north of the proposed open pit”.

Holes S18-117 (60-degree inclination) and S18-118 (45-degree inclination) were step-out holes designed to further assess the southwest extensions of the main Nicho zone (see Figure 1). Hole S18-117 returned 80.4m of 1.05 g/t gold starting approximately 10 m below surface. The application of a typical open pit heap leach cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t results in 42 m of mineralization containing approximately 1.96 g/t gold (see Table 1). Hole S18-118 returned several intervals of disseminated gold mineralization including 8 m of 1.0 g/t gold from surface and a broader 24.5m of 0.81 g/t gold starting 48m down hole. The results from these two holes not only expand the mineralization to the southwest but demonstrate that Nicho remains open for further expansion.  

Hole S18-119 was positioned further southwest along the mineralized topographic ridge that hosts the Nicho gold mineralization. The hole passed through a large interval of porphyritic andesite similar to that of the host rock for holes S18‑116/117/118 with multiple zones of gold mineralization as listed in Table 1.  The data confirms that this lithological unit appears to remain open and addition drilling has been targeted in this area.    

The Phase 1 drilling program has now concluded with the completion of ten holes totalling approximately 1500 m.  The remaining holes yet to be reported include further testing of the southwest extensions of the Nicho deposit (see Figure 1) as well as areas to the north of the Nicho zone. Planning of the Phase 2 drill program will begin once the remaining drilling results have been received and interpreted.

Table 1 – Mineralized intervals from 2018 Santana Project drill program

Notes:

1. Grades/widths of mineralized intervals represent complete “from” “to” drill depths as shown.
2. All holes were drilled at 45-60 degree inclinations designed to be roughly perpendicular to the estimated dip of mineralized structures.  Based on current understanding of the geological structures, true widths of the mineralized zones are expected to be 80-90% or greater of the drill widths outlined in the table above.
3. Grade/width of composite intervals is a total of all mineralized intervals that have gold grades equal to or in excess of “typical” open-pit mining heap leach cut-off grades of 0.15 g/t gold.

Assay results are pending from the remaining four holes; the results, as well as additional geological interpretations, will be released as they are received over the coming weeks. All diamond drill samples were collected by Minera Alamos personnel including the Company’s exploration geologists. Drill core samples were cut in half and divided into 1-2 m intervals. One half of the sample was bagged for analysis and the remaining half was logged by Minera Alamos personnel and stored for future reference. Blanks, duplicates, and standards were randomly inserted with the samples sent for analysis as part of the normal QA/QC procedures.

All samples were prepared and analyzed for gold using fire assaying with AA/gravimetric finish. All samples were sent for sample preparation at the ALS-Chemex facility in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Mr. Darren Koningen, P. Eng., Minera Alamos’ CEO, is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this press release under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Koningen has supervised the preparation of, and has approved the scientific and technical disclosures in this news release.

About Minera Alamos

Minera Alamos is an advanced-stage exploration and development company with a growing portfolio of high-quality Mexican assets, including the La Fortuna open-pit gold project in Durango with positive PEA completed, the Santana open-pit heap-leach development project in Sonora with test mining and processing completed and the Guadalupe de Los Reyes open-pit gold-silver project in Sinaloa with mine planning in progress.