Positive Drill Results From The Bahia Belt In Brazil

VANCOUVER - Equinox Gold Corp. reported on the 2021 exploration drilling in the 70-km-long greenstone belt in Bahia State, Brazil that hosts the Fazenda and Santa Luz gold mines (Bahia Belt). Exploration has identified multiple near-mine and regional discoveries that highlight growth potential in the Bahia Belt.

"The 2021 exploration program in the Bahia Belt has led to the discovery of significant gold mineralization at multiple targets within haulage distance to our existing mines," said Scott Heffernan, EVP Exploration. "Drilling at the Canto 2 target adjacent to our Fazenda Mine was particularly important, intersecting very high grades and clearly highlighting the potential for both open pit and underground resource growth and mine life extension at Fazenda. Equinox Gold also secured exploration permits covering an additional 323 square km, bringing the total land package in the Bahia Belt to nearly 1,300 square km covering the majority of this highly prospective but under explored greenstone belt.

"The 2022 exploration program is well underway and includes over 70,000 meters of drilling across targets ranging from early to advanced-stage exploration, a high-resolution airborne magnetic survey covering the entire Bahia Belt, and geologic mapping and geochemical sampling to further refine targets in advance of drilling."

Exploration targets in the Bahia Belt were identified by integrating multiple datasets including airborne geophysical surveys, geologic mapping, outcrop and soil sampling, and historical drilling. During 2021 Equinox Gold tested 17 targets throughout the Bahia Belt, drilling 56,918 meters ("m") in 479 diamond and reverse circulation ("RC") drill holes. Of the 479 holes, 372 intersected anomalous to ore-grade gold mineralization and of these, 126 intersected significant gold mineralization and identified several gold-mineralized systems close to Equinox Gold's Fazenda and Santa Luz mines.

The Canto 2 deposit was previously operated as a shallow open-pit mine and is directly adjacent to Equinox Gold's operating Fazenda open-pit and underground mine complex. A total of 12,212 m in 46 holes was drilled to test mineralization continuity along strike and up to 400 m below surface with the objective of increasing both open-pit and underground mineral resources and upgrading the existing resource classification from Inferred to Indicated. Every drill hole intersected economic-grade gold mineralization and several intersected newly identified bonanza grades including 69.0 g/t Au over 3.5 m and 7.53 g/t Au over 5.2 m in hole FBD010, 67.2 g/t Au over 4.0 m and 3.43 g/t Au over 17.4 m in hole FBD011, 50.8 g/t Au over 2.0 m in hole FBD013, and 3.31 g/t Au over 29.0 m in hole FBD040. Equinox Gold plans to undertake further exploration at Canto 2 in 2022 to further test expansion potential at depth and along strike.