Mr. David Reading reports
FURTHER STRONG RESULTS FROM NDABLAMA DRILLING
Aureus Mining Inc. has released additional results from 30 holes of the phase-four drilling program at the Ndablama gold project, following on from the initial results announced on Jan. 27, and April 7, 2014. The phase-four drilling program included approximately 19,000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling. The RC drilling targeted the infill areas between diamond holes previously drilled, with the new diamond holes testing for down-dip and strike extensions to the current mineralized system. Ndablama is located within the northern block of the company's 100-per-cent-owned Bea Mountain mining licence in Liberia, 40 kilometres northeast of Aureus's flagship New Liberty gold project.
Highlights:
##Results are presented for 16 diamond drill holes (3,882 metres) from the phase-four drilling program at Ndablama. Drilling was undertaken on the down-dip and northern extensions to the current inferred mineral resource of 451,000 ounces at 2.1 grams per tonne gold. Intercepts include: ##2.4 grams per tonne over 30 metres from 211 metres;
##2.4 grams per tonne over 28 metres from 238 metres;
##2.2 grams per tonne over 23 metres from 338 metres;
##Two grams per tonne over 25 metres from 205 metres;
##2.8 grams per tonne over 14 metres from 304 metres;
## 3.2 grams per tonne over seven metres from 275 metres.
##Phase-four diamond drilling results received to date (37 holes) confirm continuity of the mineralized system down dip for another 300 metres beyond the limits of the initial maiden resource, more than doubling the down-dip extent of the mineralized system. Intercepts commence from 90 metres below surface to a maximum of 240 metres below the surface. All drill holes have intersected the mineralized system and confirm the shallow westerly dip of less than 30 degrees. The mineralized zone is still open in all directions.
##To date results have been announced from 37 holes (8,907 metres) from the planned 62 holes (13,000 metres) diamond drilling program. Assay results are pending for 12 holes and 13 are still to be drilled.
##The results announced today include the first 14 RC drill holes (2,347 metres) carried out as infill holes in advance of upgrading the current inferred resource. Intercepts include:##2.1 grams per tonne over 37 metres from 89 metres;
##2.1 grams per tonne over 33 metres from 91 metres;
##2.7 grams per tonne over 26 metres from 168 metres;
##1.6 grams per tonne over 36 metres from 95 metres;
##1.2 grams per tonne over 50 metres from 58 metres;
##4.6 grams per tonne over nine metres from 94 metres.
##The infill RC drilling results confirm mineralization continuity within the already defined orebody. This program was designed to close the drill spacing down to 50 metres. The infill program is now complete for a total of 39 holes and approximately 5,828 metres. Assay results are pending for 25 holes.
##The full phase-four RC and diamond drilling program is expected to be completed by the end of July, 2014, as the rainy season has now commenced. To date over 90 per cent of the drilling program has been completed.
##On receipt of all the results for the phase-four drilling program the company will undertake a new National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate for Ndablama in early fourth quarter 2014.
##Ndablama forms part of a five-kilometre-long pressure shadow corridor. Exploration work has confirmed that gold mineralization is associated with a shallow, westerly dipping shear zone which can be followed at surface for five kilometres. To date only two kilometres of this zone have been drill tested, and includes Ndablama and Leopard Rock targets. Trenching results at Ndablama North and Leopard Rock South include intercepts of:##5.7 grams per tonne over seven metres (Ndablama North);
##1.4 grams per tonne over eight metres (Ndablama North);
##1.1 grams per tonne over 14 metres (Ndablama North);
##1.3 grams per tonne over 10 metres (Leopard Rock South);
##1.6 grams per tonne over 11 metres (Leopard Rock South);
##2.3 grams per tonne over seven metres (Leopard Rock South).
Follow-up exploration drilling will be undertaken in these areas during the next field season commencing in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Commenting on the latest Ndablama drilling results, David Reading, president and chief executive officer of Aureus Mining, said: "The phase-four drilling program at Ndablama has further underpinned the management's belief that Aureus has another prospective gold field beyond the New Liberty area. The results demonstrate that there is gold mineralization throughout the pressure shadow zone, and that there is continuity of grade between the holes drilled earlier this year. We look forward to receiving the assay results for the remaining holes drilled to date, completing the drilling program and updating the resource estimate before year-end."
Ndablama background
The Ndablama gold target is located within the Northern block of the company's 457-square-kilometre, 100-per-cent-owned Bea Mountain Mining licence in Liberia, and is situated approximately 40 kilometres northeast of Aureus's flagship New Liberty gold project. To date a total of 103 diamond drill holes covering 19,334 metres, 39 RC infill holes totalling 5,828 metres and 63 trenches for 3,967 metres have been completed at the Ndablama gold target. Ndablama locates within a five-kilometre gold-bearing pressure shadow zone which is defined by a shallow, westerly dipping shear zone locating near the contact between granite and greenstone rocks. Geological mapping and trenching have now been undertaken over the whole pressure shadow zone.
