Aurania Confirms Extension to Most Advanced Target in the Lost Cities – Cutucu Project
Toronto, Ontario, September 13, 2018 – Aurania Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARU) (OTCQB: AUIAF) (Frankfurt: 20Q) (“Aurania” or the “Company”) reports that an extension to its Crunchy Hill target has been confirmed in pathfinder element enrichment in soil over a one-kilometre trend. Pathfinder element enrichment outlines the shape of what appears to be an underlying vein system which, combined with other datasets, is being used to refine the form and depth of a possible epithermal gold-silver target. Crunchy Hill is the Company’s most advanced target in its Lost Cities – Cutucu Project (“Project”) in Ecuador and will be the first target to be drilled in late 2018. Detailed exploration is being conducted on other targets so that they can be readied for scout drilling in sequence after the initial drilling at Crunchy Hill.
Soil Geochemistry Results:
Detailed exploration of the Crunchy Hill target resulted in an extension of the original soil sampling grid 800 metres to the west to cover an area in which vuggy silica has been found at surface. The soil sample results show a strong coincidence of pathfinder elements such as molybdenum, silver, antimony, mercury, thallium and lead (Figure 1).
Soil Analyses Refining the Crunchy Hill Target:
The narrow corridors in which the pathfinder elements occur, within the broad one-kilometre trend, is reminiscent of a typical vein system in which the individual veins are inclined to one another. Furthermore, molybdenum is known to be exceptionally stable in the tropical soil profile found in southeastern Ecuador since it does not dissolve and migrate downslope from the position of the underlying rock from which it was weathered and incorporated into the soil. Hence, molybdenum provides a reliable anchor that should faithfully represent the position and shape of the underlying vein system from which it was derived. The confinement of other pathfinder elements, such as antimony and mercury, to coincident corridors with molybdenum adds to the conviction that the corridors represent mineralized structures at depth.
In contrast to the narrow corridors of molybdenum, antimony and mercury, other elements such as naturally-occurring arsenic and iron occur over broader areas of the soil grid – typical of epithermal systems where these elements occur, not only in the veins, but in the enclosing rock as well. The distribution of manganese close to the pathfinder elements is unusual – and highly informative – since it typically occurs as a halo to mineralization in many deposits. An exception to this rule is “intermediate sulphidation” epithermal deposits, of which Fruta del Norte is a prime example, where manganese occurs in a carbonate mineral, rhodochrosite, at the core of the mineralization (Figure 1).
Next Steps:
Detailed field mapping is underway to determine whether the inclination of the veins inferred from the pathfinder element corridors can be discerned from features in the vuggy silica. The prime drill targets would be where the veins intersect chemically reactive layers of rock, such as limestone, or permeable units such as tuff, at depth. This data will be used to refine the location and orientation of the drill holes.
Figure 1. Image below shows pathfinder distribution in soils at Crunchy Hill target.
Top row from left to right: Molybdenum on soil grid; Moly and Silver; Moly and Mercury
Bottom row from left to right: Moly and Thallium; Moly and Arsenic; Moly and Manganese
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Forward-Looking Statements
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