The Vancouver-based company has a 15,000m (30-35 holes) drill programme underway, targeting the lower and northeast side of the JT deposit.

The first returned 17.89 grams per tonne gold over 37.1m true width or 23.8g/t Au-eq which includes copper and silver credits. The hole also had a higher-grade interval of 53.22g/t over 7m or 55.31g/t Au-eq.

The other hole returned 1.35g/t over 28m or 9.9g/t Au-eq, including 1.22g/t over 11.8m or 14.5g/t Au-eq.

CEO Darwin Green said the programme picked up where the company left off last season, intersecting "exceptional widths of high-grade mineralisation".

"These intersections continue to confirm and expand the mineralised zone and, more importantly, include higher-grade mineralisation than the closest neighbouring drill holes. The results also support our exploration model, which suggests that the lower part of the known JT deposit, the thickest and highest-grade portion, is open to expansion," said Green.

Haywood Capital Markets analyst Kerry Smith said the first hole returned gold grade 79% higher than the last hole from 2019, 15-20m up-dip. "HighGold can build tonnes quickly with these widths," he said.

One drill rig continues to systematically test this resource expansion target, while two other rigs focused on surrounding targets including the high-priority NE Offset area.

Johnson Tract hosts an indicated resource of 750,000oz grading 10.9g/t Au-eq and 134,000oz at 7.2g/t inferred. 

HighGold was spun out of Constantine Metal Resources in August 2019 and began trading on the TSX-V in September 2019. Through the spin-out HighGold acquired all of Constantine's gold assets. HighGold has a strong technical team in place, including Green and Ian Cunningham-Dunlop as VP for exploration, who are both experienced geologists.

Shares in the company (TSXV:HIGH) have more than tripled over the past 12 months to a new high at C$2.85, which capitalises it at $136.6 million (US$104 million).