Toronto, Ontario, August 6, 2020 – Aurania Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARU) (OTCQB: AUIAF) (Frankfurt: 20Q) (“Aurania” or the “Company”) is pleased to report on additional sedimentary-hosted high-grade copper-silver in the Kirus target area in its Lost Cities – Cutucu Project (“Project”) in southeastern Ecuador. Sedimentary-hosted mineralization has now been found over an area of 8km by 3km, with grades of up to 6.1% copper and 51 grams per tonne (“g/t”) silver recorded in recent sampling (see Figure 1).
Dr. Keith Barron, Chairman and CEO of Aurania commented, “While our last few press releases have focused on high-grade copper and silver from various targets in the Tsenken area, we’ve also been working in the Kirus target area six kilometres to the south. I’m delighted to report that sedimentary-hosted copper and silver have been encountered over an extensive area there too. At Tsenken, one large target area is resolving into specific targets that will be drill-tested shortly; in the same way, we expect that ongoing work at Kirus will lead to the definition of specific targets to be tested by scout drilling.”
Additional sampling of boulders and outcrop at Kirus has doubled the size of the area over which high-grade copper-silver has been found since the initial press release on the target, dated April 9, 2019. As is the case with other sedimentary-hosted copper-silver targets identified in the Project, the principal copper-bearing minerals are malachite, chrysocolla, tenorite and chalcocite, in sedimentary layers that contain carbonized, fossilized plant fragments (Figure 2).
The high-grade samples are from an area adjacent to the conspicuous, 5km diameter magnetic feature (Figure 1) that initially drew exploration attention to the Kirus area. Intrusive and subvolcanic rocks ranging from magnetic, porphyritic basaltic-trachyandesite to monzonite have been mapped in outcrop over part of the Kirus magnetic feature. The magnetic centre is a target for copper porphyries. Porphyries are typically about 1km in diameter, so a geophysical feature that is approximately 20 square kilometres in extent may contain a porphyry cluster. Soil sampling is underway to identify areas of copper enrichment that may reflect underlying porphyry mineralization.
Figure 1. Location of high-grade copper-silver samples taken from outcrops and boulders in streams in the Kirus target area on a background of magnetic data (negative reduction to the equator, which is roughly equivalent to reduction to the pole (“RTP”)).
Figure 2. Photo of a piece of Sample Y992012 with 1.6% copper and 39.6 g/t silver. The green mineral is malachite. Scale bar is in centimetres.
Sample Analysis & Quality Assurance / Quality Control (“QAQC”)
Laboratories: The rock samples were prepared for analysis at MS Analytical (“MSA”) in Cuenca, Ecuador, and the analyses were done in Vancouver, Canada.
Sample preparation: The rock samples were jaw-crushed to 10 mesh (crushed material passes through a mesh with apertures of 2 millimetres (“mm”)), from which a one-kilogram sub-sample was taken. The sub-sample was crushed to a grain size of 0.075mm and a 200 gram (“g”) split was set aside for analysis.
Analytical procedure: Approximately 0.25g of rock pulp underwent four-acid digestion and analysis for 48 elements by ICP-MS. For the over-limit samples, those that had a grade of greater than 1% copper and 100g/t silver, 0.4 grams of pulp underwent digestion in four acids and the resulting liquid was diluted and analyzed by ICP-MS.
QAQC: Aurania personnel inserted a certified standard pulp sample, alternating with a field blank, at approximate 20 sample intervals in all sample batches. Aurania’s analysis of results from its independent QAQC samples showed the batches reported on above, lie within acceptable limits. In addition, the labs reported that the analyses had passed their internal QAQC tests.
Qualified Person
The technical information contained in this news release has been verified and approved by Jean-Paul Pallier, MSc. Mr. Pallier is a designated EurGeol by the European Federation of Geologists and is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
About Aurania
Aurania is a mineral exploration company engaged in the identification, evaluation, acquisition and exploration of mineral property interests, with a focus on precious metals and copper in South America. Its flagship asset, The Lost Cities – Cutucu Project, is located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountain range of southeastern Ecuador.
Information on Aurania and technical reports are available at www.aurania.com and www.sedar.com, as well as on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/auranialtd/, Twitter at https://twitter.com/auranialtd, and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/aurania-resources-ltd-.
For further information, please contact:
| Carolyn Muir
VP Investor Relations Aurania Resources Ltd. (416) 367-3200 |
Dr. Richard Spencer
President Aurania Resources Ltd. (416) 367-3200 |
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Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond the control of Aurania. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Aurania’s future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that Aurania or its management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”, “could”, “would”, “will”, or “plan”. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to Aurania, Aurania provides no assurance that actual results will meet management’s expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, Aurania’s objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the corporation’s portfolio, treasury, management team and enhanced capital markets profile, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, failure to identify mineral resources, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, regulatory, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate indigenous peoples, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in Aurania’s public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Aurania believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Aurania disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.
