Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is pleased to update investors on the re-commencement of field activities at the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat” or the “Concession”), in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, see Figure 1.

Highlights:        

  • Since the Hamama exploration camp was re-opened in June 2021, a new camp and core processing facility has been constructed at Rodruin;
  • Energold’s diamond drill rig has now arrived in Egypt, and some ancillary drilling equipment and materials have already been delivered to the project site at Rodruin;
  • The company has been operating 2 excavators since June 2021, which have been preparing drill roads and pads at both Hamama and Rodruin, ahead of the commencement of diamond drilling at Rodruin, now expected in mid-November 2021;
  • Aton’s field teams have also undertaken a further phase of surface sampling and mapping at the Abu Gaharish prospect with a total of 83 samples having been submitted for assay, consisting of 56 grab and grab composite samples, 17 channel samples, and a further 10 QAQC samples;
  • Of the selective grab and grab composite samples, 73% assayed greater than 1 g/t (or “ppm”) gold, 50% greater than 5 g/t gold, and 18 (32%) of the samples assayed greater than 10 g/t gold, with individual grades including 157, 58.4 and 47.6 g/t gold. Samples also returned assays of up to 524 g/t silver, 4.67% copper and 1.24% lead.
  • Channel sampling returned grades of 7.88 g/t gold and 215 g/t silver over an interval of 1.4m.

“We are delighted to finally be back in the field at Abu Marawat after a pretty tough year and a half, with covid having made it very difficult for us in Egypt. Our drilling rig has now finally arrived in port in Egypt, after again suffering long covid-related export and shipping delays from Indonesia, and we now expect to be back drilling up on the hill at Rodruin within the next couple of weeks, after the rig has cleared customs and mobilised to site. After re-opening the camp at Hamama in June, and while we have been waiting for the rig, we have been busy however. As well as building and relocating to the new camp at Rodruin, which will be our new main exploration base going forwards, we have also been working at the Abu Gaharish prospect, which is our highest ranked exploration prospect, after Rodruin. And we are today very happy to be able to report more excellent sampling results from Abu Gaharish, again demonstrating its prospectivity,” said Tonno Vahk, Interim CEO. “These results again show the great potential of the Abu Gaharish prospect, with the many high grade gold assays mostly coming from new mineralised zones, structures, and veins that we had not previously identified. These new results, covering at least a 3 km strike length along the margin of the Gaharish granite, further confirm our belief in the presence of a very significant gold mineralised structural zone at Abu Gaharish. We believe that the Abu Gaharish mineralisation bears many similarities to that at the world-class Sukari deposit 200 km to the south. The results again indicate the prospectivity of our entire Abu Marawat Concession, and our intention is very much to finally drill test some of our regional exploration targets within the coming 12-18 months, starting with Abu Gaharish, as well as aggressively bringing the advanced exploration project at Rodruin forwards to a maiden mineral resource.”

Figure 1: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/423473f9-415f-49df-849c-929ee34492c7

Re-commencement of field activities at Abu Marawat

The company re-opened the exploration camp at Hamama in June 2021, and has since then constructed a new camp and core processing facility at Rodruin (Figure 1). The exploration team re-located to the new Rodruin camp in mid-October 2021, and this will serve as the new main base for Aton’s field activities going forwards, due to its closer proximity to the high priority Abu Gaharish, Sir Bakis, Semna, Bohlog and Zeno regional exploration prospects, amongst others, as well as the advanced Rodruin exploration project. The Hamama camp has been placed on temporary care and maintenance and will be rapidly re-opened when further drilling is undertaken at Hamama and West Garida in 2022.

Since the re-commencement of field activities Aton has been operating 2 excavators at Hamama and Rodruin to prepare for the upcoming drill programmes at both these sites. The 2 excavators are currently both operating at Rodruin, in advance of the diamond drilling programme which is now expected to start in mid-November 2021, following the arrival of Energold’s drill rig into port in Egypt on October 22, 2021 (see news release dated June 14, 2021). Some ancillary materials and equipment have already been delivered to the Rodruin site in advance of the start of diamond drilling.

