Aton drills high grade m ineralisation on the previously untested North Ridge at Rodruin , returning 8.74 g/t gold and 29.4 g/t silver over 12 metres
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aton drills high grade m ineralisation on the previously
untested North Ridge at Rodruin , returning 8.74 g/t gold and
29.4 g/t silver over 12 metres
Vancouver, May 17, 2022: Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is pleased to update
investors on the latest assay results from the Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at its advanced Rodruin
gold exploration project. Rodruin is located in the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu
Marawat” or the “Concession”), in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
Highlights:
• Diamond drilling is ongoing at Rodruin, with 38 drill holes now having been completed to date, ROD-
048 and ROD-051 to ROD-087, for a total of 4,125 metres;
• Drill holes ROD-072 and ROD-073 were drilled to test the “Death Slots” ancient workings on the North
Ridge. Surface sampling of the workings had previously returned up to 321 g/t Au;
• Drill hole ROD-073 returned a mineralised intersection grading 8.74 g/t Au, 29.4 g/t Ag, 0.87% Cu,
1.04% Pb and 2.35% Zn over 12.0m, from 53.0m down hole depth;
• The drilling indicated the host rocks to be very heavily hydrothermally altered.
“These latest results from the previously undrilled Death Slots area again show the fantastic potential of the
entire Rodruin deposit area, and we are sure there is a lot more to come ” said Tonno Vahk, Interim CEO .
“These new holes are testing ancient workings on the North Ridge which returned a number of high grade
assays from surface sampling, and due to the inaccessibility of the site, it has taken a while for us to be able
to get up there and to drill them. But we have now done it and we are again very happy with the results. The
extended diamond drilling programme is continuing apace, and we still very much like what we are seeing. We
are also about to kick off the planned infill RC drilling programme at Hamama West very shortly, as we push
this project forwards. Hamama West will be only the second modern gold mine developed in Egypt, and will
be the first phase of the development of the overall Abu Marawat Concession area.”
Rodruin diamond drilling programme
The Rodruin prospect was discovered in December 2017 by Aton geologists (see news release dated
December 14, 2017), and is located approximately 18km east of the Company’s Hamama West mineral
deposit (Figure 1). During 2018 Aton constructed a c. 4.5km access road to the prospect, and undertook a
highly successful 50 hole Phase 1 reverse circulation percussion (“RC”) drilling programme at Rodruin, which
returned numerous mineralised intersections including 36m grading 12.47 g/t Au and 9.3 g/t Ag, from 5m
downhole depth (hole ROP-003, see news release dated October 1, 2018).
The Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at Rodruin commenced in late November 2021, and results reported
to date include 88.25m of oxide mineralisation grading 1.74 g/t Au and 9.7 g/t Ag, from 25.75m (hole ROD-
055, see news release dated March 1, 2022), and 129.5m of oxide grading 1.00 g/t Au and 8.8 g/t Ag, over its
entire length of hole ROD-056 from its collar (see news release dated March 7, 2022) . Aton has now started
drilling the deeper sulphide mineralisation and has recently reported an 88.6m interval grading 5.76 g/t Au,
42.0 g/t Ag, 0.31% Cu and 2.40% Zn from 117.2m depth, including a 9.9m very high grade interval from
138.1m, grading 39.4 g/t Au, 261.7 g/t Ag, 0.84% Cu and 3.55% Zn (see news release dated May 10, 2022).
Figure 1: Geology plan of the Abu Marawat Concession showing the location of the Rodruin project
Discussion of results
Surface sampling of the ancient “Death Slots” underground workings (Figure 2) in 2017- 18 returned several
high grade assays, including 321 g/t, 18.6 g/t, 12.75 g/t and 10.1 g/t Au, as well as 2.98 g/t Au from the nearby
collapsed Summit Veins workings (see news release s dated February 6, 2018, March 5, 2018 and April 16,
2018). These ancient workings are located in an area of very steep terrain on the North Ridge. Mapping of the
area indicates outcropping carbonate altered and argillic altered tuffaceous sediments and slates (Figure 2),
with large amounts of superficial scree and talus cover on the steep slopes. Mineralisation in the Death Slots
workings appears to be associated with a zone of saccharoidal quartz-carbonate-sulphide veining, associated
with jarositic oxidation minerals, as well as copper and zinc oxide minerals. On the north side of the ridge line
float material consisting of gossanous blocks of similar quartz vein material is widespread within the thin
scree/talus cover, although it is not clear if this material is close to being in situ or has been transported far
down the mountainside. It is very conceivable that further outcrops of similar veining are obscured by scree.
Aton spent several months developing a drill road on to the North Ridge to provide drill access to the area.
Furthermore a second road has been pushed along the southern flank of the North Ridge and a pad has been
constructed to provide a site from which the Summit Veins and the Death Slots can also be drilled horizontally
from below (Figure 2) Aton has completed 2 holes as part of the current diamond drilling programme to test
under the Death Slots workings (Figures 2 and 3). Details of the collars of holes ROD -072 and ROD-073 are
provided in Table 1.
