Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is very
pleased to update investors on the latest tranche of results from
the Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at its advanced Rodruin gold
exploration project. Rodruin is located in the Company’s 100% owned
Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat” or the “Concession”), in the
Eastern Desert of Egypt.
Highlights:
- Diamond drilling is ongoing at
Rodruin, with 21 drill holes having been completed to date, ROD-048
and ROD-051 to ROD-070, for a total of 1,992 metres;
- Drill holes ROD-056 to ROD-061 were
drilled to test the Central Buttress Zone, an outcropping body of
gossanous and mineralised carbonate rock;
- Drill hole ROD-056 was mineralised
over its entire length from collar to end of hole and returned a
mineralised intersection of 129.50m grading 1.00 g/t Au and 8.8 g/t
Ag;
- Other drill holes also returned
wide mineralised intersections including 86.60m grading 0.76 g/t Au
and 6.3 g/t Ag (hole ROD-057), 45.93m grading 0.93 g/t Au and 3.8
g/t Ag (hole ROD-059), and 85.40m grading 0.66 g/t Au and 10.2 g/t
Ag (hole ROD-061);
- These results continue to confirm
that a substantial block of predominantly gossanous carbonate
hosted oxide gold mineralisation outcrops at surface at the Central
Buttress Zone at Rodruin.
“We continue to be very pleased with the assay
results from the Rodruin diamond drilling programme as they come
in,” said Tonno Vahk, Interim CEO. “These latest results again back
up our long held interpretation of there being zones of bulk open
pittable oxide mineralisation at Rodruin, starting from surface,
and we are working hard to quantify these in a maiden MRE as soon
as practically possible. We are also very excited by some of the
strong copper-zinc sulphide mineralisation which we are currently
drilling at depth, and this gives us the belief that there is also
going to be a really quite substantial primary sulphide resource at
Rodruin, which we are now starting to unlock.”
Rodruin diamond drilling
programme
The Rodruin prospect was discovered in December
2017 by Aton geologists (see news release dated December 14, 2017),
and is located approximately 18km east of the Company’s Hamama West
mineral deposit (Figure 1). During 2018, Aton constructed a c.
4.5km access road to the prospect, and undertook a highly
successful 50 hole Phase 1 reverse circulation percussion (“RC”)
drilling programme at Rodruin, which returned mineralised
intersections including 36m grading 12.47 g/t Au and 9.3 g/t Ag,
from 5m downhole depth (hole ROP-003, see news release dated
October 1, 2018) and 61m grading 1.55 g/t Au and 8.9 g/t Ag, from
111m (hole ROP-050, see news release dated January 29, 2019).
The Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at
Rodruin commenced in late November 2021, and results reported to
date include 48.00m grading 1.97 g/t Au and 5.3 g/t Ag, from 27.0m
in hole ROD-052 (see news release dated January 25, 2022), and
88.25m grading 1.74 g/t Au and 9.7 g/t Ag, from 25.75m in hole
ROD-055 (see news release dated March 1, 2022).
Discussion of results
Drill holes ROD-056 to ROD-061 were all drilled
horizontally or at shallow angles at the Central Buttress Zone
(“CBZ”) at Rodruin, and were designed to test near-surface
gossanous carbonate associated mineralisation (Figure 2). Collar
and survey details of the holes are provided in Table 1.
Hole ID |
Collar co-ordinates 1 |
Dip 2 |
Grid azimuth 2 |
EOH depth (m) |
Comments |
X |
Y |
Z |
ROD-056 |
552685 |
2912801 |
780 |
-5.3 |
355 |
125.90 |
CBZ / Spiral Pit Zone |
ROD-057 |
552693 |
2913013 |
722 |
-1.1 |
192 |
106.00 |
Lower CBZ |
ROD-058 |
552689 |
2913015 |
722 |
-24.4 |
208 |
80.00 |
Lower CBZ |
ROD-059 |
552715 |
2912977 |
723 |
-0.9 |
285 |
82.80 |
Lower CBZ |
ROD-060 |
552650 |
2913045 |
724 |
-5.3 |
181 |
109.20 |
CBZ |
ROD-061 |
552723 |
2912910 |
733 |
-0.9 |
286 |
125.60 |
Lower CBZ |
Notes: 1) Collar
co-ordinates as laid out using handheld
GPS 2) Collar
surveys of drill holes undertaken at c. 5-6m depth, using Reflex
EZ-Trac survey
tool 3) All
co-ordinates are UTM (WGS84) Zone 36R |
Table 1: Collar details of diamond
drill holes ROD-056 to ROD-061
All holes, except ROD-060, intersected wide
zones of gold(-silver) mineralisation on the CBZ, with hole ROD-056
returning a mineralised intersection of 129.50m grading
1.00 g/t Au and 8.8 g/t Ag, over its entire length from
collar to end of hole (Figure 2). Details of intersections from
holes ROD-056 to ROD-061 are provided in Table 2. This intersection
confirms the results from channel sampling profile ROC-031, which
returned a mineralised intersection of 127m grading 1.33 g/t Au and
7.3 g/t Ag from the same area (see news release dated November 3,
2021).
