Hole BR-085 was extended from 524m to 1,509m, and hit 19m at 10.19g/t gold from 1,008.55m, including 2.65m at 68.59g/t and 1m at 133.5g/t, the explorer said.

President and CEO Chris Taylor said the hole had also intersected new Hinge zone-style veins, which could represent extensions to the Hinge zone and added weight to the theory the two zones merged at depth.

"These results define a new, high-priority exploration target that has the potential to combine the predictable geometry of the Dixie Limb zone with the higher gold grades of the Hinge zone," he said.

The above result comes a week after Great Bear reported one of the longest, high-grade intervals to date from the project's LP Fault, including 104.15m at 2.67g/t.

Great Bear said the Dixie Limb zone was roughly parallel to the LP Fault zone, 500m to the southwest, and the Hinge zone was subparallel to Dixie Limb, 50-200m to the southwest.

It said further deep drilling was planned as part of its fully-funded, C$21 million exploration programme at Dixie.

The company is among the nominees for Mining Journal 2020 Explorer-Developer of the Year.

Great Bear shares, which were worth $2.25 a year ago, hit a fresh high of $13.19 intraday before closing up 8.4% to $11.98, to capitalise it at $575 million (US$410 million).