Mr. Glen Parsons reports

AWALE RESOURCES REPORTS EXCEPTIONAL GOLD RECOVERIES FROM LEACH TESTWORK AT THE EMPIRE GOLD DISCOVERY, ODIENNE, COTE D'IVOIRE

Awale Resources Ltd. has released the results of preliminary metallurgical test work undertaken on 781 mineralized drill core samples from the Empire discovery, with exceptionally high (average 95.4 per cent) gold recoveries being reported from LeachWELL bottle roll tests.

Highlights

• Exceptionally high gold recoveries (average 95.4 per cent) were returned from LeachWELL analyses of all drill core samples at the Empire discovery with gold grades greater than 0.2 gram per tonne Au. Approximately 94 per cent of the samples analyzed represented fresh (unoxidized) samples, with the remainder being oxide and transitional material.

After initial test work using fire assay, screen fire assay and leach test work was undertaken on the discovery holes, the LeachWELL method has been utilized for routine analysis of all gold mineralized samples at Empire Main. LeachWELL is an accelerated leach method and provides an indication of potential recoveries in industry-standard gold recovery circuits. Per cent recoveries are calculated from fire assay tests on the leach residues.

Company chief executive officer Glen Parsons commented today: "Achieving high average gold recoveries of 95.4 per cent from LeachWELL bottle rolls is an outstanding result for Awale. A bonus is the extremely high recoveries in fresh rock samples as shallow depths of oxidation mean the greater portion of the mineralization at Empire is fresh and unweathered material.

"This early stage metallurgical test work indicates Empire is amenable to conventional or traditional gold processing and gold extraction.

"Additional to these excellent metallurgy results the company eagerly awaits analysis results from the final five (OEDD-33 to OEDD-37) diamond holes of the recently completed drill program at Empire, these holes were drilled to test steeper plunges to mineralization down to a depth of 120 vertical metres.

"Proximal to these, results are also expected for 'brownfield' auger targets at Empire West, Empire Gap and Charger. These targets form part of the pipeline to more discoveries and more gold ounces to complement the Empire Main zone, along the Empire corridor."

Follow-up exploration plan at Odienne

Awale remains confident of the upside potential of the Empire corridor and has an aggressive exploration campaign designed for 2021. The near-term focus for the Odienne project is as follows:

• Testing steep plunge model for Empire Main -- 897.3 metres of diamond drilling have been completed assays currently pending. Results will guide the next phase of stepout diamond drilling on the known high-grade gold mineralization at Empire Main.
• Testing potential eastern offsets from Empire Main in addition to western extension targets. A 500-metre gap exists between current drilling at Empire Main and anomaly one and the western extension of the Empire structure. A program of 240 auger holes for 964 m was completed on Dec. 8 as a targeting exercise and will guide the next phase of drilling at Empire Main.
• Proximal to this, a new parallel structural target to Empire has been auger drilled approximately three kilometres to the NNE of Empire Main. This will feed into the next program scout drilling over the greater empire structure. Results are also pending for this auger program.
  • The Charger prospect is approximately three km north of Empire. Legacy soil sampling by Randgold returned up to 1,677 parts per billion Au within a 600-metre-long greater-than-100-parts-per-billion Au anomaly. Initial mapping has revealed diorite body central to the prospect area that is bound by a package of basalts and intermediate volcaniclastics and tuffaceous rock.
• Further detailed interpretation and understanding of the first pass intercepts from scout drilling at anomalies one and two, as well as anticipated further results from anomaly one -- follow-up drilling.

About the Empire Main discovery

Empire Main discovery is a high-grade gold discovery characterized by multiphase deformation, alteration and veining hosted within a diorite intrusion. Mineralization is associated with early potassic (biotite) alteration plus/minus Au and pyrite, calc silicate alteration (rare garnet, clinopyroxene and pyrrhotite), and later carbonate and silica sericite alteration. The abundant free gold is likely late and associated with the final silica-carbonate-sericite phase.

High-grade mineralization is hosted in brittle/ductile quartz vein arrays that are oriented from east-west to northeast and exhibit both shallow and steep plunges. The host diorite lies within a greater-than-20-kilometre-long and one- to two-kilometre-wide brittle/ductile shear zone, named the Empire corridor. Mineralization at the Empire Main discovery remains open along strike and down dip/plunge. Beyond the Empire Main discovery there is high potential for discovery or similar or larger deposits along this fertile structural corridor.

