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ORIGINAL: Aurelius Announces Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at Aureus East - Significant Milestone to Enhanced Value Creation
2022-05-26 09:05 ET - News Release
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 26, 2022) - Aurelius Minerals Inc. (TSXV: AUL) (OTCQB: AURQF) (the "Company" or "Aurelius") is pleased to announce its maiden Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") for the 100% owned Aureus East Gold Project, with 162,700 ounces ("oz") Indicated gold ("Au") and 387,600 oz Inferred Au contained in the consolidated MRE.
Highlights of the Aureus East gold MRE include:
- Combined Indicated Mineral Resources of 162,700 oz Au, including;
- 78,000 oz Au pit constrained Indicated Mineral Resource; and
- 84,700 oz Au underground constrained Indicated Mineral Resource.
- Combined Inferred Mineral Resources of 387,600 oz Au, including;
- 147,200 oz Au pit constrained Inferred Mineral Resource; and
- 240,400 oz Au underground constrained Inferred Mineral Resource.
- Tremendous exploration potential remains:
- Multiple zones north and south of the axis of the deposit
- Zones extend from surface, open at depth
- Potential for surface extraction and near surface resource growth
- Majority of drilling is less than 500m depth and constrained to western portion of the deposit
- Mineral resource estimate de-risks the Aureus East Project and advances value creation strategy
Aurelius CEO, Mark N.J. Ashcroft, P.Eng, said, "Delivery of our maiden MRE at Aureus East is a major milestone for the Company. We established this maiden resource estimate as a key milestone for the project, and we have delivered on that in 21 months. We had exceptional success in validating the Project's potential, with our drill program intersecting significant intervals of gold at 100% of our drill holes. The result is a robust gold resource that unlocks tremendous value through the drill bit and demonstrates the potential for significant additional resource growth in the near term. With this resource now in hand, we are well positioned to advance our value creation strategy by focusing on expanding this resource further with Phase 3 drilling, followed by the initiation of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ('PEA') Study. We would like to thank the entire Aurelius team, including our contractors and local communities, for their commitment and contribution to this achievement."
"This MRE represents an exciting milestone for the Aureus East Project and confirms the abundant gold mineralization intersected in our first two phases of drilling. The majority of the drilling to date is less than 500m in depth and constrained to the western portion of the project. We believe there is strong potential to expand the resource at depth, as all zones appear to continue along strike for at least 1600m. As well, most of the deposit remains underexplored and there is a good opportunity to grow the resource by following the zones to the east. Going forward, we will be looking to incorporate the results of the recently completed channel sampling program into the resource estimate, as well as enhance it through targeting high grade zones in the next phase of our exploration drilling. We are delighted at the pace of advancement of the project," said Jeremy Niemi, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration.
Outlook
The MRE represents an important building block in delivering on the Company's "Define/Refine/Re-Engineer" value creation strategy, as it demonstrates management's successful interpretation of the deposit. The robustness of the MRE provides both an increased understanding and flexibility to the management team, as it further evaluates pathways to enhanced value creation at Aureus East, whether leveraging existing mill infrastructure and assets or focusing on a potential hub and spoke model collaboration with other operations. Nova Scotia's growing gold mining belt includes a producing mine and multiple advanced deposits within a 100km radius of the Aureus East Project, providing opportunities to enhance value within a mining-friendly jurisdiction.
Aurelius now has four distinct mineral resource estimates in Nova Scotia, with a strong potential for resource growth at each deposit. All deposits extend from surface and are open at depth.
Next Steps
The Company intends to build on the success of the MRE by focusing the next phases of drilling on high grade target zones (i.e., Zone 4 - 944 Level channel sampling) in an effort to increase the resource estimate in the near term and advance the project towards a PEA. Aureus East remains open at depth and most of the drilling to date has focused on the first 500m of strike from the western limit of the deposit. As a result, most of the deposit is underexplored at this stage. The zones identified so far appear to continue for at least 1,600m, representing a strong opportunity to follow them to the east and at depth.
The Company's Aureus West deposit is located approximately 800m south of Aureus East and is interpreted to be its offset along a regional fault line. The Aureus West Project remains open in all directions and the Company is optimistic at being able to shrink the distance between the projects by drilling and defining new limbs of mineralization.
The MRE for Aureus East ("Project") was completed in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") standards for disclosure and the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (May 2014) and has an effective date of May 20, 2022.
A technical report is being prepared in accordance with NI-43-101 and will be available on the Company's website and SEDAR within 45 days of the effective date of the MRE. The MRE includes both pit constrained and underground constrained resources. The total combined resources include an Indicated mineral resource of 0.985 million tonnes ("Mt") grading 5.14 grams/tonne ("g/t") Au (162.7 koz Au contained) and an Inferred mineral resource of 4.185 Mt grading 2.88 g/t Au (387.6 koz Au contained).
