Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd.: Drilling in the Northeast Block Confirms New Targeting Model and Highlights Potential for Another Large Bralorne-style Narrow Vein Gold System

Press Release

April 01, 2019

Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (ASM: TSX/NYSE American; GV6: FSE; “Avino” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce further results from the drilling campaign at the Bralorne Gold Mine located near Gold Bridge, British Columbia. As planned, at the start of 2019, the exploration program shifted focus from exploring known veins to making new discoveries in underexplored areas that share similar geological structural attributes to the Bralorne, Pioneer and King Mines. New conceptual insights have opened up the validity of a large block of land north-east of the Ferguson fault, referred to as the North East (“NE”) Block. This area is now considered by Avino to have high potential to host another large Bralorne-style narrow vein gold system.

The comprehensive structural review undertaken by Avino at Bralorne has delivered valuable geological insights and resulted in a new conceptual targeting model which highlights the potential for the discovery of another large Bralorne-style narrow vein gold system. Initial drilling results from the NE Block obtained in Q1 2019 have confirmed the presence of a significant network of gold-bearing quartz veins and validated Avino’s new conceptual targeting model. Drilling has only just begun to test the mineralization potential of the NE Block and approximately 13,500 metres of drilling remain within the current exploration program which will continue until Q4 2019.

Drilling began in the NE Block on January 11, 2019 and 16 holes have now been completed. Multiple gold-bearing veins have been intersected along 1,200 metres of prospective strike length within what Avino considers to be part of a larger vein system. Assay results from 11 holes into the NE Block have now been received, along with the remaining results from Q4 2018 drilling which includes 2 holes into the 27 Vein extension target, 4 holes from the Ned’s vein target, and 3 holes in the King mine area. Drilling will continue to delineate the significant vein system in the NE Block over the coming months targeting potentially high grade gold veins.

The Company is using the gross proceeds of CDN $6,000,000 raised from the Flow-through share offering which closed on April 27, 2018 to fund the exploration work. The news release dated April 27, 2018 describing the offering may be viewed on the Avino website or under the Company’s profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and was also filed with the SEC on Form 6-K.

Flow-through funds for this campaign are available to be used by December 31, 2019. An estimated CDN $4.4 million will be spent on approximately 24,000 to 28,000 metres of diamond drilling and is planned in two phases, as described below:

• Phase One Drilling, Q4 2018 through Q1 2019 – Targeting underexplored portions of known veins

• Phase Two Drilling, Q1 to Q4 2019 – Targeting new discoveries in unexplored portions of the property

“We are very encouraged by initial assay results from drilling of the NE Block target area and are excited about the implications of our new conceptual model which has opened up a large area of highly prospective tenure. We look forward to receiving additional assays and sharing continued progress from the drill program,” said David Wolfin, Avino’s President and CEO.

Drilling Campaign – NE Block Target Initial Results

Building on the detailed structural review launched in mid-2018, Avino has developed a new conceptual model for the formation of the Bralorne-Pioneer vein system. This new model has significantly expanded the footprint of the prospective structural corridor which is shown in the blue area on Figure 1, Click on this link to view as the result of an underlapping step over of the major crustal-scale Cadwallader fault. This prospective structural corridor is considered to have focused faulting and veining and was responsible for the creation of the Bralorne-Pioneer vein system which has reported historical production of 4.15 M oz Au.

Historical exploration and production on the property was largely limited within the Bralorne Mine Block which lies between the Cadwallader and Ferguson faults. The historically defined Bralorne Mine Block occurs in the southern half of the larger prospective structural corridor. The NE Block which occurs on the north-east side of the Ferguson fault had remained highly underexplored despite being comprised of similar favorable host rocks to the Bralorne Mine Block and being situated within what Avino now considers to be the larger prospective structural corridor (see Figure 1 above).

Within the current exploration campaign newly acquired geological and geophysical datasets, including airborne magnetics, an updated geological bedrock map, LiDAR topography and detailed structural analysis have now been completed. Personnel have been dedicated to compile and digitize the vast historic mining datasets from the Bralorne, Pioneer and King mines which includes exploration drilling (>2,420 holes for >240,700 metres), underground drift assay data (>45,000 composite assays), detailed geological drift plans, structural data (>5,000 measurements) and surface geochemical sampling (>11,000 samples). All geological and geophysical datasets have been integrated into a 3D geological model and utilized to develop and refine a well-supported targeting strategy.

New insights from this work have led Avino to consider that the NE Block, which covers an area approximately 3 kilometres long by 400 – 500 metres wide, has excellent exploration potential to host another large Bralorne-style narrow vein gold system. Most of the NE Block is covered by a thin layer (5 – 15 metres) of glacial till with limited bedrock exposure and as such has remained highly underexplored.

Only minor historic underground exploration has been completed within the NE block. This consists of limited exploration drifts from the King Mine 8 and 20 levels with minor exploration drilling. The Peter Mine is located at the far western end of the NE Block and this was developed between 2003 and 2005 with a small amount of underground test mining.

Historic exploration drilling in the NE Block has been extremely limited considering the large size of the prospective area. Exploration drilling within the NE Block totaled approximately 108 holes for 14,200 metres of which the majority was completed in the Peter Mine area. Beyond the immediate Peter Mine area only 41 holes for 6,415 metres have been completed in the greater NE Block. When contrasting this with the extensive exploration drilling (a minimum of 2,200 holes for 213,000 metres), drifting (approximately 80 kilometres) and production completed within the Bralorne Mine Block, the NE Block is considered by Avino to be grossly underexplored.

Phase Two drilling commenced in January 2019 targeting new discoveries in unexplored portions of the property and began in the NE Block.

Assay results from the first 11 holes in the NE Block target area have now been received and significant gold-bearing quartz veins have been intersected in 8 of the first 11 holes, see Figure 2 Click on this link to view. Drilling intersections that cover an initial strike length of 1,200 metres have begun to define what Avino considers to be part of a larger Bralorne-style narrow vein gold system. Results support the validity of the company’s new conceptual model and demonstrate the potential of the newly defined NE Block.

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