Equinox announces positive drill results from Piaba Underground target

Equinox Gold announced positive drill results from the Piaba Underground target and the Genipapo target at the company's 100%-owned Aurizona Gold Mine in Brazil. "The 2020 Piaba underground drill program delivered exceptional results, with 96% of the holes intersecting significant gold mineralization. Drilling extended over 3 km of strike of the currently 4 km-long Piaba deposit and tested depths up to 1 km below surface," said Scott Heffernan, EVP Exploration for Equinox Gold. "These results further strengthen the Company's conviction that the Piaba underground deposit presents a substantial opportunity to both extend the mine life and increase annual production at Aurizona. Drilling at the Genipapo target also continues to demonstrate the potential to define open-pit, near-surface saprolite resources that could further extend the Aurizona mine life. "The Company has planned a $7.3 million exploration program for 2021 at Aurizona, including 49,000 metres of drilling, with the objective of further expanding the Piaba resource and advancing the numerous high-priority, high-potential near-mine and regional targets in the Aurizona district. In addition, a prefeasibility study is underway to assess the potential to operate an underground mine concurrent with the existing open-pit mine, with completion of the study targeted for late 2021."