Big Ridge Gold Corp. released results from the 2023 mapping, sampling and geophysical program conducted on the southwest extension of the Hope Brook Gold deposit, consisting of the Main Zone and 240 Zone. These results were part of a larger evaluation that also investigated regional targets in and around the known deposit.

The Field Program: The 2023 Hope Brook Gold Project field exploration program was conducted from late August to early November; the program included regional evaluation of prospects across the Company's 10 contiguous licences at Hope Brook. The field program focused on the Hope Brook Mine and Old Man's Pond areas. Reconnaissance mapping over all licences was completed and approximately 60 km of ground magnetics was acquired.

In addition, 29.1 km and 9.0 km of IP were acquired at the Hope Brook Mine extension and Old Man's Pond, respectively. Focus along the southwest strike extension of the Hope Brook Gold deposit, including the historic Chetwyn showing, intended to identify potential new mineralized trends and gain further geological understanding of the host horizons to the mine within the Cinq Cerfs Deformation Zone as bounded by the Cinq Cerfs Fault on the north and a second structure on the south. This new information will be merged with previously completed Controlled-Source, Audio-Frequency Magnetotellurics (CSAMT) and IP surveys conducted over the mine area.

Results: Nearly 150 grab and channel samples were collected along the southwestern extension of the Hope Brook Mine host lithology. A cluster of anomalous results between 0.1 g/t Au and 16.5 g/t Au were obtained from samples located southwest of the 240 zone. In general, samples taken are described as quartz veins with various intensities of alteration that present epithermal characteristics such as boiling textures, limonite staining, and iron-oxides.

Numerous samples also have concentrations of pyrite ranging from 5-10%. The lithologies at this new target area will require further mapping, trenching, and sampling to evaluate their stratigraphic and structural continuity with the Hope Brook Gold deposit. Several traverses executed on the western and eastern shores of the Cinq-Cerf River, approximately 5 km southwest and along strike of the Hope Brook Mine as well as south and southwest of the Chetwyn showing, identified significant shear zones along with several mineralized schist units carrying up to 5% pyrite with strong sericite-chlorite +/- weak iron-carbonate +/- silica alteration and local quartz veining.

Processed IP data from the Hope Brook Mine area show two strong parallel chargeability anomalies extending over 3 km that show a strong correlation between the location of the Hope Brook Main Deposit and the 240 Zone, which were the basis for the 2023 Hope Brook Gold Project resource estimate. The 240 Zone appears to coincide with the downward projection of the southern chargeability feature from the recent survey and appears on a distinct break within the IP anomalies near the southern limit of the Hope Brook Deformation Zone. The northern chargeability anomaly extends southwest from the Hope Brook Mine towards the Chetwyn Copper zone.

This 240 Zone geophysical signature appears to be spatially distinct from a similar anomalous trend on the northern limit of the Hope Brook Deformation Zone parallel to the Cinq Cerfs Fault. Resistivity and chargeability anomalies in this area appear to follow the heavily altered rocks found extending between the Hope Brook Mine and the Chetwyn showing. The area southwest of the Hope Brook Mine and 240 Zones has seen some historic drilling and mapping that will be reviewed with the recent geophysical information to determine new drill targets.

Results from this work encourage further evaluation of the Cinq Cerfs Deformation Zone to the southwest of the Hope Brook Gold deposit along with continued evaluation of the Hope Brook Main deposit and 240 zones.