It is also noted that hole ROD-056 encountered a
wide zone of voids and cavities between 107.5-118.5m, believed to
be related to collapsed and back-filled ancient mine workings. For
the purposes of intersection calculation such zones with poor core
recovery were allocated zero grades, although the backfill within
the ancient workings is typically well mineralised, as has been
demonstrated by previous surface sampling at Rodruin. In total,
14.3m of voids and backfilled cavities from hole ROD-056 related to
the ancient mine workings were allocated zero grade.
Hole ID |
Intersection (m) 1 |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
Cu (%) |
Pb (%) |
Zn (%) |
Comments |
From |
To |
Interval |
ROD-056 |
0.00 |
129.50 |
129.50 |
1.00 |
8.8 |
0.03 |
0.01 |
0.60 |
Entire length of hole, includes 14.3m voids/ workings, not sampled.
Voids/collapsed workings between 107.5-118.5m |
incl. |
3.13 |
37.05 |
33.92 |
1.19 |
10.0 |
0.09 |
0.03 |
1.76 |
incl. |
53.96 |
94.70 |
40.74 |
1.54 |
8.9 |
0.01 |
0.02 |
0.25 |
incl. |
118.50 |
125.90 |
7.40 |
1.47 |
24.7 |
0.01 |
0.00 |
0.25 |
ROD-057 |
12.65 |
99.25 |
86.60 |
0.76 |
6.3 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.13 |
Includes 0.75m of voids/workings |
incl. |
14.70 |
20.96 |
6.26 |
3.67 |
3.0 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.16 |
incl. |
82.22 |
99.25 |
17.03 |
0.87 |
10.2 |
0.01 |
0.02 |
0.25 |
ROD-058 |
23.29 |
65.10 |
41.81 |
0.47 |
5.8 |
0.04 |
0.12 |
0.47 |
|
ROD-059 |
22.57 |
68.50 |
45.93 |
0.93 |
3.8 |
0.04 |
0.08 |
0.51 |
Includes 3.38m of voids/workings |
incl. |
44.80 |
68.50 |
23.70 |
1.45 |
5.3 |
0.07 |
0.14 |
0.89 |
|
77.92 |
82.80 |
4.88 |
0.48 |
13.1 |
0.02 |
0.18 |
0.17 |
To EOH |
ROD-060 |
29.85 |
37.20 |
7.35 |
0.38 |
6.7 |
0.01 |
0.08 |
0.11 |
NSA > 0.95 g/t Au |
|
77.70 |
80.70 |
3.00 |
0.81 |
2.1 |
0.06 |
0.20 |
0.22 |
ROD-061 |
15.70 |
101.10 |
85.40 |
0.66 |
10.2 |
0.01 |
0.02 |
0.18 |
|
incl. |
15.70 |
31.50 |
15.80 |
1.11 |
11.2 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.20 |
|
incl. |
50.60 |
59.60 |
9.00 |
1.16 |
13.7 |
0.04 |
0.13 |
0.37 |
|
|
112.80 |
115.95 |
3.15 |
1.17 |
13.0 |
0.07 |
0.01 |
0.73 |
|
Notes: 1) Intersections
calculated at a nominal cutoff grade of 0.3 g/t Au in runs of
continuous
mineralisation 2) Zones
of poor (or no) recovery through ancient mining voids/workings were
not sampled, and allocated zero grade |
Table 2: Mineralised intersections
from diamond drill holes ROD-056 to ROD-061
Other notable intersections from the holes being
reported include 86.60m grading 0.76 g/t Au and 6.3 g/t
Ag, from 12.65m (hole ROD-057), 45.93m grading
0.93 g/t Au and 3.8 g/t Ag, from 22.57m (hole ROD-059),
and 85.40m grading 0.66 g/t Au and 10.2 g/t Ag,
from 15.70m (hole ROD-061).
