News

Vancouver, Canada — Mawson Gold Limited (“Mawson” or the “Company”) (TSX:MAW) (Frankfurt:MXR) (PINKSHEETS: MWSNF) announces a gold-antinomy diamond drill intersection grading 305.8 m @ 2.4 g/t AuEq (1.6 g/t Au, 0.5% Sb) from 319.2 m from hole SDDSC0050 reported by its majority-owned Australian subsidiary, Southern Cross Gold Ltd (“SXG”). Mawson currently owns 60% of SXG following its May 2022 initial public offering (“IPO”) on the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”).

Ivan Fairhall, Mawson CEO, states: “Sunday Creek gets better and better. Mineralization in hole 50 continued well past the planned location, and to almost double the depth previously drilled. To have drilled over 300 m (and continuing) through the dyke suggests the potential for a blowout at depth which increases prospectivity materially. The regional experience such as Fosterville and Costerfield reinforces the opportunity at depth with these epizonal style deposits.

With only 67% of the hole having been assayed, 270 m of core left to process which included multiple zones of visible gold, and 3 rigs turning, we are excited about Sunday Creek’s potential to continue to deliver. Mawson benefits immensely from SXG’s successes as its largest shareholder (currently 60%), alongside its 100% owned Rajapalot project whose recent PEA delivered a US$211 million after-tax NPV5.

Results Discussion

The Sunday Creek epizonal-style gold project is located 60 km north of Melbourne within 19,365 hectares of granted exploration tenements. SXG is also the freehold landholder of 133 hectares that forms the key portion in and around the drilled area at the Sunday Creek Project.

Drill hole SDDSC050, was originally designed to test under the Rising Sun shoot (from 319.2 – 349.0 metres), however the hole continued in mineralization to test a never before drilled area between Rising Sun and Apollo. With only 67% of the hole assayed so far down to 650 m, with drilling continued to 923.7 m SDDSC050 intersected 305.8 m @ 2.4 g/t AuEq (1.6 g/t Au, 0.5% Sb) from 319.2 m (no lower cut). The drill hole to date has also intersected 12 high-grade intersections >20 g/t Au, including 5 high-grade intersections >100 g/t Au. Multiple visible gold zones were identified through the interval at 412.6 m, 419.2 m, 435.8 m, 444.8 m, 492.8 m, 525.4 m, 570.5 m, 589.0 m, 629.4 m and 629.8 m (Photos 1-4). Additionally, visible gold is observed below the assayed intervals reported here at 713.9 m and 836.0 m. Summary grades are outlined in the highlights section above and Tables 2 and 3.

Figures 1-3 show project location and plan and longitudinal views of drill results reported here and Tables 1–3 provide collar and assay data. The true thickness of the mineralized interval is interpreted to be approximately 60-70% of the sampled thickness.

Update on Current Drilling

Drilling with three rigs is in progress at Sunday Creek at the Golden Dyke, Rising Sun and Apollo prospects. Six holes (SDDSC048A/50/51/52/53/54) are being geologically processed and analyzed, with two holes (SDDSC055/56) still in progress (Figure 3).

Geological and Scale Comparison to Other Victorian Epizonal Deposits
Sunday Creek has a 10 km mineralized trend that extends beyond the drill area and is defined by historic workings and soil sampling which have yet to receive any exploration drilling and offers potential future upside.
Geologically, the project is located within the Melbourne Structural Zone in the Lachlan Fold Belt. The regional host to the Sunday Creek mineralization is an interbedded turbidite sequence of siltstones and minor sandstones, metamorphosed to sub-greenschist facies and folded into a set of open NW trending folds. Mineralization at Sunday Creek is controlled by veining, stibnite-gold-matrix breccias and brittle faults. The immediate host for mineralization is a zone of intensely altered white mica-pyritic siltstones, and white mica-pyrite-carbonate altered dyke rocks.
As is typical for epizonal deposits like Fosterville and Costerfield, gold (locally visible) at Sunday Creek is hosted in quartz and carbonate veins, with a later intense stibnite-bearing vein and breccia overprint. A larger arsenic anomaly is associated with the gold mineralization, mostly represented by arsenian-pyrite but developing to arsenopyrite-bearing zones with a clear spatial relationship to high-grade gold.
Mineralized shoots at Sunday Creek are formed at the intersection of the sub-vertical to shallower dipping 330 degree striking mineralized veins and a steep east-west striking, north dipping structure hosting dioritic dykes and related intrusive breccias. The dimensions of each shoot will be uncovered with further drilling, but typically:

• In the down plunge orientation (80 degrees towards trend of 020 degrees), high grades show a linear continuity to at least 400 m from surface and remain open.
  • Visible gold in other epizonal deposits (for example Fosterville and Costerfield) becomes increasingly significant at depth below approximately 800 m, most likely representing the different temperatures of formation of Au-Sb and Au dominant mineralization.

• 20 m to 30 m wide in the up-dip/down-dip orientation but can blow out to be wider (i.e. around SDDSC033), and;

• Drilling in the cross section of the shoots implies thicknesses of up to 50 m, with higher grades between 20 m and 40 m but further drilling will be required to establish a more accurate average.

Critical Metal Epizonal Gold-Antimony Deposits

Sunday Creek (Figure 1) is an epizonal gold-antimony deposit formed in the late Devonian (like Fosterville, Costerfield, Redcastle and Whroo), 60 million years later than mesozonal gold systems formed in Victoria (for example Ballarat and Bendigo). Epizonal deposits are a form of orogenic gold deposit classified according to their depth of formation: epizonal (<6 km), mesozonal (6-12 km) and hypozonal (>12 km).