Additional channel sampling of newly exposed mineralisation in road cuttings at Rodruin has been undertaken, continuing on from the 2018 programme, and the first results from this sampling are expected soon.

Further sampling and mapping has also been carried out at the Abu Gaharish prospect, including surface and underground grab and channel sampling (see below), as well as a programme of wadi sediment sampling, with the samples being submitted for ultra-low level multi-element ionic leach (mobile metal ion) geochemical analysis. Results of the wadi sediment sampling programme are also expected soon.

Abu Gaharish surface sampling programme

A programme of surface sampling was undertaken between June and September 2021 at the Abu Gaharish area, which was partly guided by recent excavation of mineralised veins and structures by artisanal miners, covering a c. 3 km strike length on the southeastern margin of the Gaharish granite pluton (Figure 2). See news releases dated December 19, 2017 and April 23, 2018 for details of previous sampling programmes undertaken by the Company at Abu Gaharish. Most of the samples were collected from previously unidentified veins and structures.

Figure 2: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/143a13d4-4ddd-4bc4-b864-63377fb395c5

A total of 73 samples were collected, mostly from surface, with some also from shallow underground workings that had been recently excavated by the artisanal miners. Of these 73 samples, 56 were selective grab and grab composite samples, and 17 were channel samples. A further 10 QAQC samples were submitted for analysis, comprising 4 duplicate samples, 4 blank samples, 1 flushing sample, and 1 standard sample of a certified reference material.

The results from the grab and grab samples were particularly encouraging, indicating the presence of high grade mineralised structures over a wide area, and are summarised in Table 1 below. Assay details of all the samples are provided in Appendix A.

  > 10 g/t > 5 g/t > 1 g/t > 0.5 g/t Total samples
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Cumulative total 18 32%   28 50%   41 73%   52 93%   56

Table 1: Summary of the grab and grab composite sampling results

10 of the selective grab and grab composite samples returned gold (“Au”) grades greater than 20 g/t, with fully 50% of the samples returning grades greater than 5 g/t Au. Individual samples returned grades including 157 g/t, 58.4 g/t, 47.6 g/t, 38.1 g/t, 35.9 g/t and 33.7 g/t Au.

Previous channel sampling at Abu Gaharish has returned mineralised intervals including 31.2m @ 1.04 g/t Au, and 3.6m @ 11.05 g/t Au (see news release dated December 19, 2017). During the current programme 4 short channel profiles were sampled, with a number of single individual channel samples also being collected. Channel samples were manually collected using hammer and chisel. Details are provided below in Table 2, with profile GHC-072 returning grades of 7.88 g/t Au and 215 g/t silver (“Ag”), over a 1.4m interval.

Channel ID N E Width (m) Au (g/t)
GHC-071 565133 2918259 6.3 0.62
GHC-072 565306 2918349 1.4 7.88
GHC-073 564097 2916594 1.6 1.18
GHC-074 564567 2917219 4.0 0.94
single channel sample 565136 2918255 n/a 3.82
single channel sample 565288 2919303 0.4 2.40
single channel sample 565388 2919443 0.4 0.64
single channel sample 564562 2917223 0.3 0.86
single channel sample 564571 2917353 0.4 0.16
Notes:1)   Coordinates represent the start of channel sample profile2)   All coordinates are UTM (WGS84) Zone 36R

Table 2: Summary of channel sampling results

As well as further confirming the significant distribution of widespread gold mineralisation at Abu Gaharish the current programme also indicated the presence of significant silver (up to 524 g/t), copper (up to 4.67%), lead (up to 1.24%), arsenic (up to 324 ppm), bismuth (up to 124 ppm), cadmium (up to 344 ppm), molybdenum (up to 164 ppm), antimony (up to 3,100 ppm), and tungsten (up to 2,200 ppm) anomalism in some samples.

