It said 2,153 samples were collected during the June to September field season, identifying new high-grade discoveries at Fishhook and Andy Lake, where samples returned grades of up to 174.5g/t and 42.1g/t respectively.

The samples also confirmed and expanded historical occurrences, Nighthawk said, including the high grade at Treasure Island where sampling of an historic trench returned up to 45.6g/t; and new areas of high-grade mineralisation within the Nice Lake Sill.

President and CEO Dr Michael Byron said the company had the resources to continue to advance several Indin Lake deposits and targets, along with exploration in tandem to grow the Colomac resource.

Colomac lies in the northern part of the property and has an inferred resource, updated last year, of 2.6 million ounces grading 1.62g/t gold.

Nighthawk had consolidated Indin Lake, convinced of its "untapped capacity".

Byron said each year the field exploration programmes were successful in expanding known showings and discovering new ones, "a testament to the land's potential and a validation of our thesis".

The company, which is backed by both Kinross Gold (9%) and Osisko Gold Royalties (9%), had C$15.5 million (US$11.7 million) in working capital at the end of September.

Its shares have ranged between 29.5-72c over the past year. They rose 6.76% yesterday to 39.5c to capitalise it at $76.5 million.