Aton discovers 2 new zones of m ineralisation at Safaga South and Wasif, sampling up to 16.45 g/t Au
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aton discovers 2 new zones of m ineralisation at
Safaga South and Wasif, sampling up to 16.45
g/t Au
Vancouver, June 20, 2019: Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is pleased to update
investors on 2 new gold mineralised prospects at Safaga South and Wasif, identified and discovered during
the Company’s ongoing regional exploration programme (see Figure 1). These new targets are both located
within the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat” or the “Concession”), located
in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
Highlights:
• A number of ancient mine workings and settlements have been identified at the Safaga South
prospect. Reconnaissance field inspection and grab sampling has been undertaken, which has
returned assays of up to 16.45 g/t Au from mineralised quartz veins;
• At the Wasif prospect a significant ancient mining settlement has been identified from satellite imagery.
Preliminary field inspection has identified a number of ancient workings associated with gossanous
metavolcanic rocks, in a geological setting analogous to that of the Hamama deposit. Preliminary grab
sampling has returned assay grades of up to 0.98 g/t Au, 7.6 g/t Ag, 0.30% Cu, 0.20% Pb and 0.22%
Zn.
“These two new discoveries, which have both returned very positive preliminary results, are located in an area
previously unexplored by Aton, and highlight once again the overall potential that exist s across our Abu
Marawat Concession area. Our extensive regional exploration program begun in early 2017 has uncovered
many new potential targets , and of course led to our major discovery at Rodruin. ” said Mark Campbell,
President and CEO . “We will follow up the preliminary reconnaissance work undertaken to date, including
further sampling, with the aim of outlining the potential size and disposition of the minerali sed areas, and
developing an understanding of the different styles of mineralisation that we are seeing at Safaga South and
Wasif.”
Safaga South
The Safaga South prospect is located at the northeastern corner of the Abu Marawat Concession, on the
southern side of Wadi Safaga, and is approximately 14 km east -northeast of the Abu Marawat deposit.
Mineralised quartz veins have been identified on the ground over an area of several square kilometres, and
have been partially worked in ancient times (see Figure 2). There is also archaeological evidence of ancient
dwellings and alluvial wadi workings in the surrounding area. Aton has not been able to locate any previous
record of this apparently unknown historical mining site.
Mineralisation was identified at Safaga South in numerous quartz veins, mainly hosted in coarse grained
basement granodiorites, and close to the contact of a late Younger Granite intrusion. The main zone of veins
strikes approximately E-W (see Figure 2), and can be traced for approximately a kilometre. The host rocks are
intruded by a series of late felsitic or aplitic dykes which appear to be spatially related to the mineralised quartz
veins. The quartz vein mineralisation and the general geology of the area show broad similarities to the Sir
Bakis and Zeno prospects, and possibly also to Bohlog and Abu Gaharish (see Figure 1; and news releases
dated September 13, 2017, May 30, 2018, December 4, 2017, and December 19, 2017).
Figure 1: Geological map of the Abu Marawat Concession, showing the location of the Safaga South
and Wasif prospects
12 selective grab samples were taken at Safaga South during this first pass reconnaissance programme (see
Figure 3). The programme returned very encouraging results with half the samples having gold grades
greater than 5 g/t Au, up to a maximum of 16.45 g/t Au (see Table 1). These 12 samples returned a mean
average grade of 5.29 g/t Au.
Sampling confirmed the presence of gold in both the quartz veins as well as the altered, weathered and in
places sheared host rocks . The host granodiorites and felsites /aplites are typically weathered, bleached and
kaolinised, with some limonite staining after pyrite and occasional minor copper staining. Quartz veins typically
occur on the margins of felsite /aplite dykes, and mineralisation also occurs as networks of fine stringers and
veinlets hosted in altered felsites/aplites, associated with weathered and disseminated pyrite.
