i-80 Gold drills 515.3 g/t silver over 28.3 metres at Ruby Hill, Nevada

i-80 Gold Corp. [IAU-TSX; IAUX-NYSE] discovered high-grade, silver-rich, polymetallic carbonate replacement deposit mineralization in drilling at the Hilltop target on the company’s 100%-owned Ruby Hill property in Eureka County, Nevada.

Highlight results from initial drilling at the Hilltop target:

iRH22-25 (lower horizon) – four intercepts returned 671.0 g/t silver, 7.7 % zinc and 26.4% lead over 0.9 metres (19.6 oz/ton silver – 3.0 ft); 238.8 g/t silver, 11.0% zinc and 9.0% lead over 9.4 metres (7.0 oz/ton silver – 31.0 ft); 469.5 g/t silver, 11.8% zinc and 18.2% lead over 2.1 metres (13.7 oz/ton silver – 7.0 ft); 1,006.0 g/t silver, 10.9% zinc, 27.7% lead and 1.6% copper over 0.9 metres (29.4 oz/ton silver – 3.0 ft).

iRH22-43 (upper horizon) returned 515.3 g/t silver, 28.9% lead, 10.5% zinc and 0.9 g/t gold over 28.3 metres (15.0 oz/ton silver – 92.5 ft). Additionally, two historic holes in the Hilltop target area contain significant intercepts:

HC1427 (lower horizon) returned 769.2 g/t silver, 12.4% zinc, 13.9% lead, 1.0% copper over 5.8 metres (22.4 oz/ton silver – 19.0 ft).

BRH-22 (upper horizon) returned 929.7 g/t silver and 21.6% lead over 4.6 metres (27.1 oz/ton silver – 15.0 ft).

The Hilltop target is one of five conceptual exploration targets drilled in the 2022 program at Ruby Hill and was identified for its potential to host polymetallic (silver-lead-zinc) mineralization. The new zone of mineralization is located approximately 400 metres southwest of the poly-metallic Blackjack Zone and immediately south of the Archimedes pit and the planned portal that the Company is advancing for construction.

Mineralization in the Hilltop target consists of polymetallic CRD in the form of massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralization containing high-grade silver (including 515.3 g/t silver over 28.3 metres and 929.7 g/t silver over 4.6 metres) and has been intersected in two areas within the Hilltop target. Definition and expansion drilling is underway, and the horizon remains open along strike and at depth. Mineralization has been intersected in additional holes 50 metres west of iRH22-43, for which assays remain pending.

The company is completing a large-scale surface (+20,000 metre) drill program at Ruby Hill for both deposit delineation and exploration purposes. Definition and expansion drilling is focused on the initial areas planned to be mined including the 426 Zone and the deeper Ruby Deeps Zone where recently released results include 19.8 g/t gold over 33.2 metres and 7.1 g/t gold over 78.6 metres in the Ruby Deeps deposit and 15.6 g/t gold over 12.2 metres and 13.9 g/t gold over 13.4 metres in the 426 deposit. Multiple gold and polymetallic exploration targets are also being drilled.

“At current metal prices, the rock value of the initial drill intercepts in the Hilltop Zone represent some of the highest-grade mineralization identified, on a per tonne basis, to-date at Ruby Hill,” stated Ewan Downie, CEO of i-80. “Given its proximity to the underground infrastructure planned in 2023, this zone is expected to fit in to our future development and mine plans such that we ultimately expect to produce gold, silver and base metals.”

It is expected that refractory mineralization from the planned underground operation at Ruby Hill will be trucked to the company’s Lone Tree facility, once operational, and oxide mineralization can be processed on-site at the existing heap leach pad, or at the existing leach plant, once refurbished. The Company is commissioning a study that will contemplate retrofitting the leach plant, once oxide mineralization is depleted, to a flotation plant that would recover base metals.