Mapping of the mineralised structures indicated a series of preferred mineralised orientations, which broadly confirmed Aton’s previous interpretation that mineralisation in the Abu Gaharish area is controlled by a series of conjugate structures within an overall structural zone that strikes approximately north-northeast and parallel to the contact between the country rocks and the Gaharish pluton. The country rocks in the general area consist of a series of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, and ophiolitic serpentinites.

Aton’s geologists continue to interpret the mineralisation at Abu Gaharish as being related to a significant structural and gold mineralised zone localised by the contact between the late Gaharish granite pluton and the package of country rocks. The mineralisation appears to be hosted in a complex series of conjugate and ladder-type structures, and as these new results demonstrate some of these structures carry very significant gold grades.

Sample processing and analytical procedures

All samples were collected onsite and bagged up in cloth bags, and dried and crushed to -4mm at Aton’s onsite Hamama sample preparation laboratory, and split to a nominal c. 250-500g sample size.

The 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 Loughrea, Ireland for analysis.

Samples were analysed for gold by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectrometry finish (analytical code Au-AA23); and for a 34 multi-element suite using ICP atomic emission spectrometry (analytical code ME-ICP61).

High grade overlimit gold samples (>10 ppm Au) were re-analysed using analytical code Au-GRA21 (also fire assay, but with a gravimetric finish). High grade overlimit Ag and base metal samples (Ag >100 ppm; and Cu, Pb, and Zn >10,000 ppm or >1%) were re-analysed using the ore grade technique OG62 (consisting of a four acid digestion with an ICP 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 VAHKInterim 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.

Appendix A: Grab and grab composite samples

Sample ID E N Sample type Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) Cu (ppm) Pb (ppm) Zn (ppm) As (ppm) Bi (ppm) Cd (ppm) Cr (ppm) Mo (ppm) Ni (ppm) Sb (ppm) Te (ppm) W (ppm)
AHA-18948 565540 2917805 Grab 9.00 13.8 163 97 8 <5 5 <0.5 57 13 7 6 10 <10
AHA-18949 564522 2916909 Grab 0.85 3.3 59 186 170 <5 3 1.1 75 8 25 <5 <10 <10
AHA-18950 564515 2916899 Grab 20.60 12.0 16 544 309 6 22 2.2 37 4 6 <5 20 20
AHA-25071     Blank 0.01 <0.5 2 <2 11 <5 <2 0.7 25 1 5 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25076 565138 2918251 Grab 157.0 502 4340 12400 810 324 93 292 40 6 3 3100 180 40
AHA-25077     Duplicate 139.0 473 4160 12750 839 310 87 294 48 8 6 3130 180 40
AHA-25080 565306 2918347 Grab 19.45 524 9170 11900 599 196 101 344 72 6 13 2850 30 50
AHA-25081 564553 2917042 Grab 17.40 8.2 59 195 184 7 3 4.0 30 164 5 13 20 60
AHA-25082 564768 2916858 Grab 5.13 2.3 624 25 30 <5 <2 0.6 72 11 14 6 <10 <10
AHA-25083     Blank 0.02 <0.5 3 3 9 <5 <2 0.7 28 2 5 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25084 564732 2916815 Grab 9.87 10.2 187 782 315 <5 18 1.2 164 3 26 <5 10 <10
AHA-25085 564665 2916625 Grab 22.30 24.2 169 26 18 <5 <2 0.5 43 5 12 5 20 <10
AHA-25086 564736 2916552 Grab 5.40 2.4 90 31 29 24 20 1.0 20 8 6 <5 120 480
AHA-25087 565049 2917156 Grab 0.05 0.8 1380 6 10 <5 <2 <0.5 61 3 15 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25088 564736 2916922 Grab 0.11 1.4 2050 20 1020 41 15 1.6 121 19 9 7 10 <10
AHA-25089 565242 2917698 Grab 4.93 <0.5 46700 3 896 <5 12 7.6 5 41 6 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25090     Duplicate 4.03 <0.5 43900 7 857 <5 8 7.1 3 40 9 <5 10 <10
AHA-25091 565544 2917787 Grab 3.60 6.8 232 75 15 <5 <2 <0.5 43 6 10 6 <10 <10
AHA-25092 565540 2917843 Grab 15.10 1.2 63 32 37 10 <2 1.9 336 7 71 <5 10 10
AHA-25093 564863 2917654 Grab 33.70 1.7 61 4 92 <5 2 <0.5 18 2 5 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25094 564851 2917707 Grab 9.80 57.2 1470 2050 233 <5 50 3.3 37 6 3 21 10 240
AHA-25095 564860 2917734 Grab 0.50 50.1 252 636 82 6 124 3.3 61 8 15 56 10 20
AHA-25096     Standard 0.78 78.4 74 118 188 8 <2 1.6 13 6 8 16 <10 <10
AHA-25097 563868 2916889 Grab composite 19.20 23.1 18 203 68 <5 12 0.5 36 15 7 <5 20 90
AHA-25098 563889 2917031 Grab composite 11.80 7.7 92 255 66 <5 9 <0.5 38 47 10 8 10 440
AHA-25099 565516 2917730 Grab 0.04 <0.5 85 8 129 8 6 0.5 39 1 14 <5 10 <10
AHA-25100 564184 2916474 Grab 2.01 1.9 20 6 31 <5 <2 <0.5 31 3 4 <5 <10 10
                                   
