Drilling Continues To Outline Gold Mineralization In Multiple Shears Extending Below The Wenot Pit

TORONTO - Omai Gold Mines Corp. reported additional results from the drilling program underway to test below the past-producing Wenot pit at the Omai gold project in Guyana. All fifteen holes completed this year, testing the depth extension of Wenot, successfully intersected multiple near-vertical gold mineralized shears along a 1.55 km strike.

Elaine Ellingham, CEO, said, “With over 35 years in exploration, I truly appreciate projects like Omai with great potential for significant discoveries. The additional strong results released today, further support our work towards an initial NI 43-101 resource at Wenot. With our independent qualified person (“QP”) commencing shortly, our team will be freed up to focus on the exploration plans through to mid-2022. There are a number of very prospective targets for additional gold deposits on the Omai property, for example at Fennell, with an unmined historic resource. We also see several exploration targets that hold potential for significant near-surface gold deposits that could accelerate the overall development of the project. We will be initiating work on these other exploration targets starting in November and on Fennell early in the new year.”

The geology and ore controls at Wenot are mostly understood. The full 1.7 km long E-W axis of the pit follows the Wenot Shear Corridor, a broad 200 to 350 m wide zone of deformation which has been subjected to both shearing and compression. It straddles the contact between a series of largely andesitic to dioritic volcanic and intrusive rocks on the north, and meta-sedimentary rocks on the south.

The Wenot Corridor was the focus of several phases of crustal deformation that propagated multiple sub-vertical shears that were subsequently intruded by felsic to intermediate dikes of different generations and characteristics, which have been deformed, hydrothermally altered, and veined, to varying degrees. These dikes appear to have been more susceptible than the surrounding host rocks to brittle fracturing and alteration, especially along their margins. During successive deformation events, this brittle fracturing has facilitated mineralizing events, resulting in gold being deposited within a stockwork of quartz-ankerite veins and veinlets, as well as in quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration halos surrounding the veins and dikes.

Visible gold has been seen in almost every Wenot hole drilled this year. Although this accounts for some of the high gold values, gold mineralization within the alteration halos, as well as in small, less conspicuous quartz-carbonate veins and veinlets will be significant contributors to the gold resource at Wenot.

In hole 21ODD-022, at the western end of the pit, gold-rich zones were unexpectedly intersected on the northern flank or possibly outside of the known shear corridor. These zones may be splays similar to NW trending zones that appear to extend around the western side of the Fennell pit. In this area, a few historic holes encountered wide and higher-grade gold mineralization, and warrant further exploration.

The current drill program commenced in February, with the primary objective of evaluating the potential for a significant gold deposit under the Wenot pit. This 1.7 km by 0.5 km pit produced approximately 1.4 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.5 g/t Au between 1993 and 20022. Some previous drill holes had tested below the pit bottom during the historical evaluation of Wenot, providing indications that the mineralization continued at depth.

Fifteen holes have been completed this year under the Wenot pit, with one hole currently in progress (21ODD-026).Drilling accelerated with the addition of a second drill in July, with a total of 8,846m drilled to date in 2021. Holes 21ODD-024 and 025 have been completed and samples have been shipped to Actlabs in Georgetown, with results pending.