Figure 2: Safaga South prospect. (a) ancient workings on approximately E-W trending quartz veins,
and (b) Aton geologists examining a previously mined quartz vein
Sample ID X Y Prospect Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%)
AHA-17558 576065 2939308 Safaga South 2.89 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17559 575980 2939499 Safaga South 5.62 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17560 575984 2939496 Safaga South 1.20 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17561 576012 2939508 Safaga South 2.02 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17566 576412 2938483 Safaga South 16.45 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17567 576445 2938483 Safaga South 8.91 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17568 576797 2938532 Safaga South 9.44 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17569 576847 2938536 Safaga South 5.72 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17570 576892 2938542 Safaga South 7.04 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17571 576883 2938483 Safaga South 3.11 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17572 577209 2938597 Safaga South 0.91 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17573 577333 2939317 Safaga South 0.11 n/a n/a n/a n/a
AHA-17562 576131 2934897 Wasif 0.03 0.5 0.06 0.01 0.04
AHA-17563 576235 2934041 Wasif 0.98 7.6 0.29 0.20 0.22
AHA-17564 576213 2934118 Wasif 0.07 1.9 0.30 0.01 0.10
AHA-17565 576267 2934522 Wasif 0.04 0.9 0.22 0.01 0.06
AHA-17578 576174 2934886 Wasif 0.02 0.6 0.08 0.00 0.19
AHA-17579 576293 2935000 Wasif 0.01 <0.5 0.00 0.00 0.00
AHA-17580 576244 2935039 Wasif 0.01 <0.5 0.01 0.00 0.01
Notes:
1) All coordinates are UTM (WGS84) Zone 36R
2) n/a – not assayed
Table 1: Safaga South and Wasif grab sample assay results
Figure 3: Safaga South prospect, showing the location of surface samples
Wasif
The Wasif prospect is located about 5 km to the south of Safaga South, lies on the northeastern boundary of
the Concession, and was identified from satellite imagery by the presence of a significant ancient mining
village. A second large settlement lies about 2 km further to the south, but has not yet been visited. The layout
of the many ancient houses suggests their occupants were mining and processing alluvial gold at this second
site.
Preliminary field inspection of the Wasif area indicated the presence of numerous small ancient mine workings
exploiting gossanous and iron- rich lenses occurring within a N -S striking zone of highly sheared felsic
metavolcanics and tuffs with quartz stringers, which extends over a distance of at least 1-2 km. This gossanous
and sheared zone is contiguous with and parallel to a distinctive silicate-carbonate unit.
7 selective grab s amples were taken from the Wasif area during preliminary reconnaissance and were
analysed for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, as well as a multi -element geochemical suite, with assay
results provided in Table 1. A single sample returned grades of 0.98 g/t Au, 7.6 g/t Ag, as well as Cu, Pb and
Zn grades all in excess of 0.2%, as well as being significantly anomalous in Ba, Bi and Mo. A further 2 of the
7 samples also returned strongly anomalous base metal values, including grades in excess of 0.2% Cu.
Aton is very encouraged by the preliminary inspection of the Wasif zone, with the identification of previously
unknown ancient mine workings and gossanous and iron -rich metavolcanic rocks, indicating a significant
primary sulphide content in the precursor rocks. Preliminary grab sampling has shown the presence of both
gold, silver and base metal mineralisation at Wasif. The lithologies present, notably the metavolcanics and the
silica-carbonate unit identified over a structural/stratigraphic trend of at least 1- 2 km in length, along with the
strong gold -silver-polymetallic geochemical anomalism and the gossanous weathering of primary
sulphides are all very similar to the Hamama area.
Further field follow-up of the initial reconnaissance fieldwork at both Safaga South and Wasif is warranted and
will be undertaken in the near future.
Sampling and analytical procedures
Grab samples were manually and selectively collected, and weighed in the order of 3- 10 kg per individual
sample. The s amples were then transported to and crushed to - 4mm at the Company’s onsite sample
preparation facility at Hamama. The final c. 500g splits were shipped to ALS Minerals at Rosia Montana,
Romania for analysis. All samples were analysed for gold by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy
(“AAS”) finish (analytical code Au- AA23) with high grade gold samples (>10 g/t Au) being re- analysed using
analytical code Au-AA25 (also fire assay with an AAS finish). The Wasif samples were also analysed for silver,
copper, lead and zinc using an aqua regia digest followed by an AAS finish (analytical code AA45) , and a
multi-element geochemical suite using a four acid digest with an inductively couple plasma atomic emission
spectroscopy (“ICP-AES”) finish (analytical code ME-ICP61).
About Aton Resources Inc.
Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) is focused on its 100%
owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat”),
located in Egypt’s Arabian -Nubian Shield, approximately
200km north of Centamin’s Sukari gold mine. Aton has
identified a 40km long gold mineralised trend at Abu
Marawat, anchored by the Hamama deposit in the west
and the Abu Marawat deposit in the east, containing
numerous gold exploration targets, including three historic
British mines. Aton has identified several distinct
geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display
potential for the development of RIRG and orogenic gold
mineralisation, VMS precious and base metal
mineralisation, and epithermal -IOCG precious and base
metal mineralisation. Abu Marawat is over 738km2 in size
and is located in an area of excellent infrastructure; a four-
lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline
are in close proximity.
Qualified person
The technical information contained in this News Release
was prepared by Javier Orduña BSc (hons), MSc, MCSM,
DIC, MAIG, SEG(M), FGS, Exploration Manager of Aton
Resources Inc. Mr. Orduña is a qualified person (QP) under
National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for
Mineral Projects.
For further information regarding Aton Resources Inc.,
please visit us at www.atonresources.com or contact:
MARK CAMPBELL
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +202-27356548
Email: [email protected]
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