C:CC - Contact Gold Enters Into US$10m Earn-In With Centerra Gold On The Green Springs Gold Project Cortez Trend Nevada

(TheNewswire)

Vancouver, BC - TheNewswire - December 9, 2022 - Contact Gold Corp. (the“Company” or “Contact Gold”) (TSXV:C ) ( OTC:CGOLF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a four-year,US$10 million earn-in agreement (the “ Earn-in Agreement ”)with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centerra Gold Inc. (“ Centerra ”) (TSX:CG)(NYSE:CGAU) on the Company’s Green Springs oxide gold projectlocated on Nevada’s Cortez Trend (“ Green Springs ”).

Pursuant to the Earn-in Agreement, Centerra has anoption to acquire a 70% interest in Green Springs for cumulativeearn-in exploration expenditures of US$10,000,000 and aggregate cashpayments to the Company of US$1,000,000. The first-year workcommitment of US$1,500,000 is guaranteed.

Contact Gold will remain project manager at GreenSprings, with exploration led by Contact Gold’s Vice President ofExploration, Vance Spalding.

“We are very happy to be partnering with Centerra onthe Green Springs project.  Centerra is a renowned international goldproducer, and their partnership at Green Springs will allow us tosignificantly accelerate exploration at the project far beyond whatContact Gold can accomplish in the current market.” said MattLennox-King, President & CEO of Contact Gold. “Securingmulti-year funding for Green Springs allows Contact Gold to give theGreen Springs project the amount of exploration work it needs, anddedicate additional capital to our resource-stage Pony Creek goldproject, located on Nevada’s prolific Carlin Trend.”

Highlights

• Centerra has made a cash payment of US$150,000 toContact Gold to secure the option.

• Centerra will solely fund a minimum commitment( MinimumCommitment ”) of US$1,500,000 in explorationexpenditures during the first year of the earn-in, or pay thedifference to Contact Gold in cash.

• To satisfy the earn-in, Centerra shall make a total ofUS$10,000,000 in exploration expenditures over a four-year timeframe,and pay annual cash payments to Contact Gold totallingUS$1,000,000.

• Contact Gold will be the project manager forexploration at Green Springs for the first year of the Earn-inAgreement (thereafter Centerra has the right to be project manager),and shall collect a management fee based on eligible expendituresthrough the earn-in.

• The next phase of exploration, including follow-updrilling is expected to commence in Q1 2023.  The Company hasidentified multiple drill targets, and the necessary permitting tobegin the 2023 program is already in place.

Contact Gold has been advancing Green Springs since2019, and has drilled 132 holes for 16,769 metres in that time. Drilling by the Company has delivered new oxide gold discoveries atthe X-Ray and Tango Zones, and has extended the historic Mine Trend tothe South, where it remains open for further expansion.  The MineTrend at Green Springs is a 3 km long trend of outcropping or shallowoxidized gold mineralization hosted within the Chainman Shale whereUSMX mined high grade oxide gold in the 1980’s from three smallpits, highlighted by the high-grade Echo Zone at the southern end ofthe Mine Trend.  The underlying Pilot Shale also hosts goldmineralization beneath the Mine Trend, and has to date, seen limiteddrilling.

Earn In Terms

Upon satisfaction of the US$10,000,00 explorationexpenditure commitment and payment to Contact Gold of the aggregateUS$1,000,000 cash payments, the parties will form a joint venture tohold and operate the property, and each party shall proportionatelyfund or dilute future activities at Green Springs. Should ContactGold's interest be diluted to less than 10%, then that interest willconvert to a 1.5% Net Smelter Returns Royalty interest.

For a location map ofthe Green Springs project, please click:

https://www.contactgold.com/_resources/news/nr-20221208-Contact-Gold-Project-locaiton-map.jpg

For a property map of Green Springs showing zones andtarget areas, please click:

https://www.contactgold.com/_resources/news/nr-20221208-Contact-Gold-Green-Springs-map.jpg

About the Green SpringsProject:

Contact Gold signed apurchase option agreement with Ely Gold Royalties Inc., now asubsidiary of Gold Royalty Corp. (NYSE American: GROY) to acquire anundivided 100% interest in Green Springs in July 2019 (see theCompany’s news release dated July24, 2019 ) for details relating to theagreement with Ely Gold. After entering into the Earn-In Agreementwith Centerra, Contact Gold will complete the remaining steps tocomplete the purchase option on Green Springs.