Sample ID E N Sample type Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) Cu (ppm) Pb (ppm) Zn (ppm) As (ppm) Bi (ppm) Cd (ppm) Cr (ppm) Mo (ppm) Ni (ppm) Sb (ppm) Te (ppm) W (ppm)
AHA-25199 565190 2918833 Grab 0.27 <0.5 549 184 908 116 10 2.9 57 7 31 <5 10 <10
AHA-25200 565240 2919214 Grab 2.70 3.2 33 11 116 23 <2 1.1 29 17 34 5 <10 50
AHA-25458 564458 2916698 Grab 0.48 2.4 31 116 121 <5 <2 1.6 34 2 6 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25459 564462 2916719 Grab 6.74 7.2 72 247 137 <5 4 0.9 37 37 4 <5 10 <10
AHA-25460     Blank 0.04 <0.5 2 <2 10 <5 <2 <0.5 24 1 4 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25461 564485 2916766 Grab 1.11 1.6 28 16 76 7 <2 0.5 60 6 10 <5 <10 70
AHA-25462 564478 2916801 Grab 0.36 1.1 17 28 95 9 <2 0.7 52 10 5 <5 <10 440
AHA-25463 564444 2916779 Grab 0.70 1.0 59 63 178 13 <2 1.0 90 9 6 <5 <10 280
AHA-25464 564227 2916848 Grab 2.94 1.2 15 31 63 <5 <2 <0.5 36 5 7 <5 <10 10
AHA-25465 564098 2916851 Grab composite 22.30 29.8 25 251 297 5 5 11.8 32 13 7 15 30 320
AHA-25466 563731 2916925 Grab composite 1.26 0.5 31 8 13 <5 <2 <0.5 35 13 8 <5 <10 10
AHA-25467     Duplicate 1.33 <0.5 32 15 12 <5 <2 <0.5 70 17 7 <5 <10 10
AHA-25468 563736 2916929 Grab 3.41 0.6 17 18 31 <5 <2 <0.5 26 26 2 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25469 564248 2917372 Grab 18.05 2.7 9 573 317 <5 31 0.9 27 25 3 <5 10 20
AHA-25470 564253 2917377 Grab 5.96 4.9 3 367 33 <5 10 <0.5 33 3 4 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25471 564249 2917377 Grab 35.90 25.1 22 2670 100 9 54 1.6 33 10 4 30 20 10
AHA-25472 564269 2917299 Grab 14.00 4.1 34 533 113 13 9 1.0 42 7 7 6 10 50
AHA-25473 564334 2917724 Grab 0.61 <0.5 2 42 11 <5 <2 <0.5 42 3 3 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25474     Flushing 0.01 <0.5 1 4 12 <5 <2 <0.5 28 1 4 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25475 564484 2917820 Grab 17.05 13.3 145 1020 988 <5 16 25.6 106 124 28 13 10 170
AHA-25476 564609 2917719 Grab composite 58.40 32.3 788 4980 323 166 10 29.9 34 28 6 544 20 180
AHA-25477 564611 2917724 Grab 38.10 22.7 392 5870 311 76 2 18.3 34 4 6 367 10 70
AHA-25478 564627 2918085 Grab 1.78 0.9 6 217 27 <5 <2 <0.5 49 4 7 <5 <10 200
AHA-25479 564607 2918108 Grab 7.17 73.8 1790 1160 209 88 54 55.0 67 36 5 978 10 100
AHA-25480     Blank 0.03 <0.5 7 8 14 <5 <2 0.6 26 1 3 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25481 564631 2918393 Grab 0.76 <0.5 3 8 4 <5 <2 <0.5 54 4 6 <5 <10 <10
AHA-25482 564945 2918786 Grab 5.20 6.3 93 360 240 <5 3 2.6 110 7 27 <5 <10 110
AHA-25483 564826 2918923 Grab composite 21.60 18.7 62 1050 120 <5 22 2.7 73 12 6 8 <10 260
AHA-25484 564870 2918986 Grab 1.25 23.7 61 479 96 <5 84 0.6 48 118 4 <5 <10 110
AHA-25485 564947 2919585 Grab 0.42 1.0 11 68 65 <5 <2 1.2 58 4 2 5 <10 660
AHA-25486     Duplicate 2.72 <0.5 16 62 53 <5 <2 1.0 54 4 5 <5 <10 640
                                   
