Nighthawk Commences 2019 Drill Program at its 100% Owned Indin Lake Gold Property

TORONTO, April 3, 2019 -  Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk" or the "Company") (TSX: NHK; OTCQX: MIMZF) is pleased to announce commencement of its 2019 drilling program with three drills active on the Colomac Gold Project ("Colomac"), centrally located within the Indin Lake Gold Property (899km² land package), Northwest Territories, Canada.

The Company previously announced a budget of $10 million which includes a minimum 25,000 metres of drilling (split between Colomac and select priority gold targets within its extensive regional land package), as well as the continuation of the regional mapping and prospecting program. The drilling costs are estimated on the higher-end at approximately $9 million (as the program progresses Nighthawk anticipates a lower cost per metre than budgeted), and an additional $1 million spend on the regional mapping and prospecting program which will continue to assess the land package for new discoveries and move targets up the value chain towards drill-ready status. Program objectives are to continue the expansion of higher-grade mineralization intersected to-date at Colomac and to explore for other new zones of near surface higher grade material within the Colomac area sills, culminating in the delivery of a resource update by early 2020.

2019 Exploration Program:

• Colomac - Three drills presently in operation:
• • testing high-grade Zones 1.5 and 3.5 to depth
  • exploring for shallower higher-grade domains within a 2-kilometre section of the Colomac Main sill between Zone 3.5 and the southern part of Zone 2.0
    
    
• Regional Drilling – Later in the program drilling will focus on some of Nighthawk's most prospective regional gold prospects:
• • Damoti Lake Gold Deposit
  • Leta Arm mineralized corridor (hosting the North Inca and Diversified deposits)
  • Treasure Island Gold Project
  • Swamp Project
  • Possibly the first drilling at the Nice Lake Sill and Andy Lake Project
    
    
• Regional Prospecting and Mapping – Will commence in early June and will continue to follow-up on historical showings, areas of interest as identified by previous fieldwork, leading to the prioritization of future drill targets.

Dr. Michael Byron, President and CEO commented, "We are very pleased to be embarking upon our eighth drilling season at the Indin Lake Gold Property. We've had great success over the years rejuvenating the Colomac deposit into an ever growing, mutli-million-ounce opportunity with a new high-grade storyline and exceptional metallurgy.  We are thrilled to continue our work of delivering on the vast potential that the Indin Lake Gold Camp possess, one that we believe will flourish in tandem with Colomac, as we advance our aggressive regional exploration initiatives of geological mapping, prospecting and ground geophysics promoting key targets to drill-ready status in search of new discoveries. We look forward to providing drill results as they become available."

About Nighthawk
Nighthawk is a Canadian-based gold exploration company with 100% ownership of a district-scale land position within the Indin Lake Greenstone Belt, located approximately 200 km north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Nighthawk is focused on advancing the Colomac Gold Project with a current inferred resource of 2.6 million ounces of gold (50.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.62 grams per tonne gold), as well as advancing its other regional gold deposits and showings within this largely underexplored Archean gold camp.

The Company has an experienced and dedicated team and is well funded to complete its goals and objectives over the next 12 months.

Qualified Person
Dr. Michael J. Byron, Ph.D., P.Geo., President & Chief Executive Officer of 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. Please refer to NI 43-101 technical report "Technical Report and mineral resource estimate update on the Colomac Property of the Indin Lake Project", dated June 13, 2018, as filed under the company's profile on www.sedar.com.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange has neither reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information with respect to the Company's continued exploration programs (including size and budget) and the ability to advance targets; producing an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate for Colomac, and the timing and results thereof; the ability to raise the necessary capital on acceptable terms in order to conduct exploration programs including mapping, prospecting and drilling activities and identify new targets in future years, as well as any intention to expand these programs in the future). Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "occur", or "be achieved".

Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Nighthawk to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including risks associated with the exploration, development and mining such as economic factors as they effect exploration, future commodity prices, changes in foreign exchange and interest rates, actual results of current exploration activities, government regulation, political or economic developments, environmental risks, permitting timelines, capital expenditures, operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities, employee relations, the speculative nature of gold exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves, contests over title to properties, and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as those risk factors discussed in Nighthawk's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2017, available on www.sedar.com.  Although Nighthawk has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Nighthawk does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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SOURCE Nighthawk Gold Corp.