Aug 23 2016
Aurion Resources Ltd. ("Aurion") and its partner B2Gold Corp. ("B2Gold") are pleased to report the initiation of their maiden drill program at Kutuvuoma on or about August 29th, 2016. The 2016 drill program will primarily test the along strike continuity of the Kutuvuoma deposit.
Aurion also gratefully acknowledges the receipt of the first anniversary (August 12th) option payment of 100,000 B2Gold shares. The exploration expenditure required under the second year of the option and JV agreement is $1 million. B2Gold will also assume operatorship in accordance with the agreement.
Under the agreement, B2Gold Corp. ("B2Gold"), can earn up to an undivided 75% interest from Aurion in a project area of approximately 25,000 hectares in Northern Finland by completing $15 million in exploration expenditures, a positive feasibility study and issuing 550,000 B2Gold shares (see Aurion news release of January 20, 2016 for details).
Kutuvuoma
The Kutuvuoma deposit is a high-grade, shear zone hosted gold deposit that was discovered in the mid-1990's by the Finnish state entity Outokumpu Oy while exploring for base metals. Outokumpu completed limited drilling testing only a very small area over a distance of 175 m and to a depth of 175 m. Prior to Aurion no other exploration has been conducted since the mid-1990's. Numerous high-grade drill intercepts including 7.2 g/t Au over 19.4m from 60m downhole, 13.2 g/t Au over 5.0m from 90m downhole and 12.6 g/t Au over 7.0m from 26m downhole were recorded from the historical drilling. Assays reported above are un-cut. True width of the mineralization is estimated to be approximately 70-80% of drill intercepts.
Aurion conducted trenching along strike to the east and west of the deposit confirming continuity of the system at surface, within a target area > 5 km long. The best results include Trench K15-02, a 310m2 excavation located 370 m west of the Kutuvuoma deposit where assays of length weighted average intervals reported were 6.5 g/t Au over 9.8m, including 11.3 g/t Au over 3.0m, 21.7 g/t Au over 3.0m, including 63.10 g/t Au over 0.9 m and 3.20 g/t Au over 10.9m, including 5.0 g/t Au over 5.6 m. The T2 excavation made approximately 100m east of Kutuvuoma Main, assayed on average 4.93 g/t Au over 10.94 m including 35.0 g/t Au over 1.2 m. Assays above are un-cut. Further trenching in 2016 has been hampered by an abnormally wet summer with a high water table.
Preliminary metallurgical analysis of two surface samples collected from trenches at Kutuvuoma were favourable. The samples responded well with gold recoveries by a combination of methods in excess of 98% for both samples, including 80-84% recovery by gravity method alone. Whole ore cyanide leaching and concentration by froth flotation and gravity separation was examined at by SGS Canada Inc. at their Lakefield Ontario laboratory. A much more extensive program would be required as the project develops.
Qualified Person
Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo., Aurion's President and CEO, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has approved the technical disclosure and verified the technical information in this news release.