Sample ID E N Sample type Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) Cu (ppm) Pb (ppm) Zn (ppm) As (ppm) Bi (ppm) Cd (ppm) Cr (ppm) Mo (ppm) Ni (ppm) Sb (ppm) Te (ppm) W (ppm)
AHA-25487 565032 2919507 Grab 0.71 12.3 1050 687 583 115 28 7.5 66 12 16 209 10 1490
AHA-25488 565233 2919212 Grab 2.82 3.4 51 64 108 12 5 0.8 96 11 45 8 <10 110
AHA-25489 565231 2919214 Grab 1.43 3.1 36 87 68 <5 <2 0.7 62 14 19 7 <10 2200
AHA-25492 565386 2919442 Grab 0.68 1.6 36 30 70 6 2 <0.5 45 8 16 11 <10 20
AHA-25493 565250 2919482 Grab composite 1.45 3.4 337 28 68 45 <2 1.3 50 10 21 168 <10 30
AHA-25498 564611 2917555 Grab composite 6.81 19.7 45 1140 209 14 7 6.9 47 7 6 20 10 270
AHA-25499 564567 2917412 Grab 47.60 146 186 4160 144 25 105 9.4 59 15 5 107 70 10
AHA-25500 564726 2917507 Grab 0.62 8.3 148 825 278 <5 7 1.9 55 9 7 5 10 20
Notes:1)   All coordinates are UTM (WGS84) Zone 36R2)   Au analysed using Au-AA23 analytical code, overlimit assays >10 ppm re-analysed using Au-GRA21 analytical code 3)   Ag, Cu and Pb analysed using ME-ICP61 analytical code, overlimit assays >10) ppm Ag or >10,000 ppm Cu and Pb, re-analysed using Ag/Cu/Pb-OG62 analytical code

 

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