Figure 2: Geological plan of the North Ridge, showing the location of holes ROD-072 and ROD-073
Hole ID
Collar co-ordinates 1
Dip 2 Grid
azimuth 2
EOH
depth (m) Comments
X Y Z
ROD-072 553045 2912980 756 -68.0 354.9 198.50 North Ridge – Death Slots
ROD-073 553045 2912980 756 -50.1 345.6 111.10 North Ridge – Death Slots
Notes:
1) Collar co-ordinates as laid out using handheld GPS
2) Collar surveys of drill holes undertaken at c. 5-6m depth, using Reflex EZ-Trac survey tool
3) All co-ordinates are UTM (WGS84) Zone 36R
Table 1: Collar details of diamond drill holes ROD-072 and ROD-073
Both holes intersected deeply weathered and strongly carbonate and phyllic altered sediments with ROD-073
returning a mineralised intersection of 8.74 g/t Au, 29.4 g/t Ag, 0.87% Cu, 1.04% Pb and 2.35% Zn over
12.0m (estimated true width of 6m), from 53.0m down hole depth, which was clearly a down- dip extension of
the mineralisation exploited in the ancient near-surface Death Slots workings (Table 2). This interval included
a 3.2m high grade zone grading 25.23 g/t Au and 66.7 g/t Ag . ROD-072 also intersected narrow zones of
gold and zinc mineralisation, and ended in strongly quartz -sericite-pyrite altered and weakly weathered
sediments.
Figure 3: Drilling hole ROD-072 in steep terrain on the North Ridge at Rodruin
Hole ID
Intersection (m) 1 Au
(g/t)
Ag
(g/t)
Cu
(%)
Pb
(%)
Zn
(%) Comments
From To Interval
ROD-072
114.80 116.80 2.00 4.71 62.9 0.07 0.00 0.03
137.00 141.00 4.00 0.61 8.4 0.64 0.03 8.23
152.00 155.00 3.00 0.96 8.2 0.56 0.00 0.83
ROD-073 53.00 65.00 12.00 8.74 29.4 0.87 1.04 2.35 Down-dip extension of
ancient workings incl. 59.80 63.00 3.20 25.23 66.7 1.56 3.20 1.65
Notes:
1) Intersections calculated at a nominal cutoff grade of 0.3 g/t Au in runs of continuous mineralisation
Table 2: Mineralised intersections from diamond drill holes ROD-072 and ROD-073
The Company is encouraged by the results from these latest holes on the North Ridge as they confirm the
high grade mineralisation sampled at surface in the Death Slots workings continues at depth. The Company
is particularly encouraged by the identification of high grade gold-polymetallic (Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn) mineralisation
in wide zones of strongly quartz -sericite-pyrite altered sediments , that bears similarities to the high grade
mineralisation recently intersected in hole ROD -071 (see news release dated May 10, 2021) , and at the
Aladdin’s Hill zone. The presence of additional zones of mineralisation is suggested by the significant amounts
of mineralised float in scree, and Aton believes that there is strong potential for the identification of further
mineralisation within and associated with the heavily hydrothermally altered rocks that are poorly exposed on
the largely inaccessible North Ridge.
Sample processing and analytical procedures
Drill core was logged by Aton geologists, and marked up for cutting and sampling at the Rodruin core farm.
Samples were typically selected over nominal 1m intervals, but as determined by the logged lithologies. The
core was half-cut by Aton staff at the onsite Rodruin sample preparation facility.
The split half-core samples were collected and bagged up in cloth bags, weighed and crushed to -4mm onsite,
and split to a nominal c. 250-500g sample size. The coarse crushed reject samples are retained onsite at the
Rodruin sample prep facility.
QAQC samples are inserted at a rate of approximately 1 certified reference material (or “standard” sample)
every 30 samples, 1 blank sample every 15 samples, and 1 duplicate split sample every 15 samples.
The c. 250-500g dried, crushed and split samples were shipped to ALS Minerals sample preparation laboratory
at Marsa Alam, Egypt where they were pulverised to a size fraction of better than 85% passing 75 microns .
From this pulverised material a further sub-sample was split off with a nominal c. 50g size, which was shipped
on to ALS Minerals at Rosia Montana, Romania for analysis.
Samples were analysed for gold by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (“AAS”) finish (analytical
code Au-AA23), and for silver, copper , lead and zinc using an aqua regia digest followed by an AAS finish
(analytical code AA45). Any high grade gold samples (>10 g/t Au) were re-analysed using analytical code Au-
GRA21 (also fire assay, but with a g ravimetric finish). Any high grade Ag and base metal samples (Ag >100
g/t, and Cu, Pb and Zn >10,000ppm or >1%) were re- analysed using the ore grade technique AA46 (also an
aqua regia digest followed by an AAS finish).
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
200 km north of Centamin’s world-class Sukari gold mine.
Aton has identified numerous gold and base metal
exploration targets at Abu Marawat, including the
Hamama deposit in the west, the Abu Marawat deposit in
the northeast, and the advanced Rodruin explorat ion
prospect in the south of the Concession. Two historic
British gold mines are also located on the Concession at
Sir Bakis and Semna. Aton has identified several distinct
geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display
potential for the development of a variety of styles of
precious and base metal mineralisation. Abu Marawat is
447.7 km2 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, as are the
international airports at Hurghada and Luxor.
Qualified person
The technical information contained in this News Release
was prepared by Javier Orduña BSc (hons), MSc, MCSM,
DIC, MAIG, SEG(M), 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:
TONNO VAHK
Interim CEO
Tel: +1 604 318 0390
Email: [email protected]
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements
address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results
in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX
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