Labrador Gold Announces New Discovery With Assays of 106 g/t Au and 20.4g/t Ag at Fire Ant Zone, Hopedale Project

TORONTO, Feb. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) ("LabGold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of the 2023 exploration program at its 100% owned Hopedale Project in Labrador. The district scale Hopedale property covers a 43km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt which has characteristics typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison.

Highlights

• Fire Ant gold occurrence
  • high-grade gold up to 106g/t with 20.4g/t Ag in rock grab samples
  • mineralization traced over approximately 200 metres strike length
• Rusty Ridge and Last Resort nickel occurrences
  • anomalous Ni area at Rusty Ridge extended to 550m
  • rock samples up to 0.28% Ni and soil samples up to 0.23% Ni
  • Identified a new anomalous nickel area (Last Resort) over a strike length of 1.6km coincident with a significant magnetic high
• Jasmine zinc occurrence
  • anomalous zinc zone identified over 400m at Jasmine with values up to 0.97% Zn in rock and 0.22% in soil
  • Jasmine also shows high copper and gold values indicating potential for volcanogenic style mineralization
• Thurber Boundary copper occurrence
  • highest copper in soil value (3,493 ppm) found on the property to date identified in a 400m anomalous trend
• Eight occurrences identified on the Hopedale project to date reflecting multiple mineralization styles including orogenic gold, magmatic Ni sulphide, copper-silver vein and Zn-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide
  

Significant gold and silver in rock grab samples was found in the Rusty Ridge area with a high of 106g/t Au and 20.4 g/t Ag, 3.7g/t Au and 4.9g/t Ag and 2.9g/t Au and 4.7g/t Ag. This newly discovered mineralization named the Fire Ant occurrence, is hosted in gossanous felsic volcanic rocks close to the contact with ultramafic volcanic rocks and has been traced over a strike length of approximately 200 metres.

Work during 2022 found significant nickel anomalies in soil and rock at an area named Rusty Ridge. The anomalies occur in ultramafic rocks indicating potential for magmatic nickel style mineralization. One of the goals of the 2023 exploration program was to follow up and extend these anomalies. A total of 14 grab samples of rock assayed over 0.1% Ni and included values up to 0.28% Ni while nickel values in soil up to 2,271ppm (0.23%) show a significant northeast-southwest trend extending the anomalous area over 550m. Approximately 1.2km south of Rusty Ridge, anomalous nickel in soil samples was outlined over a 1.6km strike length and is coincident with a significant magnetic high. Six of the samples assayed over 1,000ppm (0.1%) Ni with a high of 2,271ppm (0.23%) Ni. Limited rock sampling showed assays of 0.28%, 0.17% and 0.16% Ni in grab samples in this area named Last Resort.

The highest copper value in soil (3,493ppm) on the property to date was recorded at Thurber Boundary, where it forms a northeast-southwest trend over approximately 500 metres. The location of the soil anomaly is in a similar stratigraphic location, close to the contact of mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks, as the high grade (3.31% Cu over 0.76m and 1.55% Cu over 1m in channel samples) Kaapak copper occurrence approximately 3 kilometres to the south.

In addition to the copper, nickel and gold found during the exploration program, anomalous zinc was found in soil samples (up to 0.22%) and rock (up to 0.97%) in the Jasmine area. The anomalous zone extends over approximately 400 metres and is coincident with a contact highlighted by a change from magnetic high to magnetic low. The Jasmine area is also known to have high copper and gold values indicating potential for volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits.

"Our 2023 exploration program over the district scale Hopedale property confirmed the significant prospectivity of the Rusty Ridge area for nickel associated with ultramafic rocks and identified a new area, Last Resort, with similar potential for magmatic sulphide type mineralization," said Roger Moss, President and CEO of Labrador Gold. "The highest grade gold found on the property to date, 106g/t Au and 20.4g/t Ag, was sampled at a new occurrence, Fire Ant, in the Rusty Ridge area and brings the number of significant gold occurrences on the property to five. Potential for zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide was identified at Jasmine as well as a significant copper in soil anomaly at Thurber Boundary. Work conducted by LabGold at Hopedale demonstrates that the Florence Lake greenstone belt contains many of the same mineralization styles seen in some of the most productive greenstone belts elsewhere in the world."

Figure 1. Location of the nickel, copper, gold and zinc occurrences on the Hopedale Property.

Figure 2. Highlights of nickel in soil and rock samples over Rusty Ridge and Last Resort Occurrences.

Figure 3. Location of high-grade gold mineralization at Fire Ant occurrence.

Table 1. Highlights of rock samples assays from 2023 exploration program.
Note that grab samples are selective samples and may not be representative of the
mineralization found on the property. n/a = not assayed.

QA/QC

Rock samples comprise grab samples, which are selective samples and not necessarily representative of mineralization found on the property. Samples were securely stored prior to shipping to analytical labs for assay. Rock samples were assayed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory in Springdale, an ISO/IEC17025 accredited laboratory for gold by standard 30g fire assay with atomic absorption finish as well as by ICP-OES for an additional 34 elements. Additional samples were sent to SGS Canada for whole rock assays by borate fusion XRF and ICP-MS/AES. Soil samples were submitted to SGS for gold by standard 30g fire assay with atomic absorption finish as well as ICP-MS for an additional 48 elements. The company submits blanks and certified reference standards amounting to 5% of each sample batch.

Qualified Person

Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., President and CEO of LabGold, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this release.

The Company gratefully acknowledges the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Natural Resources' 2023 Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) Program and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's Critical Minerals Assistance for its financial support for exploration of the Hopedale property.

About Labrador Gold
Labrador Gold is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in Eastern Canada.

Labrador Gold's flagship property is the 100% owned Kingsway project in the Gander area of Newfoundland. The four licenses comprising the Kingsway project cover approximately 12km of the Appleton Fault Zone which is associated with numerous gold occurrences in the region. Infrastructure in the area is excellent located just 18km from the town of Gander with road access to the project, nearby electricity and abundant local water. LabGold is drilling a projected 100,000 metres targeting high-grade epizonal gold mineralization along the Appleton Fault Zone with encouraging results.

The Hopedale property covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Work to date by Labrador Gold show gold anomalies in rocks, soils and lake sediments over a 3 kilometre section of the northern portion of the Florence Lake greenstone belt. Four gold occurrences lie along this trend, three of which Thurber North, TD500 and Thurber South were discovered by LabGold. Anomalous gold in soil and lake sediment samples also occur over approximately 40 km along the southern section of the greenstone belt. LabGold's recent exploration has also demonstrated the potential for the critical metals copper, nickel and cobalt in the belt.

The Company has 170,009,979 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.

For more information please contact:
Roger Moss, President and CEO     Tel: 416-704-8291

Or visit our website at: www.labradorgold.com

Twitter: @LabGoldCorp

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those factors discussed in filings made by us with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such as actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of gold and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

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