Avidian Delineates Extensive Gold Mineralization on the Golden Zone Project, Alaska
TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avidian Gold Corp. (TSXV:AVG) (the “Corporation” or “Avidian”) is pleased to report the results from its mapping and sampling program at the 100% owned Golden Zone project, Alaska. Highlights include:
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- Gold mineralization grading > 1 g/t Au can be traced along a trend of 8 km long.
- Surface sampling and trenching uncovered numerous high-grade gold occurrences of > 4 g/t Au to > 25 g/t Au plus Ag ± base metals; such as a 11.0 g/t Au, 2,550 g/t Ag, 0.24% Cu, 14.3% Pb and 2.54% Zn from a grab sample.
- The discovery of a new mineralized breccia located approximately 500 m west of the known “Breccia Pipe Deposit”. Grab samples from this new discovery have gold and silver values that range from 15 ppb Au to 14.64 g/t Au and 0.6 g/t Ag to 355 g/t Ag. This new discovery referred to as “Breccia Pipe West” is proximal to a 1.5 km long feldspar-biotite porphyry.
- Quartz veined sediments immediately adjacent to a quartz stockwork granite returned 4.8 g/t Au, 106 g/t Ag and 1.41% Cu from a grab sample.
- Polymetallic mineralization in conglomerates is a mineralization style that has not previously been explored, but for which there appears to be significant potential as a number of conglomeratic units have been mapped on the property with sample results such as 1.51 g/t Au, 67.0 g/t Ag and 1.05% Cu (grab sample) and 6.1 m of 13.8 g/t Au, 34.4 g/t Ag and 0.85% Cu (historical trench).
- Known mineralization on the property is proximal to intrusive bodies, analogous to what is observed in many of the large gold deposits within the Tintina Gold Belt.
The Golden Zone property lies within the gold endowed Tintina Belt, is located 320 km north of Anchorage, Alaska and is accessed by a 16 km road west of the main transportation route between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The property is comprised of a 2,960 acre Uplands Mining Lease with an expiry date of 2050, surrounded by 92 State of Alaska claims totaling 11,600 acres and a nearby, non-contiguous, 40-acre Mill Site Lease.
Mineralization styles on the property are directly associated with Intrusive Gold Related Systems with numerous polymetallic, gold-dominated mineral showings contained within three northeast trending fault-bounded belts or corridors, named from northwest to southeast, the Golden Zone, Long Creek and Silver Dikes corridors. The mineral showings are generally hosted within north to northeast trending sedimentary units of intermixed siltstone/sandstone/conglomerates that are often offset by west/northwest trending structures. These cross-structures, evident from the airborne magnetic survey map, likely provided the conduits for the fluids responsible for much of the mineralization in the sedimentary units.
All the known mineralization on the property is spatially associated with Cretaceous age intrusive rocks that have been identified through mapping and or airborne/ground geophysics. The intrusive bodies on the property range from equigranular to porphyritic intrusives such as monzodiorite in the northern portion of the property to more quartz porphyritic granites towards the southern portion of the property.
The nature of the gold-bearing showings on the property are variable and include the dominant mineralized deposit styles associated with Intrusive Gold Related Systems such as: 1) shallow level style mineralization: breccias, quartz-arsenopyrite-sulphide veins, stockwork/disseminated veins, shear zone mineralization; 2) peripheral style mineralization: skarn, precious/base metal veins and shear zone mineralization, and: 3) intrusion hosted mineralization: sheeted veins and stockwork vein systems.
The 2017 work program included historical data compilation, geological mapping and prospecting, trenching, rock and soil sampling, 43 line km of IP surveying and 2,578 m of diamond drilling. The geophysical and drilling results will be reported in separate press releases.
It should be noted that, due to their selective nature, assay results from grab samples reported in this press release may not be representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.
Surface Sampling Program Results
The 2017 surface sampling program was comprised of 175 trench samples, 752 surface grab samples and 155 soil samples. These results combined with the 2016 Avidian sampling program (257 grab samples) along with historical sample results (1,435 surface grabs, 18,000 trench and drill hole samples) define an 8 km strike length of gold mineralization grading > 1 g/t Au within the northeast trending Golden Zone and Long Creek corridors. Within these corridors there are numerous high-grade gold occurrences of > 4 g/t Au to > 25 g/t Au plus Ag ± base metal mineralization (see Figure 1).
Mineralization within the Golden Zone Corridor can be traced in excess of 5 km in strike length (Riverside mineral occurrence to south of the Breccia Pipe deposit and remains underexplored further to the southwest) and contains some of the highest gold values on the property, such as 177.5 g/t Au from a 0.3 m wide quartz-arsenopyrite vein and 1.49 m of 34.6 g/t Au from a historical channel sample. Approximately 1.5 km southwest of the Riverside occurrence there is a hornblende porphyry body over which anomalous gold (>25 ppb with a high value of 156 ppb Au) and As (>100 ppb with a high value of 1,035 ppm As) results were obtained from the 2017 soil sampling program. A northeast striking zone 150 m wide by 600 m long, open to the northeast, can be defined using a threshold of 0.5 standard deviation above the mean. This area will require further follow up as gold mineralization on the property is generally associated with As anomalism and this area is completely unexplored.