Table 1. Aureus East Gold Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate
| Type | Cut-off (Au g/t) | Category | Tonnes
('000s) | Au g/t | Contained Oz Au
('000s) |
| Pit Constrained | 0.44 | Indicated | 654 | 3.71 | 78.0 |
| Inferred | 2,557 | 1.79 | 147.2 |
| Underground Constrained | 2.40 | Indicated | 332 | 7.94 | 84.7 |
| Inferred | 1,628 | 4.59 | 240.4 |
| Combined | 0.44 / 2.40 | Indicated | 985 | 5.14 | 162.7 |
| Inferred | 4,185 | 2.88 | 387.6 |
- Mineral resources were prepared in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (MRMR) (2014) and CIM MRMR Best Practice Guidelines (2019).
- Mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.
- Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- Mineral resource tonnages are rounded to the nearest 1,000. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates and totals may not add correctly. Au ounces reported are troy ounces.
- Density was determined from measurements on 245 drill core samples. The density of background sediments was determined to be 2.72 t/m3; the density of the mineralized zones was determined to be 2.77 t/m3.
- Au g/t deposit grade was estimated using Inverse Distance Squared methods based on 1 m downhole assay composites. Capping was applied variably to each wireframe based on the distribution of assays; of the 39,831 assays, 243 were capped (0.6%). This was implemented to prevent the overestimation of grade. The parent model block size used was 2 m (x) by 2 m (y) by 2 m (z) with minimum sub-celling of 0.67 m (x) by 0.67 m (y) by variable (z). The model was regularized to 2 m (x) by 2 m (y) by 4 m (z) for pit optimization.
- Pit constrained mineral resources were defined within an optimized pit shell with average pit slope angles of 45° in rock and 25° in overburden, and a 13.1 strip ratio (waste material: mineralized material).
- Pit optimization parameters include: metal pricing at US$1,700/oz Au; exchange rate of C$1.33 /US$1.00; transportation and refinery charges of C$5.00/oz Au; 99.95% Au payable; 2.0% combined royalty charges; mining cost of C$5.25/t; processing plus general and administration cost of C$30.00/t processed; and a Au recovery of 96%.
- Pit constrained mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.44 g/t Au within the 100% revenue factor optimized pit shell. The cut-off grade reflects the marginal cut-off grade used in pit optimization to define reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction by open pit methods. Pit constrained mineral resources are reported from the model regularized to 2 m (x) by 2 m (y) by 4 m (z) to include must take blocks.
- Underground minable shape optimization parameters include: metal pricing at US$1,700/oz Au; exchange rate of C$1.33/US$1.00; transportation and refinery charges of C$5.00/oz Au; 99.95% Au payable; 2.0 % combined royalty charges; mining cost of C$125.00/t; processing plus general and administration cost of C$40.00/t processed; and a Au recovery of 97%.
- Underground constrained mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 2.40 g/t Au. The cut-off grade reflects total operating costs to define reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction by conventional underground mining methods. All material within minable shape optimization wireframes has been included in the mineral resource to include must take blocks.
- The MRE was prepared by Christian Ballard, P.Geo., of Nordmin Engineering Ltd., who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and is independent of Aurelius Minerals Inc. and Aureus Gold Inc.
Figure 1: Plan View of Pit Constrained Resources at Aureus East
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Figure 2: Long-section View of Underground Constrained Resources at Aureus East
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Geology and Mineralization
The Aureus East deposit lies within the Meguma Terrane, the most southerly zone of the Canadian Appalachian province. The Meguma is historically associated with gold mineralization and mining in Nova Scotia, with a history of over 160 years of mining and exploration. The Meguma consists of a thick sequence of lower Paleozoic metasediments intruded by Devonian granitoid plutons. The metasediments are divided into two formations: the Goldenville Formation and the Halifax Formation.
The Aureus East deposit lies within an anticline hosted by the Goldenville Formation. The deposit occurs in a series of tight chevron-style fold-hosted quartz "saddles". The hinge zone of the fold is typically a rounded arc-shaped structure of 5-10m and the "limbs" are typically more uniform and straight. These quartz horizons occur parallel to stratigraphy which consists of interbedded greywacke and argillite sequences. The deposit is regionally offset by the Harrigan Cove Fault on the Western margin, which has approximately 1.5km of strike-slip offset, and unknown (but significant) dip-slip displacement. The deposit itself also has lesser internal offsets (on the scale of 5-20m) with sinistral, east-side-down displacement. Four such faults have been incorporated into the resource model.
Gold mineralization is associated with the quartz saddles and limbs but is not restricted to only the quartz veins. In addition, numerous generations of quartz exist at the deposit, including parallel to the offset faulting as well as parallel to the fold compression (cleavage), which can also host gold mineralization. Resource modelling was domained through 230 wireframes designed to represent the quartz saddle/limb horizons hosting gold mineralization. These wireframes were separated into five fault blocks as dictated by the four offsetting faults within the deposit. Each wireframe was estimated individually. In addition, background wireframes were created for each fault block, which fully encompassed all mineralization wireframes within the fault block and were clipped to overburden and topography. An estimation was run on the background mineralization, that is, all the gold mineralization which was not able to be attributed to a mineralization wireframe. Wireframes which did not contain enough composites to be estimated, were returned to the background for estimation.