Vior Announces Earn-In Agreement on Its Ligneris Gold Project, Quebec

QUEBEC CITY, June 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SOCIÉTÉ D’EXPLORATION MINIÈRE VIOR INC. ("Vior"), (TSX-Venture: VIO, FRANKFURT: VL51) – is pleased to announce that it has entered into an earn-in agreement with Ethos Gold Corp (“Ethos”) (TSX-V: ECC) (OTCQB: ETHOF) allowing Ethos to earn up to a 70% interest in the Ligneris Gold project from Vior. The Ligneris project is strategically located in the world class Abitibi Greenstone Belt which hosts numerous gold and base metal deposits and mines.

Highlights of the project

• The Ligneris Project comprises 94 claims covering 36.2 km² located 80 km north of Agnico-Eagle’s LaRonde Complex, and 90 km northeast of Rouyn-Noranda, in Quebec (see Figure 1 below). The project has easy access through paved and all-weather logging roads.  Basic services are available from the village of Taschereau located 35 km to the south.

• Mineralized zones are found within an extensive hydrothermal alteration zone that can be followed over kilometers in strike length and hundreds of meters in width, and that are encompassed within broad ductile deformation zones. The geochemical signature of the rocks and mineralization bear many similarities to those at the LaRonde/Bousquet camp.

• Previous work by Vior (1984-1986), Placer Dome (1987-1990) and Barrick (1997) included 204 drill holes for approximately 40,000 meters mostly clustered around the mineralized zones on the project. 75 of these 204 holes crosscut significant gold and/or zinc intercepts.  Only 7 holes reached over 300 meters in depth. 

• Mineralization consists of disseminated pyrite and veinlets of sphalerite associated with strong pervasive carbonatization and sericitic alteration within dacitic volcanics. The mineralization was recognized in most of the holes in the South, Central and North zones. Highlights of historical intercepts include:

The qualified person has not verified the drilling data disclosed in this release, including sampling data and assays. These data come from historical reports made between 1984 and 1990 by Sigma Mines Ltd., Placer Dome Inc. and Vior.

• A recent comprehensive airborne VTEM survey by Vior, conducted by Geotech, defined 12 clusters of deeper targets. Ethos will now commence a comprehensive compilation of previous data, ground based geophysics, and further surface sampling and mapping.  This work will be utilized to fine tune deeper targets for drilling. 

• Drilling will test these deeper targets below 300 meters.

• Previous exploration work including drilling by Placer Dome Inc. and Vior has also identified shallower, high grade targets, and recommended induced polarization (“IP”) geophysics followed by drilling to test these targets. Ethos will also pursue these shallower targets.

• Drilling is planned for the fall and winter of 2019. Drilling can continue throughout the winter. This program will utilize some of the unallocated flow through funds that Ethos currently holds.

Earn-In Agreement Terms

Ethos can earn a 51% interest in the Ligneris Project by paying Vior 1.0 million in Ethos shares and incurring $3.0 million in expenditures over the first four years of the agreement, according to the following schedule:

Following an earn-in of 51%, Ethos will have 60 days to elect to earn a further 19% interest (70% interest) by spending an additional $4 million over the subsequent three years.

Stated Mark Fedosiewich, Vior’s President and CEO, “We are excited to work with Ethos’ outstanding technical and management team. This is an opportunity to take a fresh new look at a highly prospective project that has seen little exploration in well over 20 years and to initiate the first ever systematic drill program at depth on this project. Historic work at Ligneris has defined a large mineralized system, including some significant drill intervals of gold. Ligneris exhibits many similarities in geology and mineralization to Agnico Eagle’s LaRonde mine which reaches depths of over 3000 meters. Little historic drilling below a depth of 300 meters has occurred at Ligneris. A recent deep EM airborne survey has identified multiple geophysical targets at deeper levels than were ever drilled. The plan is to refine these targets with ground based geophysics and begin to drill them in fall/winter 2019. Ethos has approximately $1.4 million in unallocated flow through funds to spend in 2019, and after reviewing dozens of projects, believes that Ligneris is an outstanding project to pursue with these funds. The Vior team, led by their VP Exploration, Marc L’Heureux, P.Geo., M.A.Sc., will be the operator of the program at Ligneris. In addition to leading Vior’s recent work at Ligneris, Marc spent 4 years working in the Bousquet Camp which is part of the LaRonde complex, providing him with a deep understanding of the LaRonde type model.”

The technical content disclosed in this press release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Marc L'Heureux, P.Geo., who is the Company's Qualified Person as per NI 43-101.

About Vior

Vior is a junior mining exploration company based in Quebec whose corporate strategy is to generate, explore, and develop high quality projects in proven and favourable mining jurisdictions in North America. Through the years, Vior’s management and technical team have demonstrated their ability to discover several gold deposits and many high-quality mineral prospects.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c2636c66-529e-4795-b5fa-3b514ca1ca91

Figure 1.

Ligneris property map showing historic drilling and geophysical targets defined to date.