TSX-V: AU
OTCQX: AIRRF
- Three potential zones of gold mineralization identified at
Kaaresselkä.
- Potential gold-bearing structure linking Aamurusko to
Notches identified in till sampling on 2.5 km long magnetic
anomaly.
- Recent discoveries on Rupert Resources' property drilled
approximately 200 m from the property
boundary with Aurion's Kutuvuoma JV with B2 Gold Corp.
ST. JOHN'S, NL, July 20, 2020 /CNW/ - Aurion Resources
Ltd. (TSXV: AU) (OTCQX: AIRRF) ("Aurion" or the
"Company") is pleased to report the results of recent work
completed to advance several targets on its wholly owned Risti
property. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and the reduced field
program at its properties in Finland, the Company has been able to complete
significant desktop data review and compilation on several targets
highlighting their individual prospectivity and the overall
district scale potential of the Risti property.
Since the initial discovery of high-grade gold mineralization at
Aamurusko in late 2016 the Company has discovered extensive surface
gold mineralization over an area of approximately 9 kilometres (km)
by 15 km in a setting previously unrecognized as having potential
for orogenic gold. One of the targets identified is the advanced
Kaaresselkä prospect located roughly 4 km to the south of
Aamurusko, which was acquired from a 3rd party in 2017. The
Company compiled and re-interpreted all historical drill data from
three separate zones into a 3D model, generating numerous drill
targets.
Reconnaissance base of till (BoT) and heavy mineral concentrate
(HMC) sampling completed in the overburden-covered gap area between
Aamurusko and Notches, called "Niligap", has identified new targets
for follow-up.
Finally, Rupert Resources' (TSX-V: RUP) new Ikkari and Heina
discoveries, drilled near the Company's Kutuvuoma Joint Venture
(JV) property boundary suggests mineralization continues to the
west onto the JV property. In addition, the Company noted that the
same structural and stratigraphic setting occurs for approximately
16 km on Risti, from Risti NW to Notches.
Highlights:
- At Kaaresselkä, previous drilling completed by the GTK
(Finnish Geological Survey) and Tertiary Minerals identified three
zones of gold mineralization over an area of approximately 1.0 km
by 0.6 km all within 150 m of
surface.
- In the Niligap Zone, 41 HMCs from BoT samples were
collected along an approximately 2.5 km long high magnetic feature
that suggests geologic continuity from Aamurusko to Notches.
-
- All the samples were above the 95th percentile for
the distribution of gold grains in till samples in the Central
Lapland Greenstone Belt
- Other Regional Targets: Aurion has identified a 16 km
long northern basin bounding structure, which is a contact between
the Kumpu and Savukoski Groups that appears to be the same
unconformity that is present in the area of Rupert Minerals' recent
discovery.
- Launi: Assays are currently pending on holes drilled at
the Company's wholly owned Launi East property.
- The company is fully funded for 2020.
Kaaresselkä
Kaaresselkä is a road accessible advanced gold prospect
approximately 4 km south of Aamurusko Main. It was originally
discovered through BoT sampling by the Finnish Geological Survey
(GTK) in 1987. There are 127 historical drill holes (GTK drilled
112 and Tertiary Minerals drilled 15) totaling 8,900 m including 7 RC drill holes and 120
diamond drill holes. Drilling intersected a number of high-grade
intercepts including 11.01 g/t Au over 4.90
m. Aurion acquired the project from Tertiary Minerals in
2017.
Additional work by Aurion on the Kaaresselkä Project included
re-logging of all drill holes, oriented core measurements, a
detailed ground magnetic survey, whole rock geochemistry, GIS
compilation and integration of historical data into 3D modelling
software. This compilation work has allowed for a reinterpretation
of the geology and a better understanding of the property's
potential. The main host lithology is strongly altered and sheared
mafic volcanics, which is a classic setting for major orogenic gold
deposits.
