Aton reports results of surface channel sampling from a new mineralised zone at Rodruin, including intersections of 26.3m @ 2.29 g/t and 4.8m @ 12.00 g/t gold
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is very pleased to provide investors with an update on ongoing exploration activities at its advanced Rodruin prospect, within the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat” or the “Concession”), located in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
|
|||||||||||||||
Highlights:
- Channel sampling of drill access road cuttings has continued at Rodruin, at the Spiral Pit and Central Buttress areas;
- Channel sample profile ROC-018 to the east of the Spiral Pit has returned a mineralised intersection of 58.2m @ 1.25 g/t Au over its entire sample length. Follow-up drill testing of the Spiral Pit area is planned shortly;
- Channel sample profile ROC-019 high on the Central Buttress has returned an intersection of 26.3m @ 2.29 g/t Au. Channel sampling inside ancient underground mine workings in the Central Buttress area has also returned high grade intersections of 4.8m @ 12.00 g/t Au and 4.9m @ 4.10 g/t Au;
- These channel sample results confirm a new zone of gold mineralisation on the Central Buttress of the South Ridge, coinciding with a large area of mapped gossanous carbonate, and ancient underground workings. Drill testing of this area is also planned in the current drilling programme.
“Again, we have gotten some really nice intersections in our ongoing channel sampling,” said Mark Campbell, President and CEO. “The importance of these cannot be underestimated, as they continue to expand the footprint of the defined surface mineralisation at Rodruin and give us direction in planning the next holes in our aggressive drilling programme. These again help to confirm our belief that Rodruin is potentially a large bulk tonnage gold deposit with good mineralisation spread across a large area, and with high grade shoots interspersed throughout.”
Channel sampling at Rodruin
During the recent temporary suspension of RC drilling at Rodruin (see news release dated October 16, 2018) surface channel sampling continued, testing mineralisation exposed in drill access road cuttings. Drilling has since resumed. During this time a further 4 channel sample profiles were completed, ROC-018 to ROC-021 (see Figure 1). Channel profile ROC-018 was completed to the northeast of the Spiral Pit ancient workings, and channel profile ROC-019 was completed along the high “gossan road”, which is being pushed along the South Ridge high on its northern flank towards mineralisation associated with mapped gossans and gossanous carbonate rocks on the Central Buttress (see Figure 2). Channel sample profiles ROC-020 and ROC-021 were short profiles sampled within large ancient underground workings exposed at a new drill pad (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9bc85c5e-19a9-4043-b170-eb0b57344fb6
All 4 channel sample profiles intersected significant gold mineralisation (see Table 1). Profile ROC-018 in the Spiral Pit area returned an intersection of 58.2m @ 1.25 g/t Au, with mineralisation associated with weakly gossanous carbonates. The profile was cut by a late approximately N-S trending dyke zone, striking sub-parallel to the profile which returned low grades of gold mineralisation. The results of this profile are significant in that they extend the mineralised footprint a significant distance to the east of the main high grade ancient workings at the Spiral Pit, and confirm that mineralisation occurs in gossanous carbonates as well as in gossanous slates and sediments as seen in the Spiral Pit workings, and in profile ROC-017.
The “gossan road” has been pushed towards the higher part of the Central Buttress on the northern flank of the South Ridge (see Figure 2), to access potential mineralisation associated with mapped gossanous carbonate and ancient workings, and to establish new drill positions. Post-discovery grab sampling of some of these workings returned assays including 9.59 g/t Au and 9.05 g/t Au (see news release dated February 6, 2018). During the construction of the “gossan road” large underground workings were exposed and excavated. These workings were partially backfilled with waste and rain washed material and it is not possible to define the extent of them, but they appear to be potentially quite large. Further workings are present on the Central Buttress and the South Ridge above and below the “gossan road” (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf0b08d0-58cd-475a-9a7a-2b83fa99d520
Extensive gossan and gossan-hosted mineralisation was exposed along the “gossan road”, and profile ROC-019, at its eastern end, returned a mineralised intersection of 26.3m @ 2.29 g/t Au, to the end of the profile, coinciding with the large area of mapped gossanous carbonate on the Central Buttress (see Figure 1). Mineralisation is believed to further continue beyond the end of the profile, which was terminated at the end of the road as completed to date. It is expected that the road and profile will be extended going forwards, at a suitable time. Furthermore profiles ROC-020 and ROC-021 both returned short but high grade intersections from within the ancient workings opened up on the drill pad towards the end of the “gossan road”, including 4.8m @ 12.00 g/t Au (ROC-020), thus confirming the results of early grab sampling and the expectation that high grade mineralisation would be present in the ancient mine workings.
| Profile ID | Length (m) | Intersection (m) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Zn (%) | Comments | ||
| From | To | Interval | ||||||
| ROC-018 | 58.2 | 0.0 | 58.2 | 58.2 | 1.25 | 2.8 | 0.19 | Spiral Pit area (NE of profile ROC-017) |
| incl. | 0.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 1.72 | 6.0 | 0.20 | ||
| incl. | 36.6 | 58.2 | 21.6 | 1.79 | 2.0 | 0.26 | ||
| ROC-019 | 100.5 | 15.0 | 31.0 | 16.0 | 0.84 | 3.3 | 0.08 | Central Buttress, high “’gossan road” |
| and | 74.2 | 100.5 | 26.3 | 2.29 | 9.6 | 0.18 | ||
| ROC-020 | 4.8 | 0.0 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 12.00 | 6.9 | 0.08 | Central Buttress, ancient working |
| ROC-021 | 4.9 | 0.0 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.10 | 5.5 | 0.09 | Central Buttress, ancient working |
| Table 1: Mineralised intersections from channel sample profiles ROC-018 to ROC-021 | ||||||||
Activity Update
Construction of drill access roads and pads is ongoing over the South Ridge at Rodruin to support the current Phase 1 RC drilling programme, and this work continues to expose surface mineralisation. Roads are now being extended to the GF Zone, another significant area of gossan-hosted mineralisation exposed at surface towards the eastern end of the South Ridge, as well as a lower road to the Central Buttress designed to open up further drill positions below the higher “gossan road”. Further channel sampling of exposed mineralisation will be carried out when time and resources are available. Channel sample profile ROC-022 has been completed to the northeast of Aladdin’s Hill, and assays are pending.
