Ascot Files Feasibility Study to Restart the Premier Mill

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascot Resources Ltd. (TSX: AOT; OTCQX: AOTVF) (“Ascot” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has filed on SEDAR the Premier & Red Mountain Gold Project Feasibility Study NI 43-101 Technical Report (“FS”) prepared by Sacre-Davey Engineering Inc. as previously announced on April 15, 2020 (see press release at https://ascotgold.com/news-releases/2020/ascot-reports-robust-feasibil ....)

The FS, prepared for the Company’s 100% owned Premier and Red Mountain Gold Project (the "Project") located in the Golden Triangle near Stewart, British Columbia, Canada, supports robust economics including Base case After-tax NPV_5% of C$341 million and IRR 51% (based on US$1400/oz gold price, $17/oz silver price and CAD to US exchange rate of 0.76.) The FS is based on a proven and probable reserve of 6.2 million tonnes (“Mt”) from the Project.  In addition to the reserves, the Company has inferred resources of 5.1Mt at 7.25 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold at Premier, with approximately 2.2Mt of this resource material at similar grade, near the planned development, which may potentially be converted to reserves during operations.

Ascot’s President and CEO, Derek White commented, “The feasibility study is very robust at the base case assumptions and given the current strong gold price⁴ environment, the after-tax NPV_5% increases to over $600 million and IRR to nearly 80%.  This was a huge collaboration and I am proud of the effort put forth to complete the FS and look forward to additional optimizations in the future. We are now focused on advancing our permitting efforts and reviewing various funding proposals for the Project.”

Notes
1. Fully ramped up yrs. @ 2500 tpd in year 3
2. All in Sustaining Cost ( non GAAP)
3. Base Case US$1400/oz. Gold: US CAD 0.76
4. Spot US$1710/oz Gold, Silver US$15.32/oz :US:CAD 0.71

* Premier & Red Mountain Total Resources M&I of 7.3Mt @ 7.85g/t &Inferred of 5.5Mt @ 7.11g/t

Annual General Meeting - As previously disclosed, with regards to the timing its Annual General Meeting, the Company is relying on temporary relief measures provided by the Canadian Securities Administrators ("CSA") and the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company is also relying on an exemption set out in BC Instrument 51-516 from the requirement under subsection 9.3.1.(1) of NI 51 -102 to file executive compensation disclosure no later than 140 days after the company’s most recently completed financial year end. The Company will hold its 2020 Annual General Meeting ("AGM") in the second half of 2020. Management continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation and details for the AGM will be communicated in due course.