Mr. Keyvan Salehi reports

NIGHTHAWK GOLD UPDATED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE DEMONSTRATES SIGNIFICANT BOOST TO THE GLOBAL AND OPEN-PIT MINERAL RESOURCES

Nighthawk Gold Corp. has provided an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) on the Colomac gold project, located 200 kilometres (km) north of Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. The 2023 MRE demonstrates a significant expansion of the open-pit (OP) mineralization compared with the estimates reported in 2022 and the potential for a future large-scale OP project within the company's district-scale exploration land package.

Highlights:

• 36-per-cent increase in the total OP indicated mineral resource estimate ounces and a plus-5-per-cent increase in grade compared with the 2022 estimate;
• 34-per-cent increase in the total OP inferred mineral resource estimate ounces and a 3-per-cent decrease in grade compared with the 2022 estimate;
• 26-per-cent increase in the global indicated mineral resource estimate ounces and a plus-4-per-cent in grade compared with the 2022 estimate;
• 27-per-cent increase in the global inferred mineral resource estimate ounces and a plus-3-per-cent increase in grade compared with the 2022 estimate;
• Maiden Colomac gold project preliminary economic assessment (PEA) scheduled to be completed mid-2023.

Nighthawk president and chief executive officer Keyvan Salehi, PEng, commented: "Our 2023 MRE demonstrates a significant boost in estimated ounces in the indicated and inferred categories compared to last year. More importantly, the OP mineralization has reached 2.8 million estimated ounces in the indicated category and 0.8 million ounces in the inferred category. The improvement in the estimated OP indicated grades is noteworthy considering that we utilized a lower cut-off grade for all the deposits compared to the 2022 estimate.

"Over the past two years, we have increased the estimated OP ounces in the indicated category by 415 per cent and the inferred category by 2,470 per cent, while maintaining estimated OP gold grades that are well above the average for OP deposits of projects in advanced development. In addition, a substantial amount of the 2023 MRE tonnes and ounces are in the indicated category, which we believe provides a higher level of confidence in our estimates.

"The next major step of our turnaround plan is to deliver a PEA [preliminary economic assessment] for the project in mid-2023. Given the size of the OP mineral resource estimate ounces, with elevated estimated OP grades, we believe that if the project is developed, it could have the potential to be a top-tier gold project with respect to size, scale and economics, located in a mining-friendly jurisdiction.

"Looking ahead, we are excited about our 2023 exploration plans. We believe there is a massive potential for discovering more gold mineralization across our 930-square-kilometre district-scale property. All our deposits remain open in all directions and show great promise for further expansion in mineral resource ounces."

2023 MRE

The 2023 MRE benefits from an additional 40 kilometres (km) of drilling information collected in 2022, which targeted areas of higher-grade, near-surface mineralization. The 2023 MRE comprises eight deposits:

• Four deposits located in the Colomac Centre area: Colomac Main, 24/27, Grizzly Bear and Goldcrest;
• Four higher-grade satellite deposits located 11 to 28 km from the Colomac Centre area: Cass, Kim, Damoti and Treasure Island.

The 2023 MRE was generated using various cut-off grades: between 0.45 to 0.57 gram per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) for OP mineralization and 1.02 to 1.66 g/t Au for UG (underground) depending on the deposit. Specific extraction methods are used only to establish reasonable cut-off grades for various portions of the deposits. No PEA, prefeasibility study or feasibility study has been completed to support economic viability and technical feasibility of exploiting any portion of the mineral resources, by any specified mining method. The reasonable prospect for an eventual economical extraction is met by having used reasonable cut-off grades both for OP and UG extraction scenarios and constraining volumes (shapes and optimized pit shell).

Colomac Main deposit

Mineral resource estimates at Colomac Main expanded along strike to the south in Zone 3.5 and in the north at Zone 1.0 compared with the 2022 estimate. A significant portion of the UG mineralization at Zone 2.0 was converted to OP. The Colomac Main deposit remains open in all directions and continuing structural modelling will support mineralization controls and potential targeting for UG high-grade mineralization. With the successful continuation of mineralization to the south hosted in gabbro and quartz gabbro (compared with quartz diorite), the area to explore has expanded and allowed for potential new discovery. The average depth of the estimated pit shells is approximately 200 metres (m) below surface, with the deepest portion at approximately 450 m below surface in Zone 2.0.

24/27 deposit

The mineralization at the 24/27 deposit expanded along strike and at depth compared with the 2022 estimate. There was also a meaningful conversion of the OP mineralization from the inferred to indicated category, improving the overall confidence level of the 24/27 deposit mineral resource estimation. Successful 2022 drilling along the margins of the 24/27 deposit suggests the potential expansion of the mineralization along strike and at depth with further drilling. The VTEM (versatile time domain electromagnetic) survey conducted in late 2022 identified a high conductive zone along the 12-kilometre geological contact that host the 24/27 deposit. Follow-up targeting is being completed during the winter.

Cass deposit

A very successful 2022 drill program expanded the Cass deposit mineralization at depth and along strike, adding an auxiliary pit to the west. The estimated OP inferred mineral resource ounces increased 67 per cent compared with the 2022 estimate. The new auxiliary pit is located along strike from the Albatross zone (700 m to the west of the Cass deposit); mineralization was intercepted at Albatross when last drilled in 2021. Strong conductive zones have been identified along the western felsic boundary to the sediments.

Adjustments to the assumptions and parameters

The 2023 MRE includes a few assumptions and parameters that were adjusted compared with the 2022 estimate. The company and its independent consultants believe that there is potential for a future, large-scale, OP operation at its properties. With additional drill data and a slight increase in the gold price assumption, parameters for the 2023 MRE were adjusted, particularly the OP cut-off grades for each deposit.

Maiden PEA and 2023 exploration program

The company has commenced work on a conceptual mine plan, infrastructure, processing and economics for the Colomac gold project. The maiden PEA for the Colomac gold project is scheduled to be completed in mid-2023. Nighthawk believes that, given the size and scale of the 2023 MRE, the project (if developed) could have the potential to be a robust, large-scale, gold operation. The company is also finalizing its 2023 exploration program and will provide details soon.

Technical information

Nighthawk has implemented a quality control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses at ALS in Vancouver, B.C . ALS is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory. Pulp and metallics assaying for gold were conducted on the entire pulverized sample.

As part of its QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) program, Nighthawk inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to the standards, blanks and pulp duplicates inserted by ALS.

Technical report and qualified persons

A technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 in support of the 2023 MRE will be filed on SEDAR before March 25, 2023. Readers are encouraged to read the technical report in its entirety, including all qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that relate to the 2023 MRE. The technical report is intended to be read as a whole and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context.

Technical information related to the 2023 MRE contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Marina Iund, MSc, PGeo, Carl Pelletier, PGeo, and Simon Boudreau, PEng, of InnovExplo, who are independent and qualified persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101, with the ability and authority to verify the authenticity and validity of these data.

John McBride, MSc, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Nighthawk, who is the qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 for this project, has reviewed and approved of the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Nighthawk Gold Corp.

Nighthawk is a Canadian-based gold exploration company with 100-per-cent ownership of more than 930 square km of district-scale land position within the Indin Lake greenstone gold belt, located approximately 200 km north of Yellowknife, NWT, Canada.

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