Aurion Discovers New Gold Mineralization in Northern Finland
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ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND--(Marketwired - Jan 15, 2015) - Aurion Resources Ltd. ("Aurion") (TSX VENTURE:AU) is pleased to provide the following update on its inaugural Northern Finland exploration program conducted this past fall which included reconnaissance prospecting, geological mapping and trenching.
Highlights:
- High grade gold trend discovered at Ahvenjarvi; minimum 500 m strike length; selective rock chip sampling assays to 28 g/t Au
- Trenching extends gold mineralization at Kutuvuoma over 1000 m strike
- Angular boulder (grab sample)at Silasselka assayed 219 g/t Au.
Ahvenjarvi
Prospecting this past fall has outlined a new zone of gold mineralization (herein named "Quinlan Zone") at the company's wholly owned Ahvenjarvi property. A total of 62 widely spaced rock samples were collected over a distance of 500 m in a north-south direction, of which 49 were from bedrock, assaying from nil to 28.3 g/t Au (grams per tonne gold). Of the 62 samples, 17 assayed >1 g/t Au, 8 assayed > 5 g/t Au and 3 assayed >15 g/t Au. The average of all samples is 2.1 g/t Au. The gold mineralization is accompanied by elevated tellurium (Te).
The mineralization is comprised of a stockwork of mm to meter scale quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veins hosted by quartz-carbonate altered sandstone and conglomerate within a minimum 100 m wide zone of strong potassic (sericite and k-feldspar) alteration and iron oxide (magnetite and specular hematite) mineralization. The mineralization remains open in all directions.
The south end of the Quinlan zone lies 100 m east of a previously documented gold occurrence where trenching and shallow RC drilling in the 1980's outlined a similar style of mineralization over 125 m in an east-west trend. Best results from this historic work include 6.2 g/t Au over 3 m (trench) and 2.3 g/t Au over 3 m from RC drilling. A total of 11 RC drillholes were drilled to a maximum depth of 60 m.
Kutuvuoma
A mechanical trenching program at the Kutuvuoma project this past fall, has identified new gold mineralization, up to 650 m east and 360 m west of the main deposit. Trench 2, situated 90 m east of the deposit assayed 4.7 g/t Au over 8 m including 10.0 g/t Au over 1 m. Trench 8 situated a further 560 m east returned 3.1 g/t Au over 5.6 m, including 10.0 g/t Au over 1.0 m. Trench 4 located 360 west of the main zone assayed 5.3 g/t Au over 4 m including 11.6 g/t Au over 1 m. Trenching was hampered by deep overburden prohibiting reaching bedrock in many places, however, despite this the trenching program successfully extended the Kutuvuoma trend to over 1000 m in length and it remains open in both directions.
The mineralization consists primarily of pyrrhotite, pyrite and lesser chalcopyrite sulphide breccias and sulphide bearing quartz veins and quartz breccias within quartz-carbonate altered, meta-sedimentary and meta-volcanic rocks.
The new mineralization occurs in the same stratigraphic/structural position as the main Kutuvuoma deposit, demonstrating good lateral continuity.
The Kutuvuoma deposit is a high-grade, shear zone hosted gold deposit that was discovered in the mid-1990's by Outokumpu Oy, while exploring for base metals. Dragon Mining Oy ("Dragon") acquired the property from Outokumpu in 2003 as part of a large property and data package and aside from data compilation and reconnaissance mapping conducted no other exploration activities. Outokumpu drilled 47 shallow core and reverse circulation drillholes totalling 3425 m, testing Kutuvuoma approximately 175 m horizontally and 160 m vertically. The mineralization is associated with sulphidic quartz vein arrays and silicified meta-sediments and meta-volcanics and remains open in all directions. Free gold is common in the quartz veins.
The Kutuvuoma property covers 6.5 km of strike length over prospective geological sequences and regional structures associated with gold mineralization. Only 1.5 km has been explored with geochemical and geophysical surveys. Targets identified from anomalous gold and pathfinder elements in till and rock samples remain untested to the west and east of the Kutuvuoma deposit.
At the company's Poroaita zinc-lead-copper prospect located approximately 6.5 km southeast of Kutuvuoma, four samples collected from old trenches assayed 0.7 g/t Au to 11.8 g/t Au and 43 g/t Ag. The Poroaita prospect was discovered and drilled in the 1980's by the Finnish Geological Survey (GTK) and returned up to 1.8% Zn, 0.9% Pb and 0.14% Cu over 7.9 m from a 6-hole/450 m long drill program. It lies within a 10 km long trend parallel to the Kutuvuoma trend that has never been systematically explored for gold.
Silasselka
Signficant gold mineralization in angular quartz boulders was discovered during reconnaissance prospecting at the Silasselka project. Assays from 56 rock samples ranged from nil to 219 g/t Au. A 10 cm wide, seemingly barren, quartz vein collected from a 3 m by 5 m outcrop submerged in a shallow stream 40 m west and upstream of the high grade boulder assayed 2.2 g/t Au. Many of the samples were also anomalous in arsenic (As), with samples assaying from nil to 5410 ppm (parts per million). These samples were collected over a 6.5 km distance along the northern strike extension of the Hanhimaa Shear Zone (HSZ).
The HSZ south of Silasselka hosts several gold occurrences which have reported drill intersections of 4.5 g/t Au over 11.7 m and 5.9 g/t Au over 7.5 m (Dragon website). The HSZ lies west of and parallel to the Kiistila shear zone which is host to Agnico Eagle's Kittila Gold Mine (4.7 million ounces -Agnico annual report). Agnico is exploring the HSZ under an option and earn-in agreement with Dragon.
