Desert Gold Signs Drilling Contract with Geodrill and Outlines Drilling Program at Segala West; its Highly Prospective Target in Western Mali

Delta, British Columbia, September 29, 2017, DESERT GOLD VENTURES INC. (“Desert Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX.V: DAU /FF: QXR2 /OTC: DAUGF) is pleased to announce that it has signed a drilling contract with Geodrill Ltd. The contract is for a total of 5,100 meters of drilling comprised of 1,500 meters of diamond drilling (“DD”) and 3,600 meters of reverse circulation drilling (“RC”). The program is scheduled to commence in the second half of October 2017 and will target The Company’s highly prospective Segala West permit; most notably 4 large artisanal mining operations in the southern area of the permit known as the Baroya area. The Segala West project is located within the Kenieba Inlier of western Mali. The permit is within a 20km radius of several large gold mines, including Randgold’s Loulo Gounkoto mine complex and Endeavour Mining’s Segala, Tabakoto and Kofi mines.

Highlights

- A total of 5,100 meters to be drilled at Segala West; comprised of 1,500 meters of DD drilling and 3,600 meters of RC drilling.

- The drill program will follow up a mapping and grab sampling program that was conducted at Segala West earlier this year at the 4 artisanal mining operations located on the permit (see Company press release dated June 21, 2017). Results from that program yielded excellent results including gold values from grab samples of 41 g/t au at Baroya; 19 g/t au at Baroya north; 11.9 g/t au at Segala; and 39.2 g/t au at Baroya north west. 

Previous Exploration

Axmin Inc. initially targeted interpreted cross cutting structures mostly in the northern area of the permit. Initial review and interpretation of this drilling showed localised shallow high-grade intercepts. In addition, several other soil anomalies remain unexplored within the Segala West permit. Several targets were poorly tested with limited RC and DD done by Axmin and TransAfrika Resources. This drilling focussed mostly on the northern part of the permit. However the southern area appears to be the most prospective with several on-going large artisanal mining operations that coincide with a robust soil anomaly of nearly 24km2.

Figure 1: Proposed drill holes at Baroya north over historic TransAfrika drilling

Figure 2: Segala West permit soil anomaly with Axmin previous drilling with area to consider for detailed mapping

Figure 3: Soil anomaly and artisanal sites along interpreted mineralized corridor with surrounding mine (see Figure 4)

Segala West Drilling Program Overview

The work program will be conducted in two phases starting with 1,500 meters of DD aiming to better define the geology and the structural controls of the mineralisation followed by 3,600 meters of RC to deliver an initial inferred resource base.

Figure 4: Segala West Artisanal Mining sites location with surrounding mines (Randgold resources of 51 Mt at 4.4 g/t for 5.7 million oz au Measured and Indicated, 20 Mt at 3.9 g/t for 2 million oz au inferred and ore reserves of 32 Mt average at 4.6 g.t for 3.7 million oz au in the Proven and Probably category. Endeavour Mining hosts ~3 million oz Au is less than 1 km2 (18.5 Mt at 3.5 g/t for 1.8 million oz au measured and indicated, 9 Mt at 3.6 g/t for 1 million oz au inferred and 6.4 Mt at 3.5 g/t for 0.7 million oz au proven and probable)

Baroya

Located to the northeast and close to the village of Baroya. Baroya has more than 450 meters of strike length and 50 meters of width. The area is active with more than 200 local artisanal miners. Two holes totalling 400 metres of Diamond drilling are planned to better defined the geology and the structural control of the mineralisation. RC drilling consisting of 9 holes for 820 meters on 50 meters grid spacing will be used in order to generate initial inferred resources over the target.

List of planned holes for Baroya prospect

Baroya North

Located 1.7km to the north of Baroya, Baroya North has more than 700m strike length. Encouraging results were reported from the rock sampling that demonstrates the potential for mineralised structure over the target. 2 holes totalling 400 metres of DD are planned to better defined the geology and the structure control of the mineralisation. Follow up RC drilling will contribute to an improvement in data density needed for initial resource estimation.

List of planned holes for Baroya North prospect 

Segala

With more than 350 strike length, it is located at 800m to the east of Baroya north and appears to be the extension of the structure of the Segala gold mine corridor currently in production by Endeavour Mining. Encouraging results were reported from the pit mapping and rock-sampling program conducted in April of this year and demonstrate the high potential for a significant target. A drilling program consisting of two diamond holes for 450 meters and 5 RC holes for 550 meters is proposed to rapidly assess the potential endowment of the target.

List of planned holes for Segala prospect

Baroya Northwest

With more than 400m strike length, this site is located 1km to the west of the Baroya North site. Local artisanal miners recently discovered this site and it has quickly grown over the last 6 months. Promising mineralisation with visible gold was reported from the pit mapping and rock-sampling program completed in June of this year. A drilling program consisting of 1 DD hole for 150 meters and 6 RC holes for 600 meters is proposed to define an initial inferred resource and get a better understanding of the structural controls.

List of planned holes for Baroya Northwest

Conceptual Exploration Drilling

This will focus on extension of the Baroya north target where TransAfrika Resources completed first pass RC drilling. Initial review and interpretation of this drilling has showed relatively shallow, high grade intercepts. However, the drilling azimuth used during the program remains questionable with no mapping and structure support.

Conceptual drilling will consist of:

• 2 RC holes for 230 meters to be drill toward the west (270⁰) to test the concept of East dipping mineralisation base on the recent mapping and sampling program.
• 4 RC holes for 480 meters are planned to assess untested significant Au-in-soil anomaly that coincide with interpreted major cross-cutting structures.

3 RC holes for 360 meters will test the along strike north extension 100 meters of the mineralisation intersected by TransAfrika.

Figure 5: Historic and proposed drill holes over soil anomaly at Baroya north target

This note was reviewed by Dr. Luc Antoine who is a director of the Company and is registered as a Member of the Geological Society of South Africa (MGSSA 967397). He approves the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release and has the necessary experience relevant to the style of mineralization and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity that he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined in the National Instrument 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Jared Scharf"
Jared Scharf, President

+1 (858) 247-8195

For further information please visit www.SEDAR.com under the company’s profile.

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