Gold mineralization is located within a sheared package of intercalated ultramafic and mafic rocks which are enveloped by a gneissic sequence and overlie a granite batholith. The mineralization has a shallow westerly dip of 30 degrees or less and strikes to the north. It has been drill investigated to a maximal vertical depth of 240 metres below surface. It remains open along strike and down dip.
LATEST PHASE-FOUR DIAMOND DRILLING RESULTS
FOR HOLES NDD076 TO NDD091
Vertical depth
Borehole From To Length Au to top of
ID (m) (m) (m) (g/t) mineralized zone (m)
NDD076 149 154 5 1.0 103
and 165 172 7 1.1 114
NDD077 98 102 4 2.0 60
and 191 199 8 1.2 134
NDD079 205 230 25 2.0 156
including 205 217 12 2.4 156
NDD080 229 232 3 1.1 167
and 238 245 7 1.1 175
NDD081 275 282 7 3.2 166
and 305 324 19 1.7 183
and 338 361 23 2.2 199
NDD082 290 318 28 1.6 201
including 304 318 14 2.8 213
NDD083 238 266 28 2.4 202
including 249 256 7 7.5 214
NDD084 211 241 30 2.4 167
including 218 229 11 6.4 171
NDD085 77 85 8 0.9 63
including 77 80 3 1.1 63
NDD086 76 86 10 0.5 60
NDD087 99 111 12 0.4 58
NDD088 61 77 16 1.1 50
NDD089 74 86 12 0.8 47
including 76 82 6 1.2 49
NDD090 80 85 5 1.4 79
and 102 105 3 1.0 99
NDD091 80 91 11 0.7 74
Note:
NDD078: no significant results
Drilling to date has shown that mineralization is associated with phlogopite, silica, chlorite alteration and disseminated pyrrhotite. Detailed examination of cores consistently shows the presence of coarse gold. Initial metallurgical testwork results which were announced on Dec. 10, 2013, returned an average of plus-70-per-cent gravity recovery from the fresh ore, which will make a positive impact on the plant design.
Of the 16 diamond drill holes reported in this release, six holes (NDD079 to 084) tested the down-dip extension of the mineralization in the central part and highlighted the presence of two ore shoots plunging respectively to the northwest and the southwest. Some of the deeper holes, such as NDD079, show a tendency for the mineralization to flatten out. The maiden inferred resource of 451,000 at 2.1 grams per tonne, as reported on Nov. 11, 2013, was based on only 250 metres of down-dip mineralization while the latest holes have extended it by an additional 300 metres. The current maximal vertical depth that the mineralized zone has been intercepted is now 240 metres below surface. Holes NDD076 to 078 drilled to test the southeast down-dip extension show variable mineralization. Drill holes NDD085 to 91 tested the immediate northern extension of Ndablama and confirmed mineralization continuity but with some lower grades. Due to the commencement of the rainy season, potentially prospective, but more remote parts, of Ndablama North pressure zone targets could not be accessed and will be tested next season.
The phase-four diamond drill program that started in November, 2013, will be completed by end July, 2014, as the rainy season has now commenced. To date 49 holes totalling 11,020 metres from a planned 62-hole and 13,000-metre program have been drilled. Results have been announced from 37 holes (8,907 metres) with further results pending for 12 holes. Thirteen holes still need to be drilled and will continue testing the down-dip extension and the southeast extension toward Leopard Rock. To date, over 90 per cent of the program has been completed.
RESULTS OF THE FIRST 14 HOLES OF THE INFILL RC PROGRAM
Borehole From To Length Au Vertical depth to
ID (m) (m) (m) (g/t) top of mineralized zone (m)
NDRC001 58 62 4 1.4 40
and 79 84 5 0.6 60
NDRC002 68 75 7 1.3 59
and 89 126 37 2.1 77
including 100 109 9 2.8 85
NDRC003 107 117 10 2.1 90
and 142 149 7 0.7 117
NDRC004 58 108 50 1.2 45
including 97 108 11 2.2 86
NDRC005 29 45 16 0.8 20
and 94 103 9 4.6 76
NDRC006 70 84 14 0.9 53
including 77 84 7 1.5 59
and 90 100 10 0.5 70
NDRC007 133 153 20 1.6 125
NDRC008 94 125 31 1.0 89
including 116 120 4 5.7 110
NDRC010 95 131 36 1.6 75
including 116 129 13 2.1 92
NDRC011 72 77 5 0.4 52
NDRC012 91 124 33 2.1 89
including 111 119 8 6.4 107
NDRC013 70 76 6 0.7 60
NDRC014 168 194 26 2.7 118
including 183 194 11 5.2 133
Note:
NDRC009: Abandoned hole due to ground conditions.