The Phase 1 RC programme is planned to consist of approximately 4,000 to 6,000 metres of RC drilling, and has resumed after a short suspension. The initial focus of the drilling was on the main zone of ancient workings at Aladdin’s Hill, and the surrounding area, but the most recent drilling has been testing the area northeast of the Aladdin’s Hill workings. Assay results will continue to be released when they are available. It is planned that the focus of ongoing drilling will move to the Central Valley, Spiral Pit, Central Buttress and GF Zone areas, in order to test the overall potential and prospectivity of the South Ridge at Rodruin. It is now expected that drilling will continue into December 2018.
Discussion
The latest channel sample results confirm significant gold mineralisation at surface is associated with the mapped gossanous carbonate on the Central Buttress, away from the Aladdin’s Hill area, some 300m to the west. The results from channel profile ROC-018 also indicate mineralisation at surface over a significant area to the east and north of the Spiral Pit underground workings, some 100m southeast of the Central Buttress. The area is structurally complex, and it is unclear what the relationship between these two areas may be, due to the Spiral Pit mineralisation being largely covered by presumed unmineralised carbonate in an overthrust block. It is however quite likely that the mineralisation in these two areas is related, and possibly even contiguous under the thrust. Mapping has defined large areas of gossanous carbonate at surface running from the summit of the South Ridge down the Central Buttress into the Central Valley, as well as at the GF Zone, further to the east, along with the presence of numerous ancient workings, all of which suggests potential for significant development of gold mineralisation at surface in these areas. Channel sampling of these new mineralised zones will continue as drill access roads are developed into these areas.
This ongoing drilling has also intersected wide zones of strong sulphide mineralisation in fresh rock, including Cu, Pb and Zn sulphides, which appear to potentially be the primary hypogene equivalents of gold mineralisation identified at surface and in the weathered zones in the Aladdin’s Hill area. Assays from these new holes remain pending, but the identification of sulphide-hosted base metal mineralisation at depth gives Aton strong encouragement for the likely development of significant zones of primary precious and base metal mineralisation at Rodruin.
These latest results and our evolving geological interpretation continue to provide Aton with encouragement that the Rodruin area may host significant bulk tonnages of gold mineralisation, with localised zones of coarse gold bearing and potentially very high grade mineralisation, such as at Aladdin’s Hill.
Figure 3: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c10e3ba4-092a-4a15-b629-4cec469043e5
Rodruin
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 (see Figure 3). Field mapping and sampling has indicated the presence of ancient mine workings and extensive gold mineralisation over an area of at least 700m x 400m at surface. Mineralisation is associated with a sequence of gossanous carbonate and sedimentary rock types. Abundant visible gold has been identified in hand specimens from surface outcrops, and ancient dumps and underground workings, with individual selective grab samples assaying up to 321 g/t Au. The main series of ancient underground workings in the Aladdin’s Hill area has been sampled to approximately 40m below ground level, indicating continuation of the surface mineralisation at depth (see news releases dated February 6, 2018, March 5, 2018 and April 16, 2018), and drilling has now confirmed the presence of high grade gold mineralisation with individual samples returning assays of up to 221 g/t Au over metre intervals (see news release dated October 1, 2018). Underground workings at the Spiral Pit have been sampled to a depth of 12-15m below ground level, returning assays of up to 35.3 g/t Au and 37.9% Zn (see news release dated August 7, 2018).
Channel sampling and analytical procedures
Access road cuttings and drill pads selected for channel sampling initially had their exposed faces cleaned by an excavator, prior to sampling. A single continuous sample channel was cut along each profile using a large, generator powered angle grinder. Sample intervals were marked up on the cleaned faces with spray paint, with the start and end points of individual samples marked on the exposed faces. An aluminium tag was also hammered into the sample profile to mark the position and number of each sample. The channels were created by sawing 2 parallel cuts, approximately 50-75mm apart, with the angle grinder. The cut channel was subsequently sampled using a hammer and chisel, with the sampled material excavated from between the 2 cuts. The profiles were sampled at nominal 2m intervals, but with individual sample lengths varying from less than 1m to greater than 3m, as appropriate. Samples were collected and bagged up in cloth bags, and crushed to -4mm at Aton’s onsite Hamama sample preparation laboratory, and split to a nominal c. 250-500g sample size.
The crushed and split samples were shipped 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 silver, copper, lead and zinc with 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-AA25 (also fire assay with an AAS 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 200km north of Centamin’s Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified a 40km long gold mineralised trend at Abu Marawat, anchored by the Hamama deposit in the west and the Abu Marawat deposit in the east, containing numerous gold exploration targets, including three historic British mines. Aton has identified several distinct geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display potential for the development of RIRG and orogenic gold mineralisation, VMS precious and base metal mineralisation, and epithermal-IOCG precious and base metal mineralisation. Abu Marawat is over 738km2 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.
Qualified person
The technical information contained in this News Release was prepared by Javier Orduña BSc (hons), MSc, MCSM, DIC, MAIG, SEG(M), FGS, 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:
MARK CAMPBELL
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +202-27356548
Email: mcampbell@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.
