Maple Gold resumes drilling at Douay with plans to drill up to 20,000 metres across the company’s project portfolio

Fall 2021 drilling is underway at Douay with the first drill rig now on site. A second drill rig is expected to arrive in early December to commence a planned Phase I drill program at the Company’s 100%-controlled Eagle Mine Property ("Eagle") (see news from October 7, 2021). Drilling will continue with two rigs through Q1 2022 to test additional targets as part of the JV’s planned winter 2022 drill campaign.

Matthew Hornor, President and CEO of Maple Gold, stated: “We are incredibly excited to get the drills turning again at Douay and also look forward to testing high priority targets at Eagle in a matter of weeks. In addition, we are working closely with our JV partner to refine drill targets for the winter 2022 campaign, with up to 20,000 metres of planned drilling during the next six months across our 400 km² property package. Based on the JV’s exploration success last season, we anticipate generating compelling drill results that advance the Company’s mineral potential across multiple deposits.”

Douay Drill Targets

Initial fall drilling at Douay (see Figure 1 for hole locations) will be focused in the Nika and 531 Zones to follow up on exceptional results from the JV’s maiden winter 2021 drill campaign, including 1.6 g/t gold ("Au") over 132.5 metres ("m") in mixed intrusive and basaltic rocks and 8.8 g/t Au over 28.5 m in basaltic rocks, respectively (see news from May 26, 2021 and September 9, 2021). These two intercepts, which are over 4 km apart, are among the top five ever drilled on the property in terms of gold accumulation (grade x thickness).

Fall 2021 drilling will also include multiple holes located approximately 600 m to the east of the Central Zone conceptual pit limits as defined in the RPA 2019 mineral resource estimate, with an additional 700 m of strike to the east that remains untested. The Central Zone is on the northern flank of the Douay mineral resource along a major structure or shear zone (Casa Berardi North) where previous drilling both to the east and to the west has returned numerous multi-gram sediment-hosted gold intercepts with limited follow up. The Central Zone’s eastern extension was previously drilled in 2017, with reported intercepts of 4.5 g/t Au over 9 m and 4.7 g/t Au over 4.5 m (see news from July 17, 2017).

The planned Fall 2021 drill holes are designed to test the strike continuity of some of the better intercepts from recent drill programs and to expand the RPA 2019 conceptual pits. Follow-up drilling at the Nika Zone will focus on the southeast continuity of the longest continuous intercept of gold mineralization obtained on the property to-date. Drilling at the Central Zone will test the continuity of gold mineralization from 600-1300 m east of the current RPA 2019 conceptual pit. Planned holes in the 531 Zone will target the structural controls on high-grade gold mineralization in DO-21-310, the best intercept drilled to-date in that zone.

Additional details on the Phase I drilling program at Eagle and the JV’s planned winter 2022 campaign will be released in the coming weeks.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc., P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this press release through his direct participation in the work.

About Maple Gold

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. is a Canadian advanced exploration company in a 50/50 joint venture with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited to jointly advance the district-scale Douay and Joutel gold projects located in Quebec’s prolific Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt. The projects benefit from exceptional infrastructure access and boast ~400 km² of highly prospective ground including an established gold resource at Douay (RPA 2019) that holds significant expansion potential as well as the past-producing Eagle, Telbel and Eagle West mines at Joutel. The Company also holds an exclusive option to acquire 100% of the Eagle Mine Property.

The district-scale property package also hosts a significant number of regional exploration targets along a 55 km strike length of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone that have yet to be tested through drilling, making the project ripe for new gold and polymetallic discoveries. The Company is well capitalized and is currently focused on carrying out exploration and drill programs to grow resources and make new discoveries to establish an exciting new gold district in the heart of the Abitibi. For more information, please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

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Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about exploration work and results from current and future work programs. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management’s best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company’s expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.’s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company’s website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.