Three individual zones, Vanha, Tienvarsi and Lampi, are found in
a 1 km x 0.6 km area. Historical drilling was shallow with gaps
along the strike of the zones. Aurion's additional analysis
suggests there is excellent potential along strike and down dip of
these gold-bearing structures.
At Vanha, a 500 m long east-west
trending mineralized zone was drilled to a depth of 140 m and appears to be open in both directions
along strike and at depth.
At Tienvarsi, drilling identified a 400
m long northwest to southeast trending mineralized zone to a
depth of 96 m. Mineralization at
Tienvarsi appears to be open in all directions.
At Lampi, drilling identified two proximal 200 m long mineralized zones to only 100 m depth. Mineralization at Lampi appears to
be open in all directions.
Aurion is currently planning a confirmation drill program at
Kaaresselkä for later this summer.
Figure
1: https://aurionresources.com/site/assets/files/1353/aunr20_10figures.pdf
Niligap Zone
Niligap is a 2.5 km long gap between the Aamurusko prospect,
where Aurion has drilled multiple high-grade gold intercepts,
including 2.89 m of 789 g/t
Au, and the Notches prospect, a 5 km by 1 km area where over
2,669 angular boulders and outcrop samples averaging
approximately 2.2 g/t Au were collected. The gap area is
covered with thick glacial till.
In 2019, Aurion completed a BoT and HMC sampling program using
an excavator to dig test pits on 10-200
m spacings. Forty-one (41) samples were collected primarily
to test a 2.5 km section of an east-west trending magnetic high
between Aamurusko Main and Notches as well as provide information
on the glacial drift stratigraphy. The highest gold counts were
along the magnetic high, which may represent a volcanic
conglomerate unit, proximal to the unconformable contact between
the older Sodankylä Group volcanics and the younger Kumpu Group
sedimentary rocks. Indicator mineral sample size was 5 litres
(about 10 kg) and samples were preconcentrated with a Knelson
Concentrator and panned for microscope grain counting. The
recovered gold grains, which are up to 0.6 mm in size, are mostly
pristine, indicating short transport distances. Grain counts were
from 31 to 106 grains, which are all above the 95th
percentile (27 grains) of historic regional heavy mineral sampling
by Outokumpu (former state mining company) in the Central Lapland
Greenstone Belt. These results highlight the gold anomalous nature
of the Niligap zone and provide additional evidence of a potential
gold bearing structure present between Aamurusko and Notches.
Aurion is currently following up on the results with a wider
sampling program at Niligap.
Figures
2-4: https://aurionresources.com/site/assets/files/1353/aunr20_10figures.pdf
Other Regional Targets
The recent drill results announced by Rupert Resources (TSX-V:
RUP), at their new Ikkari and Heina discoveries, immediately
adjacent to Aurion's wholly owned Risti property and the Company's
Kutuvuoma Joint Venture (JV) with B2 Gold Corp. occur in a similar
geological setting that occurs on both of those properties, near
the contact between the young clastic sediments of the Kumpu group
and older volcanics and sediments of the Savukoski Group. These
discoveries were drilled approximately 200
m north of Aurion's Kutuvuoma JV property boundary and
appear to extend to the west onto the JV property. B2 Gold Corp. is
the operator of the JV and is currently drilling on the JV
properties, including Kutuvuoma.
In addition, a number of the structures are believed to continue
onto Aurion's Risti property and 16 km of the Kumpu-Savukoski
contact is present from the Risti Northwest (NW) target to Notches.
Previous sampling by Aurion, proximal to this contact in the Risti
NW target area, returned grab sample values of 27.0, 31.7 and 109
g/t Au from quartz blocks carrying visible gold (VG). Notches
refers to a 5 km long by 1 km wide outcrop ridge notched with four
lineaments identified from LIDAR imagery. Prospecting this ridge
lead to multiple gold showings in sub-cropping quartz veins. Over
2,669 surface grab samples that averaged 2.2 g/t Au were collected
over the 5,000 m2 area.