The results from this latest set of holes being
reported again confirm the presence of wide zones of near-surface
gold(-silver) mineralisation associated with gossanous carbonate
rocks at Rodruin. It is anecdotally noted that grades appear to be
increasing towards the southern and upper CBZ, higher up on and
towards the top of the South Ridge. Previous RC drill intersections
included 31m @ 2.45 g/t Au and 12.5 g/t Ag (hole ROP-034, see news
release dated January 3, 2018) and 34m @ 2.00 g/t Au (hole
ROP-033). These latest results again confirm the potential for a
significant volume of oxide mineralisation at the Central Buttress
Zone at Rodruin. This mineralisation outcrops over a wide area at
surface and this near-surface mineralisation will be readily
amenable to open pit mining methods with very low strip ratios.
The current diamond drilling programme has been
designed with the objective of testing the potential near surface
open pittable resources at the CBZ as well as the Aladdin’s Hill
area (see news release dated March 1, 2022), and the GF Zone
(Figure 2), which has not yet been drilled in this programme. The
drilling is currently focussed on testing the deeper primary
sulphide expressions of the near surface mineralisation, and strong
primary copper-zinc sulphide mineralisation has now been identified
in a second deep hole. The Company will continue to release new
drill results as they become available.
Sample processing and analytical
procedures
Drill core was logged by Aton geologists and
marked up for cutting and sampling at the Rodruin core farm.
Samples were typically selected over nominal 1m intervals, but as
determined by the logged lithologies. The core was half-cut by Aton
staff onsite at the recently constructed onsite Rodruin sample
preparation laboratory.
Full half-core samples were collected and bagged
up in cloth bags, weighed and crushed to -4mm onsite, and split to
a nominal c. 250-500g sample size. The coarse crushed reject
samples are retained onsite at the Rodruin sample prep lab.
The c. 250-500g dried, crushed and split samples
were shipped to ALS Minerals sample preparation facility at Marsa
Alam, Egypt where they were pulverised to a size fraction of better
than 85% passing 75 microns. From this pulverised material a
further sub-sample was split off with a nominal c. 50g size, which
was shipped on to ALS Minerals at Rosia Montana, Romania for
analysis.
Samples were analysed for gold by fire assay
with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (“AAS”) finish (analytical
code Au-AA23), and for silver, copper, lead and zinc using an aqua
regia digest followed by an AAS finish (analytical code AA45). High
grade gold samples (>10 g/t Au) were re-analysed using
analytical code Au-GRA21 (also fire assay, but with a gravimetric
finish). High grade Ag and base metal samples (Ag >100 g/t, and
Cu, Pb and Zn >10,000ppm or >1%) were re-analysed using the
ore grade technique AA46 (also an aqua regia digest followed by an
AAS finish).
About Aton Resources Inc.
Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) is focused on
its 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat”), located in
Egypt’s Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200 km north of
Centamin’s world-class Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified
numerous gold and base metal exploration targets at Abu Marawat,
including the Hamama deposit in the west, the Abu Marawat deposit
in the northeast, and the advanced Rodruin exploration prospect in
the south of the Concession. Two historic British gold mines are
also located on the Concession at Sir Bakis and Semna. Aton has
identified several distinct geological trends within Abu Marawat,
which display potential for the development of a variety of styles
of precious and base metal mineralisation. Abu Marawat is 447.7 km2
in size and is located in an area of excellent infrastructure; a
four-lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline are in
close proximity, as are the international airports at Hurghada and
Luxor.
Qualified person
The technical information contained in this News
Release was prepared by Javier Orduña BSc (hons), MSc, MCSM, DIC,
MAIG, SEG(M), Exploration Manager of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Orduña
is a qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101
Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
For further information regarding Aton Resources
Inc., please visit us at www.atonresources.com or contact:
TONNO VAHK
Interim CEOTel: +1 604 318 0390 Email:
info@atonresources.com
Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Some of the statements contained in this release
are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements
address future events and conditions; by their very nature they
involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each
case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in
such statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b617e342-ee96-4f06-a1c2-c98c3f6d610a
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b6a56e19-9845-48a1-93f8-aa5f7c3c7952
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