Page 42 A lamos Explor a tion I sland G old st a r ts 2020 on high not e Page 42 B y K e vin V inc ent A lamos G old closed out 2019 with a tr io of enc our ag ing dr ill r esults a t the c ompan y s Island G old M ine nor theast of W a w a W e had another e x c eptional y ear a t Island G old oper a tionally fnancially and thr ough the dr ill bit said John A M cCluskey P r esiden t and Chief Ex ecutiv e O fc er T he oper a tion pr oduc ed 150400 ounc es of gold in 2019 achieving a new r ec or d f or the ff th c onsecutiv e y ear and set a new r ec or d f or fr ee cash fo w W ith the ongoing e xplor a tion suc c ess w e e xpec t fur ther g r o wth in Island G old s miner al r eser v es and r esour c es with our y ear end up da t e T his g r o wth will be inc or po r a t ed in t o the P hase III e xpansion study which w e plan t o c omplet e dur ing the sec ond quar t er of 2020 W e e xpec t this study will sho w case a lar ger e x tr emely pr oftable long lif e oper a tion said M cCluskey I t has been a good run f or A lamos a t Island G old sinc e the c ompan y ac quir ed the asset in 2017 T he 2019 e xplor a tion dr illing pr o g r am w as f ocused on fur ther e x panding the do wnplunge and la t er al e x t ensions of the Island G old deposit with the objec tiv e of adding new near mine M iner al R esour c es acr oss the t w o k ilometr e long Island T hr ee f or thr ee G old M ain Z one A ll thr ee dr ill tar gets w er e suc c essful S ee the c ompan y s w ebsit e f or mor e inf or ma tion T he pr og r am has been suc c essful in e x t ending high g r ade gold miner al iza tion acr oss all thr ee ar eas of f ocus the M ain W est er n and East er n Ex t ensions T he c ompan y sa y s this is a c on tinua tion of the sig nifcan t g r o wth in min er al r eser v es and r esour c es alr eady r ealiz ed sinc e the No v ember 2017 ac quisition of the mine W ith 2019 out of the w a y M cCluskey and the t eam ar e look ing ahead t o 2020 wher e they ar e upping their e x plor a tion budget b y another million dollars A t otal of 21 million has been bud get ed in 2020 f or sur fac e and under g r ound e xplor a tion a t Island G old an incr ease fr om the 2019 budget of 19 million T he f ocus r emains on c on tinuing t o defne new near mine M iner al R e sour c es T he 2020 budget includes 46000 m of sur fac e dir ec tional dr ill ing 30000 m of under g r ound e xplo r a tion dr illing and 900 m of under g r ound e xplor a tion dev elopmen t t o e x t end dr ill pla tf or ms on the 340 620 790 and 840 lev els sta t ed the c ompan y in its frst new s r elease of the new decade A r eg ional e xplor a tion pr og r am which includes 10000 m of dr illing is also planned in 2020 f ocused on ev alua ting and adv ancing e xplor a tion tar gets outside the main Island G old M ine ar ea on the 9750hec tar e Island G old P r oper t y T he Island G old M ine is 83 k ilome tr es nor theast of W a w a On tar io T he mine includes 217 pa t en t ed leased and staked claims c o v er ing 7926 hec tar es I t is ac c essible via a f our season r oad fr om H igh w a y 519 just w est of the t o wn of D ubr euilville M cCluskey t old the CIBC W est er n I n stitutional I n v est ors C onf er enc e in Januar y tha t the appetit e f or in v es t ors bet w een 2014 and 2019 w as w eak but tha t has changed as gold pr ic es and pr ic es f or other metals c on tinue t o r ise A t the Y oungDa vidson M ine near M a tachew an the c ompan y is plan ning t o injec t another 50 million capital spend in 2020 t o incr ease pr oduc tion an annual spend they v e made sinc e they ac quir ed the mine in 2015 M cCluskey said the longt er m capital in v estmen ts a t Y oungDa vidson ar e near ing the end which will g iv e the c ompan y additional fr ee cash par tly t o incr ease dividends and engage in shar e buybacks B et w een Island G old Y oungDa vid son and the c ompan y s M ula t os gold mine in S onor a M e xic o A lamos is pr oducing about half a million ounc es a y ear Page 43 Page 43