Green Springs is located near the southern end of theCortez Trend of Carlin-type gold deposits in White Pine County,Nevada, 20 km southeast of Calibre Mining’s Pan Mine and 7 kmimmediately east of their Gold Rock Project, and south of Waterton'sMount Hamilton deposit. The Green Springs property is 18.36km 2 encompassing 3 shallow past producing open pits and numerous targetsthat were not mined.  Gold mineralization at Green Springs is hostedwithin the same Chainman Shale and Pilot Shale units hosting Gold Rockand Pan. The Green Springs project produced high-grade oxide gold fromtwo open pits in the 1980’s, and is host to multiple, near-surfaceCarlin Type gold zones and exploration targets.

The 2022 drill program at Green Springs wrapped up inlate June with 23 holes completed for 2,123 metres, and was dedicatedto growing the high-grade Tango, X-Ray, and B-C Gap oxide golddiscoveries made by Contact Gold in 2021.

Green Springs is an early-stage exploration propertyand does not contain any mineral resource estimates as defined byNational Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). There has been insufficient exploration to define amineral resource estimate at Green Springs. Additional informationabout Green Springs is summarized in the NI 43-101 Technical Reportentitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Green Springs Project,White Pine County, Nevada, USA” prepared for Contact Gold, with aneffective date of June 12, 2020, and dated August 5, 2020, as preparedby John J. Read, C.P.G; an independent consultant and qualified personunder NI 43-101, and can be viewed under Contact Gold’s issuerprofile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

The scientific and technical information contained inthis news release has been reviewed and approved by Vance Spalding,CPG, VP Exploration, Contact Gold, who is a “qualified person”within the meaning of NI 43-101.

About Contact Gold Corp.

Contact Gold is an exploration company focused onmaking district scale gold discoveries in Nevada.  Contact Gold’sextensive land holdings are on the prolific Carlin and Cortez goldtrends which host numerous gold deposits and mines. Contact Gold’sland position comprises approximately 144 km 2 of target richmineral tenure hosting numerous known gold occurrences, ranging fromearly- to advanced-exploration and current gold resources.

Additional information about the Company is availableat www.contactgold.com .

For more information, please contact: +1 (604)449-3361

Matthew Lennox-King – President & CEO

E-mail: info@ContactGold.com

Neither the TSXV nor its RegulationServices Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of theTSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release. Nostock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authorityhas approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Cautionary Note RegardingForward-Looking Information

This news release contains"forward-looking information" and "forward-lookingstatements" (collectively, "forward-lookingstatements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadiansecurities legislation. All statements, other than statements ofhistorical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based onexpectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this newsrelease. Any statement that involves discussions with respect topredictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives,assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always usingphrases such as "expects", or "does not expect","is expected", "anticipates" or "does notanticipate", "plans", "budget","scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates","believes" or "intends" or variations of suchwords and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results"may" or "could", "would","might" or "will" be taken to occur or beachieved) are not statements of historical fact and may beforward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-lookingstatements relate, among other things, to the anticipated explorationactivities of the Company at the Green Springs and Pony Creekproperties, the timing of payment to Ely Gold of the final payment tosatisfy the earn-in to Green Springs, and the ultimate satisfaction ofthe earn-in by Centerra at Green Springs.

These forward-looking statements arebased on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of theCompany at the time such statements were made. Actual future resultsmay differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known andunknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause theactual results, performance or achievements of the Company tomaterially differ from any future results, performance or achievementsexpressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors,among other things, include: impacts arising from the globaldisruption by the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak; fluctuations ingeneral macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets;fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, silver, base metalsor certain other commodities; fluctuations in currency markets (suchas the Canadian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate); changein national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls,regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazardsassociated with the business of mineral exploration, development andmining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusualor unexpected formations pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inabilityto obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presenceof laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining;employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communitiesand indigenous populations; availability of increasing costsassociated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature ofmineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtainingnecessary licenses, permits and approvals from governmentauthorities); and title to properties. Although the forward-lookingstatements contained in this news release are based upon whatmanagement of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to bereasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders thatactual results will be consistent with such forward-lookingstatements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to beas anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place unduereliance on the forward-looking statements and information containedin this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update theforward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or otherfactors, should they change, except as required by law.

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