The infill drilling program initial results (14 holes) confirm mineralization continuity within the already defined orebody. This program that started in May, 2014, was designed to close the drill spacing down to 50 metres from Ndablama's central portion in prevision of upgrading the resource confidence in early fourth quarter 2014. The first six RC holes were drilled as twin holes and the results compare well with those of the diamond holes. The bulk of the infill holes targeted a 400-metre north-south strike length by a 350-metre down-dip length (maximal depth is 150 metres). The infill program is now complete for a total of 39 holes and approximately 5,828 metres. Results are pending for 25 holes.
Ndablama situated within a five-kilometre pressure shadow corridor and is an area of extensive artisanal gold activity
The Ndablama gold project locates within a five-kilometre mineralized, structural zone which dips shallowly to the west and occurs close to the altered and sheared geological contact between Metavolcanic rocks (ultramafic and mafic units) and granite. This target is referred to as the pressure shadow zone. The PSZ extends from Ndablama North to Leopard Rock South and covers a distance of five kilometres. It is associated with extensive bedrock and alluvial artisanal gold mining. To date only 40 per cent of the pressure shadow zone has been drill tested.
Resource expansion work is currently being undertaken at the Ndablama target. To the north and south of Ndablama the company has undertaken pitting, trenching, rock sampling and geological mapping, and has defined additional targets for follow-up drilling programs. The surface exploration work undertaken along the whole pressure shadow corridor confirms that the gold mineralized structure can be followed for five kilometres.
At Ndablama North zone, gold mineralization can be traced over a further 1.5 kilometres in a northerly direction. Trench NNT07 returned seven metres at 5.7 grams per tonne, trench NNT08 returned eight metres at 1.4 grams per tonne and 15 metres at 0.7 gram per tonne. At the far north end of the pressure shadow zone, historic trench NNT02 intersected 14 metres at 1.1 grams per tonne and seven metres at 1.8 grams per tonne, while new trenches NNT09 and NNT10 dug in a strongly lateritized profile returned respectively eight metres at 0.9 gram per tonne and seven metres at 0.9 gram per tonne.
Eight hundred metres southeast of Ndablama, the Leopard Rock target has been drilled at a reconnaissance level and demonstrated shallow westerly dipping gold mineralization, which is very similar to Ndablama. This drilling has extended the mineralization system a further one kilometre to the southeast. Detailed mapping over the Leopard Rock southeastern extension show that mineralization is part of a large-scale synform fold plunging to the west. Historic trenching over a 400-metre strike extend returned consistent mineralization with best intersects of eight metres at 1.2 grams per tonne, 10 metres at 1.3 grams per tonne, 11 metres at 1.6 grams per tonne and for the southernmost trench seven metres at 2.3 grams per tonne. This area which is open to the south remains to be drill tested.
The mineralized system of the Ndablama pressure shadow zone continues to the northeast for at least an additional eight kilometres. This corridor, referred to as the Yambesei shear corridor, is highlighted by continuous soil anomalies and the presence of three identified targets, namely Gondoja, Gbalidee and Koinja. Detailed geology and regolith mapping show that a number of soil anomalies remain untested. A pitting program is under way and strongly deformed and altered formations have so far been intersected (pending assay results). Rock chip sampling in an existing pit in the northeasterly extremity of the corridor at Welinkua has returned grades averaging two grams per tonne over 17 metres. The potentially new targets along with Welinkua and existing Gondoja, Gbalidee and Koinja targets will continue to be assessed and these will be prioritized for next phases of reconnaissance drilling.
Sampling and quality assurance/quality control
Drill core is split on site and RC samples are split at the rig with a three-tier splitter. Samples are despatched under custody to the SGS Laboratory in in Monrovia.
All samples collected by Aureus are analyzed using aqua regia digestion and 50-gram fire assay analysis with an atomic absorption finish. Assays with grades above five grams per tonne are systematically assayed with a gravimetric finish. Assay quality control protocols include the submission of commercial certified reference standards, blanks, field duplicates, pulp duplicates and umpire control samples. Standards are inserted into the sample stream at a frequency of one in 10. All other quality control samples are submitted at a frequency of one in 20. Assay quality control samples are reviewed on a monthly basis. Aureus also submits samples for screened fire assay analysis.
Qualified persons
The company's qualified person for exploration results is Mr. Reading, who holds an MSc in economic geology from the University of Waterloo, and is a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Mr. Reading consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears, and confirms that this information is accurate and not false or misleading.
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