Aurion geologists note similar geology at Aamurusko and Notches,
which are on strike with one another and 2.5 km apart. Mechanical
trenching of surface gold showings at Notches exposed gold-bearing
stockwork, breccia and shear quartz veins and importantly,
gold-bearing conglomerate.
Aurion completed two drill holes in 2018 that targeted
gold-mineralized conglomerate and quartz veins that returned drill
core intercepts of 20.30 g/t Au over 0.65
m from 27.40 m (Drill hole
NT18006) and 2.99 g/t Au over 2.10 m
from 31.40 m (Drill hole
NT18005).
Easy road access and gentle topography at Notches allows for
efficient and cost-effective drilling. The Company is planning
additional surface exploration work on the northern structure and
at Notches to identify targets for potential drilling.
Comments
"The discovery of high-grade gold mineralization over a large
area affirms our belief in the district scale gold potential at
Risti. The recent work completed by our team has provided us with
additional evidence of this potential but also generated and
refined new and existing priority targets" says Mike Basha, Aurion's President. "At Kaaresselkä,
which has been dormant for many years, there are ore grades over
ore widths from multiple zones over several hundred metres strike
that are open along strike and at depth. We look forward to
following up on these results with further work, including
drilling."
Launi
Drilling on Launi East, which is located approximately 8 km to
the southeast of Risti, recently concluded to give the in-country
team time to catch up on a significant backlog of core to be
logged, cut and sent to the assay lab. Results will be announced
pending receipt of assays.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
All samples were delivered to ALS preparation facility in
Sodankyla, Finland where sample
preparation work was completed. All analytical work was completed
at ALS facility in Loughrea, Ireland and Rosia
Montana, Romania. ALS is an
internationally accredited lab and are ISO compliant (ISO
9001:2008, ISO/IEC 17025:2005). All samples were analyzed for gold
using the Au-AA26 procedure (50g fire assay with AAS finish: Lower
Detection Limit 0.01 g/t gold; Upper Limit – 100 g/t gold).
Any samples that returned over-limit values (>100 g/t gold) or
had visual indication of mineralization, such as visible gold or
prospective vein intervals (>100 g/t gold) were analyzed by
Au-SCR24 1kg, Screen Fire Assay Au
(0.05-1,000 ppm) by 1kg screen fire assay (50g nominal sample
weight). The sample pulp (1kg) is passed through a 100-micron
stainless steel screen. Any material remaining on the screen
(>100 micron) is retained and analyzed in its entirety by fire
assay with gravimetric finish and reported as the Au (+) fraction.
The material passing through the screen (<100 micron) is
homogenized and two sub-samples are analyzed by fire assay with AAS
finish. The average of the two AAS results is taken and reported as
the Au (-) fraction result. All three values are used in
calculating the combined gold content of the plus and minus
fractions. The gold values for both the (+) 100 and (-) 100 micron
fractions are reported together with the weight of each fraction as
well as the calculated total gold content of the sample.
Multi-element analysis (ME-ICP61, four-acid digestion, 35 element
ICP-AES) was completed on all samples. Certified standards and
blanks were inserted every 20 samples. ALS has its own QA/QC
protocol using standards, blanks and duplicates.
This news release has been prepared by Mike Basha, P.Eng., PGeo., President and
Andrew Hussey, P.Geo., GIS Geologist
and Database Manager for Aurion Resources, Qualified Persons as
defined by National Instrument 43-101. For more information on
these projects please visit our website at
www.aurionresources.com.
About Aurion Resources Ltd.
Aurion Resources Ltd. (Aurion) is a Canadian exploration company
listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V:AU). Aurion's strategy is
to generate or acquire early stage precious metals exploration
opportunities and advance them through direct exploration by our
experienced team or by business partnerships and joint venture
arrangements. Aurion's current focus is exploring on its Flagship
Risti and Launi projects, as well as advancing joint venture
arrangements with Kinross Gold Corp., B2 Gold Corp., and Strategic
Resources Inc. in Finland.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Michael Basha, President
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Aurion Resources Ltd.