Avion Intersects Additional Gold Mineralization atAvion Gold Corporation(AVR)(otcqx:AVGCF) ("Avion" or the'Company') is pleased to announce the results from an additional 28reverse circulation drill holes totaling approximately 4,716 metrescompleted. These holes were completed over a 900 metre strike of theBetea Central zone's interpreted strike length which has beenestablished over approximately 1,000 metres.
The Betea Central zone contains an historic National Instrument43-101 compliant estimated indicated mineral resource of 1,154,000tonnes grading 2.30 g/t Au totaling 111,000 ounces and an inferredmineral resource of 981,000 tonnes grading 1.60 g/t Au totaling52,000 ounces (Roberts, 2008(1)). Note that a qualified person hasnot carried out the work required to classify the historical estimateas current mineral resources or mineral reserves for Avion andtherefore Avion is not treating the historical estimate as currentmineral resources or mineral reserves. Avion intends to update theresources for the Kofi property in late Q4, 2011.
Significant new results include the following:
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2.16 g/t Au over 20.0 metres
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3.46 g/t Au over 15.0 metres
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2.12 g/t Au over 24.0 metres
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4.48 g/t Au over 10.0 metres
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13.01 g/t Au over 7.0 metres
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1.92 g/t Au over 35.0 metres
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16.75 g/t Au over 2.0 metres
The Betea Central zone lies approximately 25 kilometres north-northwestof Avion's Tabakoto mine (see figure 1). This zone is part of anapproximate 3,000 metre long, up to 200 metre wide, northerlystriking gold system (Betea South, Central and North zones) that hasbeen tested by generally widely spaced drill holes down to a maximumdepth of 150 metres. Combined, these zones (North, Central and Southzones) host an indicated mineral resource estimate of 1,154,000tonnes grading 2.30 g/t Au totaling 111,000 ounces and an inferredmineral resource of 2,623,000 tonnes grading 1.78 g/t Au totaling151,000 ounces (Roberts, 2008(1)). The Betea zones are hosted bycarbonate-altered, sulphidized and quartz veined silicified andtourminalized greywackes. The Betea zones are believed to be similarin character to Randgold's Gara deposit (mineral reserves of 2.73million ounces Au grading 3.73 g/t Au and mineral resources of 3.74million ounces Au grading 4.05 g/t Au - Holliday, 2008), which isalso hosted by carbonate-altered, sulphidized and tourmaline-alteredrocks. Drill and Au-in-soil sample data indicates that the Betea goldsystem may extend beyond the currently defined resource area to atotal approximate projected length of 5,000 metres along strike.Additional mapping and drilling will be required to support thistheory.
Don Dudek, Avion's Senior Vice President, Exploration, stated: "Thecontinued drilling over the Betea zone demonstrates the extent andopen-ended nature of this mineralized system. Future plans willinclude aggressively drill testing the system along strike to thenorth and south with a few deep holes included that will cross theentire mineralized package."
The Betea Central zone consists of at least three parallel lenses(Main, FW1 and FW2) of gold mineralization and numerous other, as ofyet, undefined gold-bearing zones. The Main zone demonstrates thebest continuity along the 1,000 metre strike of the zone. Within theMain zone, Avion's additional holes have confirmed the presence offive, moderate-north-plunging, higher grade sections that vary from50 metres to 150 metres in strike length (see figure 2). Thesecondary FW1 and FW2 zones lie in the footwall of the Main zone,generally adjacent to the higher grade sections in the Main zone.Additional, better Betea FW1 intercepts include 2.96 g/t Au over 12.0metres (hole BTRC-11-25), 14.2 g/t Au over 2.0 metres (BTRC-11-33)and 1.91 g/t Au over 10.2 metres (BTRC-11-34). A summary of assaycomposites of holes BTRC-11-12 to BTRC-11-38 is appended to this newsrelease.
During 2011, Avion completed 39 reverse circulation drill holestotaling 6,305 metres over the Betea Central zone and plans to drilladditional holes this year. Avion is also taking advantage of a newmetallurgical laboratory set up at its Tabakoto mine site to completepreliminary metallurgical tests of the Betea zone mineralization.
Avion's procedures for handling reverse circulation drill chipscomprise initial splitting of the rock chips from one metre drilllength samples into 2.0 kilogram samples, as well as description andlogging into a database. These samples were delivered to the SGS-Xrallaboratory in Kayes, Mali. Assay standard samples are inserted every25th sample and duplicate reverse circulation from every 20th sampleare sent in as a separate sample to double check the assays fromthese intervals. This sampling procedure was initiated andperiodically reviewed by Avion's Senior Vice President, Exploration,Don Dudek, P. Geo. The assay samples are then crushed to 3millimetres with a riffle split if required, to 1.5 kilograms, andthe entire sample milled in a LM2 mill to a nominal 95% passing 75um.All the preparation equipment is flushed with barren material priorto the commencement of the job and all sample bowls are scraped cleanwith a scratch pad. Gold values were determined by Fire Assay and AASwith a 50 gram nominal sample weight. In order to ensure that local,exceptionally high grade assays are not overly represented in assaycomposites, Avion is also presenting assay composites, with highgrade samples capped at 15.0 g/t Au as per Roberts(1) (2008) resourcereport that included the Betea Central zone.
Avion's 2011 minimum 75,000 metre drill focused exploration programis well underway with 381 core and reverse circulation ('RC') holestotaling approximately 59,000 metres of drilling completed. Drillingcompleted to date consists of approximately 32,600 metres on Avion'sMali projects (Tabakoto and Kofi) and 26,300 metres on Avion'sBurkina Faso property (Hounde) with a core and an RC drill rig activeon the Kofi property and two core rigs active on the Hounde property.Two additional core drill rigs are now active the Tabakoto property.In conjunction with Avion's continued success on both the Kofi andTabakoto properties, Avion's board has agreed to increase the 2011exploration budget for the Kofi and Tabakoto projects by US$ 1.5million dollars, each.
Don Dudek, P.Geo., the Senior Vice President, Exploration of theCompany and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 hasreviewed and approved the scientific and technical information inthis press release.
To view the "Betea Main Zone Contour Long Section", please visit thefollowing link:https://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Betea_Main_Zone_Contour_Long_Section.pdf.
To view the "Tabakoto Kofi Project Plan Map", please visit thefollowing link:https://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Tabakoto_Kofi_Project_Plan_Map.pdf.