Epizonal deposits in Victoria often have associated high levels of the critical metal, antimony, and Sunday Creek is no exception. Geoscience Australia reported that as at 2019, antimony is a critical metal where China and Russia combined produce approximately 82% of the antimony raw material supply. Antimony features highly on the critical minerals lists of many countries including Australia, the United States of America, Canada, Japan and the European Union. Australia ranks seventh for antimony production despite all production coming from a single mine at Costerfield in Victoria, located nearby to all SXG projects. Antimony alloys with lead and tin which results in improved properties for solders, munitions, bearings and batteries. Antimony is a prominent additive for halogen-containing flame retardants. Adequate supplies of antimony are critical to the world's energy transition, and to the high-tech industry, especially the semi-conductor and defence sectors. For example, antimony is a critical element in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries and to the next generation of liquid metal batteries that lead to scalable energy storage for wind and solar power.

Technical Background and Qualified Person

The Qualified Person, Michael Hudson, Executive Chairman and a director of Mawson Gold, and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has reviewed, verified and approved the technical contents of this release.

Analytical samples are transported to the Bendigo facility of On Site Laboratory Services (“On Site”) which operates under both an ISO 9001 and NATA quality systems. Samples were prepared and analyzed for gold using the fire assay technique (PE01S method; 25 gram charge), followed by measuring the gold in solution with flame AAS equipment. Samples for multi-element analysis (BM011 and over-range methods as required) use aqua regia digestion and ICP-MS analysis. The QA/QC program of Southern Cross Gold consists of the systematic insertion of certified standards of known gold content, blanks within interpreted mineralized rock and quarter core duplicates. In addition, On Site inserts blanks and standards into the analytical process.

Gold equivalent “AuEq” for Sunday Creek is = Au (g/t) + 1.58 × Sb (%) based on assumed prices of gold US$1,700/oz Au and antimony US$8,500/metal tonne, and total year metal recoveries of 93% for gold and 95% for antimony. Given the geological similarities of the projects, this formula has been adopted to align to TSX listed Mandalay Resources Ltd Technical Report dated 25 March 2022 on its Costerfield project, which is located 54 km from Sunday Creek and which historically processed mineralization from the property.

For previously reported exploration results, refer to the following:

• May 4, 2020 CRC020
• March 8, 2022 SDDSC021
• May 30, 2022 SDDSC033
• October 4, 2022 SDDSC046
• November 2, 2022 SDDSC049

Refer to Mawson’s announcement 20 October, 2022 for full disclosure relating to the results of the Rajapalot PEA.

About Mawson Gold Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, OTCPINK:MWSNF)

Mawson Gold Limited is an exploration and development company. Mawson has distinguished itself as a leading Nordic Arctic exploration company with its 100% owned flagship Rajapalot gold-cobalt project in Finland, and right to earn into the Skellefteå North gold project in Sweden. Mawson also currently owns 60% of Southern Cross Gold Ltd (ASX:SXG) which in turn owns or controls three high-grade, historic epizonal goldfields covering 470 km2 in Victoria, Australia.

About Southern Cross Gold Ltd (ASX:SXG)

Southern Cross Gold holds the 100%-owned Sunday Creek project in Victoria and Mt Isa project in Queensland, the Redcastle and Whroo joint ventures in Victoria, Australia, and a strategic 10% holding in ASX-listed Nagambie Resources Limited (ASX:NAG) which grants SXG a Right of First Refusal over a 3,300 square kilometre tenement package held by NAG in Victoria.

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Although Mawson believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate, and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Mawson cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, Mawson’s expectations regarding its ownership interest in Southern Cross Gold, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, the potential impact of epidemics, pandemics or other public health crises, including the current pandemic known as COVID-19 on the Company’s business, risks related to negative publicity with respect to the Company or the mining industry in general; exploration potential being conceptual in nature, there being insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource on the Australian-projects owned by SXG, and uncertainty if further exploration will result in the determination of a mineral resource; planned drill programs and results varying from expectations, delays in obtaining results, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, local community relations, dealings with non-governmental organizations, delays in operations due to permit grants, environmental and safety risks, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mawson's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Mawson disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

Figure 1: Location of the Sunday Creek project, along with SXG’s other Victoria projects.

Figure 2: Sunday Creek plan view showing locations of drillholes for results reported in this announcement, pending holes, and select prior drill holes.

Figure 3: Sunday Creek east-west longitudinal section looking towards 000, along the trend of the dyke/structure showing individual shoots defined to date. Also, prior reported drillholes shown

Photo 1: SDDSC050 419.4 m showing visible gold in yellow circles within quartz, carbonate and stibnite vein in altered metasediment. Scale bar in mm.

Photo 2: SDDSC050 525.3 m with multiple visible gold areas within quartz and stibnite. Scale bar in mm.

Photo 3: SDDSC050 620.2 m, with visible gold within quartz and stibnite. Scale bar in mm.

Photo 4: SDDSC050 623.7 m, with visible gold within quartz. Scale bar in mm.

Table 1: Drill collar summary table for drillholes reported in this announcement (including in progress).

Table 2: Tables of mineralized drill hole intersections reported in this announcement using two cut-off criteria. Lower grades cut at 0.3 g/t lower cutoff over a maximum of 3 m with higher grades cut at 5.0 g/t AuEq cutoff over a maximum of 1 m

Table 3: All individual assays reported from SDDSC050 in this announcement >0.1g/t AuEq.