Aurvista Gold Updates Douay West Engineering Studies
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - March 24, 2015) - Aurvista Gold Corp. (TSXV: AVA) (OTC: ARVSF) ("Aurvista" or the "Company") is pleased to update shareholders and stakeholders on the completion of recent engineering work at the Douay West Project ("Douay West"), part of the 136.5 km2 Douay Project ("Douay"). Douay is located in the prolific gold bearing Abitibi Greenstone Belt where 200 million ounces of gold has been produced in both Quebec and Ontario since the early 20th century.
Golder Associates Ltd. ("Golder") was retained by Aurvista in August 2014 to complete an overburden and rock pit slope design for the Douay West open pit based as part of the Company's Pre-Feasibility Study using a planned open pit geometry extending 300 metres in the NW-SE direction and 250 metres in the NE-SW direction to a depth of about 100 metres with overall pit slope angles of 48 degrees. Additional results from Golder's underground stope design work, also part of the Pre-Feasibility Study, are expected in Q2-2015.
A site investigation of the overburden and bedrock was carried out in 2014. The overall overburden slope angles are proposed in the 13 degrees to 17 degrees range for the 5 metres to 40 metres thick overburden; whereas the rock slope angles are proposed to be developed with 20 metres high double benches and inter-ramp angles varying from 48 degrees to 55 degrees, with potential to steepen to 59 degrees in some design sectors.
The major recommendations going forward include additional drilling of the deeper overburden with laboratory soil classification and strength testing, installation of additional piezometers in the overburden to monitor groundwater conditions and carrying out pumping tests to assist with the design of the dewatering system.
Mr. Jean Lafleur, M. Sc., P. Geo., President and CEO of Aurvista, stated "In support of the engineering work and based on the PEA recommendation to complete a trade-off study that considers an underground only scenario versus an open pit and underground scenario, Aurvista plans to complete an infill drilling campaign that would lead to an update of the Mineral Resources later in 2015. This work would lead into the prescribed trade-off study setting the scope of work for a more comprehensive Pre-Feasibility Study."
Mr. Lafleur also stated "As a rule-of-thumb in the mining business we would need to define minimum 10 years of Mineral Resources before advancing Douay West to the Feasibility stage. Right now there are three additional gold targets within a 1 kilometre radius of Douay West from which to add Mineral Resources, in addition to the immediate Douay West potential on strike to the west of the planned pit and at depth below 250 metres. These additional zones include the Porphyry, Porphyry NW Extension and the NW zones.
"The Porphyry Zone contains current Mineral Resources of 107 million tonnes grading 0.68 g/t (at a 0.3 g/t cut-off) or 29.4 million tonnes at 1.3 g/t (at a 0.7 g/t cut-off); whereas the NW Zone contains 196,000 tonnes grading 8.68 g/t (at a 0.7 g/t cut-off). The Porphyry NW Extension Zone extends the main Porphyry lower grade, bulk gold target to the NW for an additional 1.2 km consisting of largely untested ground wedged between Douay West and the NW zones. The overall gold potential in and around Douay West is significant and Aurvista is committed to drilling this sector in the near term hopefully adding to the current Mineral Resources."
Mr. Lafleur adds "In the event that any shareholder missed it, the Sleeping Giant Mill owned by Aurbec Mines Inc., a subsidiary of Maudore Minerals Ltd., located 50 kilometres south and east of Douay is now in receivership. A call for tenders is expected in Q2-2015."
The Douay Gold Project ("Douay") and the Douay West Zone ("Douay West")
Douay is located approximately 55 km southwest of Matagami and 120 km north of Amos, Quebec. It is accessible by paved Provincial Highway #109, which is the major north-south regional road linking the towns of Amos (Val-d'Or) and Matagami (James Bay). Access is via the public road network that extends onto the mine site. This network could be used to haul mineralized material off-site to nearby toll processing facilities. Utilities are available on site including hydro-electricity provided directly from Hydro-Quebec's power grid to the Company's on-site substation.
As of 2012, Douay contained NI 43-101 Mineral Resources of 114,652,000 tonnes at 0.75 g/t gold (2.8 million ounces of gold) in the Inferred category, and 2,689,000 tonnes at 2.76 g/t gold (238,400 ounces of gold) in the Measured and Indicated category, at a cut-off of 0.3 g/t gold.
The Company recently completed a PEA of Douay West (refer to the Company news release dated December 9m 2014, and January 22, 2015). The PEA considered both open pit and underground production options for the advancement of the project.
The PEA schedule assumed mining of 419,000 tonnes of mineralized material in the open pit at an average grade of 3.16 g/t gold (at a cut-off of 1.17 g/t gold) with an average dilution factor of 16.3% at a grade of 0.32 g/t gold and mining recovery of 97%. The underground operation would mine 133,000 mineralized development tonnes at a grade of 4.57 g/t gold and 608,000 stoping tonnes at a grade of 4.83 g/t gold (at a cut-off grade off 3.25 g/t gold) with an average planned dilution factor of 14.5% at a grade of 1.82 g/t gold and a mining recovery of 85%.
The study economics showed a pre-tax Net Present Value ("NPV") of $25.0 million at a discount rate of 5% and post-tax NPV(5%) of $16.6 million using an approximate two-year average gold price of US$1,350 per ounce and an exchange rate of 1.00 $C=0.95 US$. The pre-tax and post-tax internal rates of return ("IRR") for the project are 55% and 40%, respectively. The PEA mine plan and economic model include the use of Inferred Mineral Resources which are considered too speculative geologically to have any economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.
The technical contents of this press release have been reviewed and approved by Mr. Jean Lafleur, M.Sc., P. Geo., President and CEO of Aurvista, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.
About Aurvista Gold
Aurvista Gold Corp. is a junior gold exploration and development company. Aurvista's only asset is the Douay Gold Project, consisting of 221 wholly owned claims totaling approximately 11,430 hectares. The Douay Project's North West Zone has 32 designated claims for a total of 1,193 hectares and is in a Joint Venture agreement with SOQUEM. The Douay Project is located along the Casa Berardi Fault part of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone in northern Quebec.
Details of the Douay Gold Project can be viewed on the Company's website at www.aurvistagold.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Aurvista Gold Corp.'s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.aurvistagold.com.
For further information please contact
Jean Lafleur, M. Sc., P. Geo.
President and CEO
Cell +1 514 975 3633
Facsimile +1 416 504 4129
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