The property covers a 16 km long interpreted northern extension of the Hanhimaa Shear Zone. Aurion's discovery of high grade gold and anomalous As in numerous rock samples along the northern projection of the HSZ demonstrates the gold potential and the analog to Hanhimaa and particularly the Kittila deposit where gold mineralization is associated with As-bearing sulphides.
The Silasselkä project area was previously explored during the 1960's by Finnish entity Otanmäki Oy. They predominantly focussed on the vanadium potential outlining four vanadium-iron-titanium deposits which Dragon acquired in 2010. While the deposits of Fe-Ti-V mineralisation are significant and still under-explored, Aurion's primary interest in Silasselka is in the gold and PGE (Platinum Group Element) potential.
Aside from compilation and reconnaissance mapping by Dragon no exploration activities have been performed on the property since the 1960's.
Both the Silasselka and Kutuvuoma projects were acquired from Dragon in 2014 (Press release dated Sept 17, 2014).
Additional Tenements Acquired
Aurion has signed a definitive agreement with AA Sakatti Mining Oy a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American ("AA"), to purchase the Tara I and II tenements (Tepsa) covering 3,530 ha situated immediately west of and contiguous with the Kutuvuoma project in Finland.
The Tepsa property hosts several distinct Base of Till (BoT) Au-As-Cu-Ni geochemical anomalies, the largest of which is 1.5 km long and 50-200 m wide with individual BoT assays up to 1,135 ppb Au located along strike approximately 2.5 km NW of the Kutuvuoma main zone.
Anglo American subsequently completed a 673 line-km airborne VTEM geophysical survey, which also covered the western portion of Kutuvuoma, 1200 Base-of-Till (BoT) samples, local ground magnetics and HLEM geophysical surveys and seven drillholes (1354 m) testing coincident geophysical and Nickel BoT anomalies. The drilling results for Ni-PGM values were negligible but selective assaying for gold returned up to 1.5 g/t Au over 2.0 m but only five drillholes were sampled for assaying.
The financial consideration for the Tepsa purchase includes EUR50,000 and 1 million Aurion shares, subject to regulatory approval. AA retains a 1% Net Smelter Return (NSR) which can be purchased for EUR1 million. AA can also back-in to any future Ni-PGM discovery for three times Aurion's exploration expenditures or EUR1 million whichever is more. If there is appreciable gold in the backed-in Ni-PGM discovery Aurion will receive a sliding scale royalty of between EUR7 and EUR15 per ounce produced based on the market gold price.
Background
The aformentioned projects are situated in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt (CLGB) of Northern Finland and are accessible by road. The CLGB is a highly prospective, underexplored Proterozoic greenstone belt that hosts many gold, base metal, magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE prospects and deposits, including Agnico's Kitttilä Gold Mine (Reserves as of Dec 31 2012, 4.8 Million ounces grading 4.5 g/t Au per Agnico 2012 annual report)), First Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s Kevitsa Ni-Cu_PGM mine (Reserves as of Dec 31 2012 of >400 Mt 0.3% Ni, 0.4% Cu and 0.54 g/t combined Au-Pt-Pd per First Quantum Ltd. 2012 annual report) and the recently discovered Sakatti Ni-Cu-PGE deposit owned by Anglo American Plc (1-2 % Ni, 1-2% Cu, 0.5-1.0 g/t PGE, >100 million tonne (Anglo American Plc FEM Mining Conference presentation Nov 3 ,2011).
Finland was ranked number one and two in the Fraser Institute's top mining destination survey in 2012 and 2013 and is one of the most underexplored stable jurisdictions in the world. It is important to note that Finland only opened its border to foreign mining investment in the mid-1990s.
For more information on these projects please visit our website at www.aurionresources.com. Aurion intends to seek joint venture partners to advance these projects.
Other
Aurion is also pleased to announce the appointment of Matti Talikka to its board of directors. Matti is currently General Manager, Exploration for Dragon Mining Ltd.. Matti obtained his M.Sc. Degree in geology from the University of Helsinki. He has worked over 10 years in the fields of research, consulting and mineral exploration. Matti joined Dragon in 2007 and has held positions of project geologist, regional geologist, manager geology, and general manager exploration. Matti is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Finnish Association of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
Henry Awmack, Aurion board member since 2009, has decided to step down from the board of directors. The company thanks Henry for his contributions and commitment to the company over the past 4 years and wishes him well in his future endeavors.
QA/QC
Samples were shipped to ALS Minerals prep lab in Outokumpu, Finland. Sample pulps were shipped to Rosia Montana Romania for gold analysis using procedures Au-AA25 (Detection Limit - 0.01 g/t gold; Upper Limit - 100.00 g/t gold) - 30g fire assay withAAS finish. Gold values exceeding 5 g/t gold are re-assayed by Au-GRA21 (Detection Limit -0.05 g/t gold; Upper Limit - 1,000.00 g/t gold) - 50g fire assay with gravimetric finish. Multi-element analysis is completed at ALS Minerals in Vancouver, Canada using procedure ME-MS41. This procedure detected 51 elements by aqua regia acid digestion, HCl leach followed by ICP-AES and ICP-MS analysis. ALS Minerals are a certified global laboratory group. They are monitored by an internal QAQC program and include the inclusion of blank material, duplicates and certified reference material.
Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo., President and CEO of Aurion, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the preparation of this release.
Forward-Looking Statement
Certain statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companies' current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and Aurion is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.
On behalf of the Board,
Mike Basha, President & CEO
For further information on these projects please visit ourwebsite at www.aurionresources.com.
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.
Contact
Aurion Resources Ltd.
Mike Basha
(709) 699-8300 or (709) 722-2141
mbasha@aurionresources.ca
www.aurionresources.com