Aton Announces Initial Results From The Second Phase Of Selective Grab Sampling At The rodruin Prospect, With Gold Assays Up To 13.90 G/T
Vancouver, March 5, 2018: Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company”) is very pleased to provide investors with an update on exploration activities at the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat” or the “Concession”), and to announce gold assay results from the second phase of grab sampling at the recently discovered Rodruin prospect.
Highlights:
- A second phase of selective surface grab sampling has been completed at Rodruin, consisting of a total of 102 samples, including 4 QAQC samples. Samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay and a 33 element geochemical suite;
- Grab samples returned gold assay grades including 13.90 g/t Au and 10.75 g/t Au. Base metal and trace element results are still pending;
- 29 of the 98 ‘primary’ samples (30% of total) returned gold assay grades above 1 g/t Au, and 43 samples (44% of total) returned grades above 0.5 g/t Au;
- This second phase sampling program has confirmed the widespread distribution of surface gold mineralization at Rodruin, and has extended the area over which mineralization has been identified. Widespread gold mineralization occurs at surface on the South Ridge, with mineralization more restricted to discrete high grade zones on the North Ridge.
“These are very solid results over a broad surface area and we are very pleased with them.” said Mark Campbell, President and CEO. ”There are more assay results to look forward to, and at the same time we have started work on building a road in to Rodruin in advance of our upcoming drilling program”.
Rodruin Prospect
The Rodruin prospect (see Figure 1) was discovered in early 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. The Rodruin prospect is located over an area consisting of 2 approximately E-W trending parallel mountain ridges, in a remote and rugged location. It is currently only accessible on foot, but can be reached via drivable desert tracks which pass within about 3km of the prospect. Work on the construction of an access road to Rodruin from its western side has been started.
Very extensive ancient workings have been identified at Rodruin, covering a large area, and occurring predominantly within a series of carbonate rocks. These ancient mine workings are the largest and most significant workings identified to date in the Concession. The workings are spread over an area of at least 500m x 400m in size, and over a vertical elevation range of more than 100m, and are located predominantly on the South Ridge of the Rodruin prospect, with fewer workings on the North Ridge. The ancient miners exploited high grade gossanous oxide gold mineralization, often associated with gold-bearing quartz veins, with the workings typically localized along structural or shear zones.
Figure 1: Abu Marawat regional geology, showing the location of the Rodruin prospect
Of the 98 grab samples collected, 68 were collected from the South Ridge, and 30 from the North Ridge (see Figure 2). It is apparent that outcropping mineralization is more widespread on the South Ridge, and on the North Ridge is more areally restricted to discrete high grade structurally controlled zones. Surface mineralization further to the west of the main area of workings on the western end of the South Ridge was newly identified and sampled in the Phase 2 program. Additional deep ancient workings on very high grade zones on the South Ridge were identified during the second phase of sampling, but these were not sampled in this program. A summary of the gold assay results is provided in Table 1, and full details of all samples are provided in Appendix A.
February 2018 Phase 2 surface sampling program
A second phase program of surface sampling was carried out in early February 2018, with 98 selective grab samples collected. All samples were crushed to -4mm at the Company’s onsite sample preparation facility at Hamama, with c. 500g splits shipped to ALS Minerals at Rosia Montana, Romania for analysis. Samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay using analytical code AA-Au23 (repeated by AA-Au25 for samples which returned gold grades greater than 10 g/t). Samples were also analyzed for Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn as part of a 33 element suite by ICP atomic emission spectrometry, using analytical code ME-ICP61. Base metal and trace element results are still pending, and are not reported herein.
Figure 2: Sample locations and gold assay results, Phase 2 grab sampling program only
Figure 3: Sample locations and gold assay results, combined Phase 1 and 2 grab sampling programs
Significant gold assays were returned from many samples, with 30% assaying greater than 1 g/t Au and 44% of the samples assaying over 0.5 g/t Au (see Table 1 and Figure 2). The overall mean average grade of all the samples was 1.06 g/t Au.
Phase 2 sampling on the South Ridge confirmed the widespread distribution of mineralization at surface, and extended the known mineralization further to the west (see Figure 3). 57% of the South Ridge samples assayed above 0.5 g/t Au, and the mean average all samples from the South Ridge was 1.29 g/t Au. The median average of the South Ridge samples was 0.75 g/t Au.
Sampling on the North Ridge confirmed that mineralization is more restricted to discrete narrow high grade zones, and is less areally widespread (see Figure 3). Only limited examination of the North Ridge has been undertaken to date, due to the fairly extreme topography in this area.
Discussion
The Rodruin prospect represents a major ancient mining site from which gold was exploited from high grade gossanous structures and quartz veins, localized in or adjacent to the margins of a distinctive gossanous carbonate unit. The mineralization at Rodruin appears to be of a broadly similar carbonate-hosted hybrid VMS-epithermal style to that seen and interpreted at other prospects in the license such as Hamama, Waayrah, and Miranda SE, but it has been extensively tectonized with the development of significant high grade structurally controlled and shear-hosted zones. Rodruin is characterized by the very widespread distribution of mineralization at surface (see Figure 3), and the presence of the high grade zones, which were preferentially exploited by the ancient miners (see new release dated February 6, 2017). The Phase 2 sampling continues to confirm the potential of the Rodruin prospect to host a large body of Au(-Ag-Zn) mineralization, with a significant component of structurally controlled high grade gold zones, occurring in a distinctive, probably replacive, mineralized carbonate unit.
Rodruin is now the primary focus of the Company’s exploration efforts. Further surface sampling is ongoing, and work has started on the construction of a road into the prospect, with the aim of allowing drilling to commence by April 2018.
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 Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified a 40 km long gold mineralized 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 mineralization, VMS precious and base metal mineralization, and epithermal-IOCG precious and base metal mineralization. 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 Roderick Cavaney BSc, MSc (hons), MSc (Mining & Exploration Geology), FAusIMM, GSA, SME, Vice President, Exploration, of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Cavaney 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.
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