The Golden Zone Corridor sampling program also resulted in the discovery of a new mineralized breccia, referred to as “Breccia Pipe West”. It is located approximately 500 m west of the known Breccia Pipe deposit that contains a NI 43-101 Indicated gold resource of 267,400 ounces and an Inferred gold resource of 35,900 ounces. Mineralized grab samples from this new discovery returned values ranging from 15 ppb Au to 14.64 g/t Au and 0.6 g/t Ag to 355 g/t Ag, plus base metals outlined over an area of 200 m by 50 m and proximal to a 1.5 km long feldspar-biotite porphyry. This proximity to a porphyry is considered highly relevant as the main Breccia Pipe deposit is confined to a plug-like monzodiorite porphyry, which is known to be mineralized, some of which falls into the existing 2016 mineral resource.
The Long Creek Corridor, located east of the Golden Zone Corridor, hosts the Copper King, Long Creek and South Long Creek occurrences. These occurrences contain gold as well as some of the strongest copper mineralization found on the property. The mineralization in these occurrences collectively can be traced in excess of 2 km long and remains under-explored to the northeast and southwest (see Figure 1).
At the Copper King prospect mapping indicates the mineralization is proximal to a quartz eye porphyritic granite (exposed over 200 m in strike length). The gold/base metal mineralization occurs as:
- semi-massive sulphide in a skarn, such as found within a historical trench grading 13.72 m of 7.01 g/t Au, 94.1 g/t Ag and 4.0% Cu and intersected in a historical drill hole that returned 7.62 m @ 4.94 g/t Au, 76.7 g/t Ag and 3.52% Cu;
- disseminated chalcopyrite and molybdenite in a quartz eye porphyritic granite;
- mineralization proximal to a quartz stockwork granite that returned 4.8 g/t Au, 106 g/t Ag and 1.41% Cu from a grab sample;
- disseminated chalcopyrite in a conglomeratic unit (grab sample of 1.51 g/t Au, 67.0 g/t Ag and 1.05% Cu);
- chalcopyrite associated with a mafic dike (grab sample of 1.44 g/t Au, 87.5 g/t Ag and 3.29% Cu); and
- chalcopyrite stringers in siltstones (6.1 m of 1.09 g/t Au, 9.17 g/t Ag and 0.36% Cu in a historical drill hole).
Limited work has been conducted on the Long Creek and South Long Creek occurrences but known mineralization is impressive with a number of high grade gold, silver and base metal showings. The mineralization at Long Creek is exposed along a river cut that runs perpendicular to the strike of the geology (intermixed sedimentary units) with high grade mineralized grab samples and historical trenches exposed along a strike length of at least 200 m. An example at the Long Creek occurrence includes 6.1 m of 13.8 g/t Au, 34.4 g/t Ag and 0.85% Cu from a trench in mineralized conglomerate. This exposure is located approximately 1 km south of the conglomeratic unit(s) noted above at the Copper King showing.
At the South Long Creek 11.0 g/t Au, 2,550 g/t Ag, 0.24% Cu, 14.3% Pb and 2.54% Zn was obtained from a grab sample of an arsenopyrite-quartz-carbonate vein. This mineralization is proximal to quartz eye porphyritic granite dikes.
Exploration programs in 2018 will focus on expanding the identified areas of interest (see Figure 1) followed by drilling of priority targets.
Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Sampling included insertion of certified standards and blanks into the stream of samples for chemical analysis. Every tenth drill hole sample was a standard or a blank, and every twentieth surface sample was a standard or a blank. Samples were prepared at ALS Chemex’s laboratory in Fairbanks, Alaska and shipped to their Vancouver and Reno facilities for gold analysis by fire assay and other elements by ICP analysis. ALS is a certified and accredited laboratory service. Gold results varied from below detection to a high of 47.3 g/t Au.
The technical information contained in this news release has been approved by Dr. Tom Setterfield, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of Avidian, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects."
Historical assays mentioned herein have been verified through a review of assay certificates and field data, but may have not necessarily been resampled by the Corporation. Further detailed information on the Golden Zone property along with historical references and those that have been resampled and verified by an independent QP can be found in the Technical report dated August 17, 2017 prepared by Leon McGarry, B.Sc., P.Geo and Ian D. Trinder, M.Sc., P.Geo (the “Technical Report”) that has been posted on SEDAR. It should be noted that, due to their selective nature, assay results from grab samples may not be representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.
About Avidian Gold
The Corporation is an exploration and development company whose primary business interest is in four advanced gold properties located in the USA: the Golden Zone and Amanita properties, situated in south–central Alaska, and the Jungo and Dome Hill properties located in Nevada, each held 100% by the Corporation. The Golden Zone property hosts a NI 43-101 (2017) Indicated gold resource of 267,400 ounces (4,187,000 tonnes at 1.99 g/t Au) plus an Inferred gold resource of 35,900 ounces (1,353,000 tonnes at 0.83 g/t Au). The deposit is exposed on surface and is open at depth and along strike. Avidian also holds a 100% interest in the Strickland massive sulphide property located in Newfoundland, Canada. Reference to Indicated and Inferred gold resource provided above has been obtained from the Technical Report.
Further details on the Corporation and the individual projects can be found on the Corporation’s website at www.avidiangold.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Dino Titaro, President & CEO
Tel. +1 (647) 283 7600
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Forward-Looking Statements: This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward- looking statements". Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities and events or developments that the Corporation expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward- looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Figure 1 accompanying this press release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8b777c30-1326-4793-90b4-250ca6fc52e1
