Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is
pleased to update investors on the latest assay 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:
- The first
21 drill holes in the programme have been completed to date,
ROD-048 and ROD-051 to ROD-070, for a total of 1,992 metres
drilled;
- Hole
ROD-054 returned a mineralised intersection of 24.2m grading 2.13
g/t gold and 8.0 g/t silver;
- Hole
ROD-055 returned a mineralised intersection of 88.25m grading 1.74
g/t gold and 9.7 g/t silver;
- The
latest results from these 2 drill holes continue to confirm the
presence of a wide zone of near-surface mineralisation in the
Aladdin’s Hill area of Rodruin, which will be amenable to open pit
mining.
“These latest 2 diamond drill holes at the
Aladdin’s Hill zone at Rodruin have returned excellent
intersections and again clearly demonstrate the presence of wide
zones of oxide gold mineralisation which outcrop at surface, and
will be readily exploitable by open pit mining,” said Tonno Vahk,
Interim CEO. “We have now changed the rig over to the conventional
steep hole set up and have started drilling deeper holes, and we
are very encouraged by a wide zone of sulphide-rich carbonate
drilled in hole ROD-048, which represents the primary equivalent of
the gossanous carbonate mineralisation we see at surface over large
areas of Rodruin. We have now intersected mineralisation over a
vertical elevation range of nearly 300m from the top of the South
Ridge to the bottom of the carbonate zone in hole ROD-048, and we
continue to be excited by the size potential at Rodruin, with much
of the mineralisation outcropping at surface. We have also now
signed a new RC drilling contract at Hamama West, and we are really
accelerating our work on the ground in Egypt as we look to develop
new gold mines at both Rodruin and Hamama West.”
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 included intersections of 36m @ 12.47
g/t Au from 5m downhole depth (hole ROP-003, see news release dated
October 1, 2018 and 61m @ 1.55 g/t Au and 8.9 g/t Ag from 111m
(hole ROP-050, see news release dated January 29, 2019).
The Company contracted Energold Drilling (EMEA)
Limited to undertake the Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at
Rodruin (see news release dated June 14, 2021), which commenced in
late November 2021. The specially engineered ID-500-G track-mounted
rig is able to drill horizontal and shallow holes, as well as more
conventional inclined and vertical holes, and is ideal for the
steep and rugged terrain at the Rodruin project. The programme has
been designed to rapidly advance the project towards a maiden
mineral resource at Rodruin in the shortest time frame possible,
with the specific intention of drill testing much of the
near-surface mineralisation identified in the 2018 Phase 1 RC
programme.
Discussion of results
Drill holes ROD-054 and ROD-055 were drilled
horizontally at the Aladdin’s Hill area from the south side of the
hill, and were designed to test the phyllic-hosted mineralisation
in this area, and also the near-surface gossanous carbonate
associated mineralisation to the north and northeast of this zone
(Figure 2). Collar and survey details of the holes are provided in
Table 1. Borehole ROD-055 was terminated at 133.3m when it drilled
out of the mountainside and daylighted on the northern side of the
hill, as planned.
Hole ID |
Collar co-ordinates 1 |
Dip 2 |
Grid azimuth 2 |
EOH depth (m) |
Comments |
X |
Y |
Z |
ROD-054 |
552327 |
2912950 |
757 |
-0.6 |
358 |
80.60 |
Aladdin’s Hill |
ROP-055 |
552362 |
2912947 |
760 |
-0.0 |
009 |
133.30 |
Aladdin’s Hill |
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-054 and ROD-055 |
|
|
Hole ID |
Intersection (m) 1 |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
Cu (%) |
Pb (%) |
Zn (%) |
Comments |
From |
To |
Interval |
ROD-054 |
20.60 |
44.80 |
24.20 |
2.13 |
8.0 |
0.21 |
0.05 |
2.25 |
|
ROD-055 |
25.75 |
114.00 |
88.25 |
1.74 |
9.7 |
0.15 |
0.05 |
1.07 |
Includes 5.6m of mining voids/workings 2 |
incl. |
32.30 |
78.30 |
46.00 |
2.78 |
11.2 |
0.25 |
0.06 |
1.64 |
|
130.35 |
133.30 |
2.95 |
1.80 |
4.3 |
0.05 |
0.02 |
0.79 |
T o EOH |
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-054 and ROD-055 |
|
Both drill holes intersected the phyllic-hosted
(quartz-sericite-iron oxide) mineralisation with ROD-054 returning
an intersection of 24.4m grading 2.13 g/t Au and 8.0 g/t
Ag from 20.6m (Table 2 and Figure 2). The phyllic-hosted
mineralisation at Aladdin’s Hill is separated from gossanous
carbonate associated mineralisation to its north and northeast by a
zone of east-west faulting (Figure 2). In hole ROD-055 the
mineralisation was continuous on the north side of this structural
contact, with the phyllic-hosted mineralisation faulted directly
against a zone of gossan and gossanous carbonate hosted
mineralisation. Hole ROD-055 returned an intersection of
88.25m grading 1.74 g/t Au and 9.7 g/t Ag from
25.75m (Table 2 and Figure 2)
These 2 drill holes again confirm a ‘wedge’ of
phyllic-hosted mineralisation at Aladdin’s Hill that extends to and
is exposed at surface (see news release dated January 25, 2022), as
well a wide extent of near-surface mineralisation associated with
the outcropping gossanous carbonates to the north of the phyllic
zone. The phyllic-hosted mineralisation at Aladdin’s Hill consists
of very heavily quartz-sericite-pyrite altered rock, interpreted as
having a meta-sedimentary precursor, that is consistently
mineralised, and contains high grade coarse gold bearing zones. RC
drill hole ROP-003 returned an intersection of 36m grading 12.47
g/t Au and 9.3 g/t Ag (see news release dated October 1, 2018) from
this wedge of phyllic-hosted mineralisation.
The results from ROD-054 and ROD-055 back up the
results from holes ROD-052 and ROD-053 (see news release dated
January 25, 2022), and further confirm the potential for a
significant tonnage of near-surface open pittable oxide
mineralisation at the Aladdin’s Hill zone at Rodruin. The current
diamond drilling programme has been designed with the objective of
quantifying this potential resource, with holes to date drilled at
horizontal or shallow angles to test the near surface potential at
the Aladdin’s Hill and Central Buttress/Spiral Pit/South Ridge
zones at Rodruin.
The rig has now been converted to the more
conventional steep or vertical hole setup, and the first vertical
hole ROD-048 was completed on February 19, 2022. A c. 90m wide zone
(c. 60-70m estimated true width) of sulphidic carbonate rock was
intersected in this hole with zones of significant visible
copper-zinc mineralisation. The sulphidic carbonate is interpreted
as being the protolith of the gossanous sulphide mineralisation
which outcrops at surface. This hole has already been logged, cut
and sampled and dispatched from site for assay. Aton will continue
to provide results of the ongoing drilling programme 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 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.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available
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