Nighthawk Announces the Appointment of Keyvan Salehi as President & CEO

TORONTO, December 9, 2020 - Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk" or the "Company") (TSX:NHK)(OTCQX:MIMZF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Keyvan Salehi, P.Eng, MBA, as the Company's President & CEO, who will replace Dr. Michael Byron effective January 1^st, 2021.

Mr. Salehi has over 20 years of experience in the mining industry, having held various senior roles in operations, projects, and corporate development. Prior to joining Nighthawk, Mr. Salehi served as the Vice President of Corporate Development and Technical Services with Mountain Province Diamonds ("MPVD"), where he was responsible for providing operational and technical oversight for MPVD's jointly owned 12,000 tonnes per day diamond mine in the Northwest Territories ("NWT"), introducing mine optimization initiatives to increase production and reduce costs. Mr. Salehi also served as VP of Corporate Development and Technical Services for Kirkland Lake Gold (2016-2017), where he led the Company's due diligence team behind the $2.4B merger with Newmarket Gold. He held the same position at St. Andrew Goldfields (2013-2016), where he spearheaded the Company's sale process culminating in the sale to Kirkland Lake Gold in 2016. Prior to those roles, he held various operating positions with Lake Shore Gold, FNX Mining, and Vale (2002 - 2013). Mr. Salehi holds a Bachelor of Applied Sciences, Mineral Engineering from the University of Toronto and an Executive MBA from the Kellogg-Schulich School of Management.

Morris Prychidny, Chairman of the Board commented, "On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company, I wish to thank Michael Byron for his tireless commitment over the past 12 years. Michael's passion for exploration lead us to consolidate the land position, where we now control over 95% of an underexplored Archean gold camp. As our advanced exploration asset Colomac has now reached a critical point in its development, we look to reinvigorate the leadership role of the Company to better align with the path forward.

"Keyvan's extensive experience providing operational, technical and corporate development support to junior and mid-sized mining companies, and his involvement with grass roots exploration to feasibility stage projects, through to the development and construction phase (most recently in the NWT), will be invaluable as we continue our work on the Indin Lake Gold Property. We welcome Keyvan to the team and look forward to working with him to drive continued success.

"Michael will remain as a member of the Board and in a consulting capacity to ensure continuity of the exploration programs, and will continue to guide our efforts on a number of our high-priority regional targets which illustrate the robust nature of our land position in the Northwest Territories."

Michael Byron, President & CEO commented, "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Nighthawk and am extremely proud of the progress we have made over the years since our 2009 maiden exploration program. I'm particularly honoured to have worked with so many accomplished professionals and would like to express my sincere appreciation for all that they have contributed. I've said this many times before, working in the Indin Lake Greenstone Belt is akin to exploring any of our more storied gold camps over 100 years ago, at a time when they were just beginning to showcase their incredible future wealth. Nighthawk's unique opportunity is 100% ownership of a district-scale land position, with numerous gold deposits and showings all surrounding a growing multi-million-ounce deposit at its centre. I am confident that under Keyvan's leadership we will be able to advance Colomac alongside our many high-priority regional targets, to fully realize the value of this highly prospective gold camp."

About Us

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 has advanced its flagship asset Colomac, outlining a robust project with current Indicated Resources of 25.89 Mt with an average grade of 2.01 gpt Au for 1.67 Moz of gold and Inferred Resources of 5.71 Mt with an average grade of 2.03 gpt Au for 0.37 Moz of gold, with the majority of ounces contained within an underground resource. Near-term resource expansion opportunities exist proximal to the current resources, and additional upside exists throughout the +7km strike length of the host quartz diorite with a substantial opportunity at depth where the true width is known to expand significantly across a 3.5km-long section. Within this largely underexplored Archean gold camp, the Company has identified several high-priority targets within large regional deformation zones that are pregnant with gold mineralization and are known to host significant deposits which warrant additional exploration and follow-up.

The Company has an experienced and dedicated team with a track record of successfully advancing projects and is well funded and supported to complete its goals and objectives.

Qualified Person

Technical information related to the 2020 Mineral Resource Estimate on the 100% owned Indin Lake Gold Property (the "2020 MRE") was reviewed and approved by Marina Iund, M.Sc., P.Geo., Project Geologist and Carl Pelletier, P.Geo., Co-President Founder of InnovExplo who are independent Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101, with the ability and authority to verify the authenticity and validity of this data. Please refer to the NI 43-101 technical report "NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Indin lake Gold Property, Northwest Territories, Canada", dated September 11, 2020, as filed under the company's profile on www.sedar.com.

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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Nighthawk Gold Corp.
Tel: 1-647-794-4313; Email: info@nighthawkgold.com
Website: www.nighthawkgold.com

Dr. Michael Byron
President & CEO
Tel: 1-647-794-4359

Michael Leskovec
CFO
Tel: 1-647-794-4360

Suzette N Ramcharan
VP, Corporate Development
Tel: 1-647-794-4362

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 2020 MRE. 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, 2019, 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.

SOURCE: Nighthawk Gold Corp.