Banyan Gold reviews 2025 diamond drill program for flagship AurMac Project, Yukon
Banyan Gold Corp. [TSXV: BYN; OTCQB: BYAGF] reported the final drill results and provide a comprehensive summary of the 2025 AurMac delineation drill program, Yukon Territory. The 42,000-metre program included 178 drillholes at the AurMac Project, with the primary goal of the 2025 drill program to maximize economic potential for the upcoming Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA expected second half of 2026) by targeting high-grade domain and mineralized envelope extensions, and waste block conversion.
Drill results throughout AurMac consistently intersected high-grade gold mineralization, including well mineralized sheeted quartz vein domains hosting Bismuth-sulphosalts and visible gold throughout the core of the Powerline Deposit. Very high-grade gold mineralization associated with sulphide replacement and skarn-style mineralization in the Airstrip Deposit were intersected in a core high-grade contact zone between calcareous metasedimentary rocks and a felsic aplite dyke. These findings follow up on drilling conducted in 2024.
Assay highlights from this release: AX-25-692: 9.12 g/t gold over 1.5 metres within 0.78 g/t Au over 21.6 metres and 0.64 g.t Au over 15.6 metres. AX-25-743: 0.90 g/t Au over 13.3 metres within 0.51 g/t Au over 25.9 metres. AX-25-744: 2.59 g/t Au over 6.1 metres within 0.74 g/t Au over 26.3 metres. AX-25-760: 1.00 g/t Au over 4.0 metres and 0.72 g/t Au over 11.4 metres all within 0.43 g/t Au over 58.4 metres and 6.56 g/t Au over 2.5 metres within 0.57 g/t Au over 42.3 metres.
AX-25-776: 0.82 g.t Au over 6.6 metres within 0.47 g/t au over 14.2 metres. AX-25-790: 0.78 g/t Au over 16.8 metres within 0.5 g/t Au over 44.0 metres, including high grade of 17.34 g/t Au over 0.4 metres.
“We are looking forward to incorporating the 2025 drill results into our upcoming Mineral Resource Update and PEA, marking our first opportunity to speak about the economics of the AurMac Project,” stated Tara Christie, President and CEO. “The PEA will focus on the gold potential, while ongoing drilling of the exciting silver intersections and metallurgical work throughout 2026 will further define the silver economics, potentially contributing to a future economic study.”
“Banyan was able to take full advantage of an expanded drill program of over 42,000m to follow-up on high-grade zones intersected in 2024, while supporting the upcoming PEA through targeted drilling to convert in-pit waste blocks and expand high-grade domains identified with the new 3D model,” stated Duncan Mackay, Vice President, Exploration. “Drilling through 2025 further expanded the AurMac deposits, showcasing the potential to connect the Airstrip and Powerline pits. We have identified areas where the conceptual pit may be flattened and extended at depth, demonstrating the open nature of mineralization, with 200-300-metre step-outs hitting promising mineralization and visible gold in several directions. In an exciting new dimension, we have successfully followed up on bonanza-grade silver intersections in the core of Powerline and have identified at least eight discrete Keno-style silver veins across the deposits.”
Airstrip Deposit: Consistent high-grade drill intersections through 2025 reinforce the continuity of gold mineralization associated with skarn-style sulphide replacement mineralization in Airstrip and the potential of this near-surface deposit.
The first visible gold intersected in Airstrip is associated with skarn mineralization and is coincident with the highest-grade samples we have seen at this deposit (13.4 g/t Au over 5.94 metres, including 41.1 g/t Au over 0.97m). The potential of the high-grade contact zone in Airstrip is highlighted by samples in AX-25-650 returning results such as 51.2 g/t Au over 0.63 metres, 32.7 g/t Au over 0.55 metres and 41.1 g/t Au over 0.97 metre. High-grade mineralization was also intersected in approximately 200 metres down-dip step-outs in Cal 1 and Cal 2 on the southern edge of Airstrip.
Powerline Deposit: Drilling in 2025 successfully intersected high-grade intervals associated with mineralized domains and sheeted-vein systems typical of Reduced Intrusion Related Gold deposits (RIRGs) throughout the core of Powerline. With the improved 3D model for Powerline, mineralized domains can be more effectively targeted with opportunities to convert waste blocks; extend domains and flatten or deepen the conceptual pit floor; potentially extend high-grade portions of the main deposit at AurMac and support the upcoming PEA in the second half of 2026.
Continued drilling at Powerline has successfully confirmed mineralized domains in the core of Powerline, refined and extended mineralization between the Powerline and Airstrip main pits and extended mineralization with potential to convert waste blocks in the southwest of Powerline.
Gold mineralization in southwest Powerline is consistent with mineralization seen in the core of Powerline; gold mineralization is associated with discordant sheeted quartz veins hosting sulphosalts and sulphides (predominantly sphalerite, arsenopyrite), and is preferentially hosted in silicified/altered host rocks. Additional step-out drilling has intersected high-grade mineralization with potential to extend mineralized domains outside the conceptual pit boundary.
Silver Mineralization: The identification of high-grade silver potential along extended strike lengths in central Powerline added a new dimension to the mineralization and metallogenic story for AurMac.
Highlights from 2025 confirming the very high-grade Keno-style silver mineralization in Powerline: AX-25-803 – 5,625 g/t Ag over 3.4 metres within 1,841 g/t Ag over 10.4 metres, with very high-grade interval of 10,734 g/t Ag over 1.7 metres. AX-25-790 – 110.7 g/t Ag over 0.8 metres within 22.06 g/t Ag over 5.7 metres. AX-25-715 – 132 g/t Ag over 0.5 metres within 7.25 g/t Ag over 13.7 metres.
Drillhole AX-25-803 was collared 90 metres away from 2021 Hole 142 and successfully intersected the vein pierce point 20 metres from Hole 142 at depth. Being able to successfully target this specific narrow, high-grade vein structure at depth is a technical success on top of the prospectivity for additional sub-parallel veins of silver mineralization which we are finding in the Ag-1 vein zone. Parallel veins intersected in both current and historic drilling further reinforce the scale and exploration potential of the targeted zone.
The high-grade Keno-style veins take advantage of steeply dipping, late brittle structures that strike northeast-southwest, cross-cutting the sheeted quartz veins that host gold mineralization.
Banyan has engaged Swiss Resource Capital AG, an independent European investor relations and communications firm based in Switzerland, to provide investor relations, translation, news dissemination, digital marketing and media outreach services in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other European markets. Compensation is CHF 6,000 per month, payable monthly in advance, with additional fees applicable for optional roadshows, conferences and special marketing initiatives.
Banyan’s primary asset, the AurMac Project, is located in the Traditional Territory of First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, in Canada’s Yukon Territory. The current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the AurMac Project has an effective date of June 28, 2025 and comprises an Indicated Mineral Resource of 2.274 million ounces of gold (112.5 M tonnes at 0.63 g/t) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 5.453 Moz of Au (280.6 M tonnes at 0.60 g/t gold) as defined by CIM 43-101 standards. The 303 km2 AurMac Project lies 40 km from Mayo, Yukon. The AurMac Project is transected by the main Yukon highway and benefits from a 3-phase powerline, existing power station and cell phone coverage.