Aug 12 2016
Aurion Resources Ltd. ("Aurion") is pleased to report that it's 2016 field program has begun on several of its wholly-owned, gold prospects in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt of Northern Finland. Several of these prospects have highly anomalous gold in rock and till, with multi-km strike potential and excellent access. (See attached map). The highlights of the 2016 program so far are summarized below:
Ruoppa
The Ruoppa target now comprises an open-ended 2.3 km long by 1.3 km wide zone of anomalous gold samples, within an overall target greater than 7km long. The mineralization is hosted by a swarm of felsic dykes occurring along the sheared/faulted margin of a granitoid body. The association of quartz-carbonate veins with free gold and high bismuth within felsic dykes is very similar to Agnico Eagle's Kuotko gold deposit (1.8 million tonnes grading 2.9 g/t Au; see Agnico Eagle Annual Report), of which Ruoppa is contiguous to.
To date in 2016, prospecting and reconnaissance geological mapping has expanded the scale of the Ruoppa prospect to more than 2.3 km long by 1.3 km wide. Additionally, a new target area with similar style mineralization has been identified up to 3 km northeast of this primary target area. Analytical results have been received from 66 rock chip samples collected from outcrop, sub outcrop and angular boulders assaying from nil to 14.4 g/t Au including 17 samples which assayed greater than 1.0 g/t Au. The average grade of all 66 samples was 1.03 g/t Au. The mineralization consists of narrow mm to < 1 m wide quartz-carbonate veins with minor sulphides, free gold and a geochemical association with highly anomalous bismuth. Since generating this prospect a total of 156 rock chip samples have been collected by Aurion personnel. The assays range from nil to 30.7 g/t Au including 38 which have assayed greater than 1.0 g/t Au with the average of all samples 1.08 g/t Au. Analytical results are pending for an additional 94 samples. The mineralization is hosted by a swarm of felsic dykes occurring along the sheared/faulted margin of a granitoid body. The association of quartz-carbonate veins with free gold and high bismuth within felsic dykes is very similar to Agnico Eagle's Kuotko gold deposit.
Agnico is currently exploring Kuotko as a potential satellite open pit. Agnico reported completing approximately 7,300m of drilling in 2015, identifying new mineralized zones outside of the known mineral resource areas. Agnico established a Mining Lease in early 2015 and studies are being carried out to assess the viability of mining the deposit (Agnico Eagle Press Release dated Feb 10, 2016). Historical drill intercepts of 17.5 g/t Au over 5.0m and 23.5 g/t Au over 3.0m have been reported.
Risti
Further prospecting in 2016 has expanded the zone of mineralization discovered in 2015 to a distance greater than 1.7 km. To date a total of 101 rock samples from outcrop, sub outcrop and angular boulders, assayed nil to 22.3 g/t Au including 29 of which assayed greater than 0.4 g/t Au and 13 greater than 1 g/t Au. The average of all samples is 0.7 g/t Au. The gold mineralization occurs within quartz-iron oxide veins and breccias within altered meta-sediments.
The Risti target is located approximately 13km east of the Company's Kutuvuoma property, which is under joint venture to B2Gold. The property hosts the Kaarestunturi prospect, which was discovered by the Geological Survey of Finland who completed various studies including 5 shallow diamond drill holes within a small area returning up to 5.2 g/t Au over 5.0m.
Sila
The Sila target covers approximately 11km along the northern strike extension of the Hanhimaa Shear Zone (HSZ), within sheared meta-volcanics and meta-sediments sandwiched between two large intrusive bodies. The HSZ south of Sila hosts several gold occurrences, which have reported drill intersections of 4.5 g/t Au over 11.7m and 5.9 g/t Au over 7.5m (Agnico Eagle Annual report).
Aurion has identified mineralization in quartz veins and silicified meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks and rock float samples collected over a distance of 6.5km ranged from nil to 219 g/t Au and nil to 5410 ppm As. Numerous till samples assayed up to 0.7 g/t Au within this trend and up to 1.12 g/t Au elsewhere on the property. Assay results from reconnaissance prospecting, and overburden sampling so far in 2016 returned anomalous values in gold and arsenic. The area is heavily covered and further surficial geochemical sampling is planned.
Rova
Rova comprises a 7km long by 1km wide zone of sheared meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary sandwiched between two large intrusive bodies. Historical work by the state mining company Outukumpu in the late 1980's highlights an approximately 6km long section with anomalous gold (and copper) in till with individual till samples assaying up to 4.0 g/t Au. The mineralization comprises quartz-carbonate vein sets in sulphide-rich metasedimentary rock, in the contact zone between meta-volcanic rocks and intrusives. Five shallow drillholes were completed in 1987, within a small area, with a best result of 2.1 g/t Au over 1.2m. No other exploration work has been documented since. Assays results are pending from reconnaissance prospecting.
New Exploration Tenements
In Q2, Aurion Resources was granted an additional 225,000 hectares of exploration licences prospective for precious and base metals in Northern Finland. Reconnaissance exploration on these will begin in September.
Summary
Outside of operating the joint venture with B2Gold at Kutuvuoma and Ahvenjarvi, the primary focus of our efforts so far this year have been on Ruoppa, where we continue to expand the size of the system and outline new high grade gold mineralization. Only limited time has been spent on our other targets. Given the poor exposure across the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt Aurion has been quite successful in identifying new and expanding existing zones of mineralization across is portfolio.
Since its first acquisition in Finland in mid-2014, Aurion has acquired a large database and land position north and south of Kittila, Europe's largest gold mine (7.7 Moz gold; Agnico Annual Report). The limited amount of fieldwork completed to date has already generated several exciting gold projects, clearly demonstrating the prospectivity of Aurion's holdings. It has also been successful in attracting B2Gold Corp., one of the most well-respected exploration and mining companies in Canada, to jointly explore the Kutuvuoma and Ahvenjarvi projects within a large approximately 25,000 hectare area. Aurion is seeking additional creative partnerships to advance these exciting opportunities in one of the most geologically favourable, underexplored and stable locations in the world.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
All samples were delivered to Labtium Oy's facility in Sodankyla, Finland. The samples were analysed for gold using procedures 704P (Detection Limit -- 0.01 gold; Upper Limit -- 100.00 g/t gold) -- 25g fire assay with AAS finish or using procedures 705P (Detection Limit -- 0.005 gold; Upper Limit -- 100.00 g/t gold) -- 50g fire assay with AAS finish. Multi-element analysis was completed using procedure 511. This procedure detected 31 elements by aqua regia acid digestion, HCl leach followed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS analysis. Labtium is a Finnish, accredited, certified laboratory group. They are monitored by a QAQC program comprising the inclusion of standards, blank material, duplicates and certified reference material.
Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo., President and CEO of Aurion, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the preparation of this release. For more information on these projects please visit our website at www.aurionresources.com.