i-80 Gold drills 25.5 g/t gold over 5.5 metres at Granite Creek, Nevada

i-80 Gold Corp.‘s [IAU-TSX; IAUCF-OTCQX] continued drilling has been successful in further delineating a new high-grade horizon, the South Pacific zone (SPZ), at the 100%-owned Granite Creek property located in Humboldt county, Nevada.

Surface drilling is targeting the expansion of mineralization at depth below, and to the north of, the mine workings at Granite Creek. The high-grade results received to date from SPZ have exceeded expectations and suggest potential to substantively expand mineral resources on the property.

To date, results have been received for the first of 11 holes of 16 drill holes now completed to test the SPZ target with all drill holes that have reached the target returning impressive gold grades and widths of mineralization. Owing to the early success of the expansion drilling, the 2022 program has been expanded to about 30,000 m of drilling and additional drill rigs have been added both on surface and underground.

Highlight results from SPZ drilling include 17.2 g/t gold over 3.8 metres and 22.0 g/t gold over 3.4 metres in hole iGS21-07 and 10.5 g/t gold over 3.8 and 8.0 g/t gold over 4.8 metres in hole iGS21-08.

Hole iGS21-10 returned 17.2 g/t gold over 4.2 metres. Hole iGS21-1 returned 25.5 g/t gold over 5.5 metres. Hole iGS21-12 returned 11.0 g/t gold over 9.1 metres, including 15.5 g/t gold over 5.5 metres.

Drilling of the SPZ has been elevated to the primary exploration target on the property with multiple drill rigs completing delineation drilling as well as stepout drilling designed to continue to expand mineralization along strike and at depth where the deposit remains open. It is anticipated that SPZ will be included in a resource update following the 2022 drill campaign.

“The consistency of high-grade gold mineralization in the South Pacific zone is truly impressive as the ongoing drill program continues to demonstrate the significant upside opportunity at Granite Creek,” stated Ewan Downie, CEO. “Including programs at Ruby Hill and McCoy-Cove in 2022, we expect to drill in excess of 50,000 metres in 2022 with a goal of expanding our already enviable resource base.”

It is expected that refractory mineralization mined from the underground operation at Granite Creek will initially be trucked to Twin Creeks for processing, pursuant to the agreement with NGM, until such time that the company’s Lone Tree facility is operational.

The Granite Creek property is strategically located proximal to the Nevada Gold Mines Turquoise Ridge and Twin Creeks mines at the north end of the Battle Mountain-Eureka trend, at its intersection with the Getchell gold belt in Nevada.