Empire was discovered through systematic exploration by Awale, resulting in a coincident geology, gold/arsenic geochemistry and ground geophysics (induced polarization) anomaly. This discovery demonstrates high-grade gold-bearing fluid flow within the empire corridor, and the company plans to continue exploring along this fertile shear zone to make new discoveries and rapidly accrete the gold inventory through extensions of know mineralization and new discoveries.

Previously reported highlights from the Empire Main drilling are listed herein.

• OEDD-1 18.15 m at 4.9 g/t Au from 40 m downhole;
  • Including 10.4 m at 7.9 g/t Au from 40 m downhole;
• OEDD-2 27 m at 3.1 g/t Au from 43.2 m downhole;
  • Including nine m at 5.3 g/t Au from 43.2 m downhole;
• OEDD-9 17 m at 2.6 g/t Au from 40 m downhole;
  • Including 2.65 m at 15.4 g/t Au from 40 m;
• 16.74 m at 1.9 g/t Au from 74.26 m downhole;
  • Including 9.28 m at 2.7 g/t Au from 80.72 m;
• 16 m at 1.8 g/t Au from 98 m downhole;
  • Including three m at 7.6 g/t Au from 111 m downhole;
• OERC0021 18 m at three g/t Au from 97 m downhole and two m at 15.5 g/t Au from 111 m downhole;
  • 11 m at 2.5 g/t Au from 140 m downhole and two m at 5.6 g/t Au from 140 m downhole;
• OEDD-24 15 m at 13.1 g/t Au from 69 m, including two m at 20 g/t Au from 69 m, 7.6 m at 20.1 g/t Au from 74.7 m, and one m at 129.8 g/t Au from 76 m;
• OEDD-18 11 m at 4.9 g/t Au from 40 m downhole, including one m at 4.8 g/t Au and one m at 40.2 g/t Au from 40 and 41 m, respectively;
• OEDD-16 17 m at 3.5 g/t Au from 86 m downhole, including one m at 11.9 g/t Au and one m at 11.7 g/t Au from 87 and 90 m respectively, (see release dated Oct. 7 2020);
• OEDD-32 10 m at 1.6 g/t Au from 67 m -- northern lode;
  • Seven m at 2.4 g/t Au from 136 m;
  • 22 m at 3.8 g/t Au from 92 m and one m at 44 g/t Au from 104 m;
• OEDD-31 16 m at two g/t Au from 45 m (northern lode);
  • 11 m at 2.5 g/t Au from 61 m, including one m at 10.4 from 74 m; and
  • 15 m at 1.6 g/t Au from 85 m, including one m at 9.3 from 95 m.

The results are all downhole intercepts and are approximately 75 per cent of true width of mineralization.

Quality control and assurance

Analytical work for drill core and RC percussion samples is being carried out at the independent Intertek Laboratories Ghana Ltd., an ISO 17025 certified laboratory. Samples are stored at the company's field camps and put into sealed bags; they are stored securely until collected by Intertek for transportation to Ghana.

Drill holes reported in this release are HQ core and have been sampled as three-fourths core (approximately six kilogram/metre) with one-fourth "sliver" of the core sample being reserved as a library sample at the company offices. The remaining three-fourths core samples are logged in the Intertek tracking system, weighed, dried and finely crushed to better than 70 per cent, passing a two-millimetre screen of which 50 per cent is pulverized to 85 per cent, passing a 75-micron, the remaining 50 per cent is reserved. The pulverized sample is then leached by the LeachWELL method with a further two fire assays completed on the tail samples from the leach to monitor leach efficacy. Total gold is reported from leach and fire assays, at grades of greater than 0.2 g/t gold the leach is recovering 95.4 per cent of all gold.

Blanks, core duplicates, crush duplicates and certified reference material (standards) are being used to monitor laboratory performance during the analysis. Due to the presence of free gold the lab was requested to run a quartz wash between each sample during preparation, a selection of the quartz wash samples is also routinely analyzed.

Qualified person

The technical and scientific information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved for release by Andrew Chubb, the company's qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Chubb is the company's chief operating officer and holds an economic geology degree, is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, and is a member of the Society of Economic Geologists. Mr. Chubb has 18 years of experience in international minerals exploration and mining project evaluation.

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