Aton Resources drills 2.99 g/t gold over 53.4 metres at Rodruin, Egypt
Aton Resources Inc. [AAN-TSXV] reported assay results from the phase 2 diamond drilling program at its advanced Rodruin gold exploration project, located in the company’s 100%-owned Abu Marawat concession in the eastern desert of Egypt.
Results are now available from a further 11 drill holes, ROD-080 to ROD-090. Holes ROD-080 to ROD-085 were drilled in the Aladdin’s Hill area with 2 holes twinning RC percussion holes from the 2018 RC drilling program. Holes ROD-086 to ROD-090 were drilled to test oxide resources at the Central Buttress Zone.
Holes ROD-082 and ROD-084 both intersected wide zones of mineralization from surface, associated with phyllic altered sediments, at Aladdin’s Hill returning 2.99 g/t gold and 5.3 g/t silver over a 53.4-metre interval (hole ROD-082), and 2.33 g/t gold and 6.6 g/t silver over a 53.6-metre interval (hole ROD-084).
Correlation of the results from the 2 twin holes, ROD-082 and ROD-083, with the original RC holes was good. Four holes were drilled from a single pad at the eastern edge of the CBZ, and all returned wide intersections of mineralization, including 1.07 g/t gold and 14.5 g/t silver over 42.25 metres from surface (ROD-088).
Two of the drill holes intersected visible gold in phyllic altered oxidized sediments, ROD-083 and ROD-087, further indicating the potential for additional discrete zones of high grade, coarse gold bearing mineralization within the general Rodruin area.
“This latest tranche of drill results continues to show the potential of the Rodruin deposit, as we work towards establishing the maiden mineral resource estimate,” said Tonno Vahk, Interim CEO. “Aton’s focus is now very much on moving towards the new mineral resource estimates at both Rodruin and Hamama West, with the diamond drilling continuing at Rodruin, and the RC resource infill program virtually complete at Hamama. We continue to work hand in hand with our partners at the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority towards the issuance of the long term mining licence covering both deposit areas, which will give the Company the flexibility to initially mine the oxide resources before moving on to the longer term big prize of developing the deep sulphide resources. We are also continuing to hold fruitful discussions with a number of parties as we look to move this long term strategy forwards, including drilling some of our other exciting regional exploration prospects, and the ongoing identification of excellent grades and thicknesses of mineralization at surface at Rodruin is just another important step along this road towards the full development of the exploration potential of the Abu Marawat Concession.”
The Rodruin prospect was discovered in December 2017 by Aton geologists and is located approximately 18 km east of the company’s Hamama West mineral deposit. During 2018, Aton constructed a c. 4.5-km access road to the prospect, and undertook a highly successful 50 hole Phase 1 reverse circulation percussion (RC) drilling program, which returned numerous mineralized intercepts and intersected gold mineralization in virtually every hole.
The ongoing Phase 2 diamond drilling program at Rodruin commenced in late November 2021, and oxide zone results reported to date include 88.25 metres grading 1.74 g/t gold and 9.7 g/t silver, from 25.75 metres (hole ROD-055, and 129.5 metres grading 1.00 g/t gold and 8.8 g/t silver, over the entire length of hole ROD-056 from its collar. Recent drill testing of deeper sulphide mineralization has returned intersections including 88.6 metres grading 5.76 g/t gold, 42.0 g/t silver, 0.31% copper and 2.40% zinc (hole ROD-071) and 36.9 metres grading 7.04 g/t gold, 47.2 g/t silver, 0.63% copper and 7.18% zinc (ROD-075).
The current diamond drilling program has been designed with the specific objective of delineating and establishing a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Rodruin. Holes ROD-080 and ROD-081 were drilled to follow up on the previously reported high-grade sulphide mineralization discovered northeast of Aladdin’s Hill. Holes ROD-082 to ROD-085 were all drilled to test outcropping surface mineralization at the Aladdin’s Hill zone with two of the holes, ROD-082 and ROD-083, designed as twin holes to test the results from the 2018 RC program. Holes ROD-086 to ROD-089 were drilled from a single pad on the difficult to access eastern flank of the gossanous carbonate hosted mineralization at the Central Buttress Zone (CBZ), with hole ROD-090 also designed to test this zone.
Abu Marawat is 447.7 km2 and has excellent infrastructure; a four-lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline are in close proximity, as are the international airports at Hurghada and Luxor.