Pilot Gold Intersects 4.32 G/T Au Over 10.7 Meters

VANCOUVER, BC - Pilot Gold Inc. reported the second tranche of drill results from its inaugural drill program at the Goldstrike property in southwest Utah. The Goldstrike property hosts a past-producing gold mine within an eight km-long corridor of gold mineralization that is largely untested and ready to be drilled off.

Goldstrike is located in the eastern Great Basin, immediately adjacent to the Utah/Nevada Border, and is a Carlin-style gold system, similar in many ways to the prolific deposits located along Nevada's Carlin trend. Like Kinsley Mountain and Newmont's Long Canyon deposit, Goldstrike represents part of a growing number of Carlin-type systems located off the main Carlin and Cortez trends in largely underexplored parts of the Great Basin. The exploration potential over the entire Goldstrike property is exceptional.

Pilot Gold acquired 100% of the project in 2014, and spent the past 16 months compiling data and prioritizing drill targets. The maiden drill program intersected gold mineralization in all areas tested over a 5 km-long corridor, indicating that gold is widespread, predictable and relatively structurally simple.

Highlights from the latest round of drilling include: 18.3 meters grading 2.72 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) in PGS012, including 10.7 meters grading 4.32 g/t 71.6 meters grading 0.48 g/t Au in PGS013, 27.4 meters grading 0.66 g/t Au in PGS016.

"I am extremely pleased with the results of our maiden program at Goldstrike. We have intercepted primarily oxide gold mineralization over a 5km-long corridor, and we believe these results support our exploration objective to define a 2 to 3 million ounce gold system at Goldstrike," stated Dr. Moira Smith, Chief Geologist, Pilot Gold. "Our strategy employed compilation and 3D analysis of a wealth of historic data, detailed geologic mapping and analysis, and modeling of geology and historic mineralization. Combined with data from the recently-completed drill program, this information will be used in the coming months to quantify the gold endowment in the main mine trend."

Results from the first 10 holes released, December 1, 2015, tested a regional unconformity down-dip to the north of a cluster of historic pits over a strike length of 1.2 km on the east end of the Goldstrike mine trend, and included: 39.6 meters grading 1.01 g/t in hole PGS003; 41.1 meters grading 0.84 g/t Au in PGS004; 22.9 meters grading 1.68 g/t Au in PGS008 and 36.6 meters grading 1.06 g/t Au in PGS010.

The 8 drill holes from this second tranche of results tested targets in a variety of settings along 2 km of the western portion of the mine trend. Two of the holes ended in mineralization, such that the main intercept length and grade reported represent incomplete tests of the mineralized zone. Of note are the higher-grade intercept in PGS012, hosted entirely within an altered dyke of unknown strike extent, and a long intercept of mineralization in PGS013, representing the first test of a previously unidentified area of mineralization located below the historic Moosehead Pit.

Pilot Gold expects to resume drilling in March to focus on extending and defining mineralization along the main gold trend. Surface geological mapping and prospecting of the large property is ongoing, with a number of new targets identified.

Pilot Gold now has two Carlin-type, sediment-hosted projects in mining-friendly Nevada (Kinsley Mountain) and Utah (Goldstrike). The Pilot Gold team has proven experience and success in discovering Carlin-style deposits off the main trends, having advanced Long Canyon in Nevada, now a multi-million ounce, high-grade oxide, open-pit deposit owned by Newmont.

In August 2014, Pilot Gold acquired Cadillac Mining, gaining control of 100% of the Goldstrike project. Since the acquisition, Pilot Gold has compiled a digital database of drill holes (+1,500), blast hole samples (+100,000) and historic rock and soil samples, and has constructed a 3D model of geology and mineralization. 2014 and 2015 fieldwork included collection of an additional 1,384 soil samples and 294 rock samples, staking of additional claims and detailed mapping. Gold mineralization is primarily located along a regional, early Tertiary (Eocene) unconformity that is virtually untested under shallow cover where it extends downdip of mineralized surface exposures, which are present throughout the entire Goldstrike tenure.

The Goldstrike Mine produced approximately 209,000 ounces of gold with an average grade of 1.2 g/t gold from an open pit heap leach operation between 1988 and 1994. There is currently an extensive exploration database, a large number of shallow drill holes with unmined oxide gold intercepts, and numerous untested gold targets. Pilot Gold's exploration strategy at Goldstrike is focused on identifying additional areas of mineralization proximal to, and downdip of, the historic pits, under shallow cover.