­ Battle North Gold Corporation provided an update on its 2021 Red Lake exploration plans. The Company plans to conduct exploration activity on its high-priority targets on its Red Lake Properties and announced that drilling at its highly prospective McCuaig target has commenced. In 2021, Battle North is committing up to CAD 7 million on exploration of its Red Lake Properties and its key String of Pearls targets ­ the McFinley and Pen Zones. The Company has planned up to 22,000 metres ("m") of drilling in 2021. Battle North's Red Lake Properties consist of more than 288 square kilometres ("km") of contiguous, prime exploration land in the Red Lake Gold District, the second largest holdings in the district. The Red Lake Properties lay on the heart of the major gold-bearing structural trends of the district. These trends host most of the Red Lake belt's gold occurrences and historical and current gold production in the district, including the Mine Trend, the East Bay Trend, the Post Narrows Trend, the Pipe Stone Bay Trend, the Rivard Trend, the Newman-Todd Trend and the Howey Bay Trend. The Company has not conducted significant exploration work on its Red Lake Properties in more than 10 years. McCuaig is located approximately 8 km southwest of the Bateman Gold Project ("Project"). Humlin South is located approximately 7 km southwest of the McCuaig target. In early February, Battle North commenced drilling at the McCuaig target, its top priority, and expects to commence drilling at the Humlin South target upon completion of the McCuaig drilling. Historical drilling at McCuaig demonstrated signatures of high-grade mineralization. Favourable host rocks similar to Red Lake, Campbell and Cochenour mines (collectively, the "Red Lake Operations") are found at both the McCuaig and Humlin South targets. Promising structural setting at McCuaig, with the Mine Trend and Post Narrows Trend intersecting. Complex structural intersections north of the Madsen/PureGold Red Lake Mine are found in the Humlin South target area. Adjacent to major regional unconformities, a common association with significant Archean gold deposits for both the McCuaig and Humlin South targets. Work program: Data compilation and digitization. Field mapping/sampling. Interpolation and model update. 5,500 m (McCuaig 2,500 m; Humlin 3,000 m) of drilling to test the targets. The Company will also be conducting exploration work on other highly-prospective targets including Adams Lake and targets on the Post Narrows Trend (DMC, Humlin North, and Red Lake North). These work programs will consist of data compilation, digitization, field mapping, sampling, and interpretation/model updates. The McFinley and Pen Zones continue to demonstrate strong exploration upside and the potential to provide incremental mill feed to the Project due to their close proximity to the Project's existing infrastructure. Battle North recently declared a McFinley Zone Mineral Resource estimate1 and is on schedule to provide a maiden Mineral Resource estimate at the Pen Zone by the end of Q1/2021; both zones remain open along strike and at depth. The Company is planning up to 6,400 m of drilling in 2021. Drilling will be focused on testing the depth extensions of these zones, potentially expanding current McFinley Mineral Resource estimate and anticipated Pen Zone Mineral Resource estimate, as well as infill drilling at the McFinley Zone.