FOR IMMEDIAT E RELEASE Aton reports new metallurgical testwork results from Rodruin oxides with gold recoveries up to 93.4%
FOR IMMEDIAT E RELEASE
Aton reports new metallurgical testwork results from
Rodruin oxides with gold recoveries up to 93.4%
Vancouver, British Columbia, March 9, 2023: Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company") is
pleased to update investors on the results of further metallurgical test work from its Rodruin advanced
exploration project. Rodruin is located within the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu
Marawat” or the “Concession”), in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
Highlights:
• 5 composite samples representing the range of oxide mineralisation types at Rodruin underwent
further metallurgical testwork investigating both heap leach and conventional CIL technologies . The
composite samples were prepared from selected diamond drill half core intervals;
• 4 samples were selected for whole ore cyanidation leach tests at P80 grind sizes of -75µm and -106µm.
Test results showed slightly higher gold and silver extractions at the finer grind size. G old recoveries
ranged between 87.7% and 93.4%, after 48 hours of leaching. Silver recoveries ranged from 50.9%
to 65.7%. At the P 80 grind size of -75µm gold and silver recoveries averaged 90.4% and 59.0%
respectively;
• All 5 samples were subjected to coarse ore bottle roll leach testing at a crush size P100 of -8mm. The
test results showed average gold recoveries ranging between 66.2% and 75.3%, after 30 days of
leaching. Average silver recoveries ranged from 19.3% to 30.8%;
• Whole ore and coarse ore bottle roll cyanidation leach tests indicate that all the Rodruin mineralisation
types tested are amenable to processing via both conventional CIL and heap leach technologies.
“These metallurgical testwork results from the Rodruin oxides are again very encouraging, following on from
the initial scoping level testwork which we undertook in 2021 ,” said Tonno Vahk , Interim CEO. “The gold
recoveries are good and indicate that the oxide s from all the main mineralised zones at Rodruin will be
amenable to processing by both conventional CIL and heap leach technologies. The Company is working
towards its planned application for the mining licence at the Abu Marawat Concession in Q3 this year, based
on the definition of “commercial discoveries” at both Rodruin and Hamama Wes t, in accordance with our
Concession Agreement with the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority. The application will be based on
planned mining projects on the oxides at both Rodruin and Hamama West, which will allow for the issuance of
a 20-year mining licence, extendable for a further 10 years, which will be transformational for Aton. These
latest metallurgical results provide us with the flexibility to evaluate various mining and processing options at
Rodruin. Work is progressing on the mineral resource estimates at Rodruin and Hamama West, as well as
further metallurgical testwork which is ongoing. In the field we are very close to completing the diamond drilling
at Hamama, which is testing previously undrilled oxide mineralisation, and preparations are well underway for
a 10,000m RC drilling programme planned to start in May on some of our excellent regional targets. ”
Metallurgical testwork programme
5 composite samples were prepared from the Rodruin mineral deposit for metallurgical testing , which were
representative of the various oxide mineralisation types. This testwork programme was specifically focused on
the oxide mineralisation at Rodruin and was designed to follow up on an initial scoping level programme carried
out in 2021 (see news release dated August 3, 2021 ), which indicated that the Rodruin mineralisation is
amenable to processing using conventional CIL technology.
Figure 1: Geological plan of the Rodruin area, showing the main mineralised zones
Samples were composited from selected diamond drill half core intervals (HQ and PQ size), to produce total
sample weights between 30-45kg. 4 samples were composited from the 4 main mineralised zones, specifically
the Central Buttress, Aladdin’s Hill NE, and the GF zones, which are represented mainly by variably gossanous
carbonate hosted mineralisation, and the Aladdin’s Hill zone, which is represented by phyllic alteration (quartz-
sericite-kaolinite) hosted mineralisation (Figure 1). A fifth sample was composited from low grade (<0.5 g/t Au)
mineralisation from the Central Buttress and GF zones. Details of the samples are provided in Table 1.
Metallurgical
sample ID Drill hole ID Zone Mineralisation type Estimated Au
grade (g/t) 1
ROMO-001 ROD-052/053/055/084 Aladdin’s Hill Phyllic alteration 2.35
ROMO-002 ROD-052/053/055/083/084 Aladdin’s Hill NE Gossanous carbonate 1.27
ROMO-003 ROD-062/063/069/078/079 Central Buttress Zone Gossanous carbonate 1.11
ROMO-004 ROD-098/101/102/109 GF Zone Gossanous carbonate 0.61
ROMO-005 ROD-076/083/085/100/102 Central Buttress/GF Zones Gossanous carbonate 0.33 2
Notes:
1) Sample grade estimated from the weighted average assays of the sampled drill core intervals
2) Sample ROMO-005 represented <0.5 g/t Au mineralisation
Table 1: Details of the metallurgical samples
The 5 composite samples were dispatched from Egypt to Wardell Armstrong International Ltd (“WAI”) in
December 2022, for metallurgical testing at their laboratory located in Cornwall, UK, with testwork commencing
in January 2023. The samples were submitted for a process ev aluation testwork program me consisting of
head assays, XRD analysis, and fine whole ore and coarse ore bottle roll cyanide leach testing.
Head assays
Sub-samples of the 5 composite metallurgical samples were sent by WAI for head assay analysis at ALS
Minerals’ geochemical laboratory at Loughrea, Ireland, and were analysed for Au (screen fire assay), Ag, Cu,
Pb, Zn, As, Fe and S. The results of the head assays are provided below in Table 2:
Head assay results Estimated
Au grade
(g/t) 2
Metallurgical
sample ID
Assay (ppm) Assay (%)
Au 1 Ag Cu Pb Zn As Fe S
ROMO-001 2.42 12.75 1,545 483 644 126 4.18 0.08 2.35
ROMO-002 1.17 9.98 1,110 123 7,050 185 8.26 0.06 1.27
ROMO-003 1.20 20.60 525 1,310 3,060 79 12.75 0.17 1.11
ROMO-004 0.62 6.44 260 516 2,130 17 6.89 0.08 0.61
ROMO-005 0.36 4.56 79 53 3,170 73 12.10 0.09 0.33
Notes:
1) Au by screen fire assay (ALS Minerals. Loughrea, Ireland)
2) Sample grade estimated from the weighted average assays of the sampled drill core intervals
Table 2: Head assay results
The Au head assays measured by screen fire assay showed good correlation with the estimated grade of the
composited drill core samples (Table 2 above).
The good correlation in assay results indicates that the composite samples prepared for metallurgical testwork
were representative of the drill core intervals sampled.
Mineralogical analysis
The results of the XRD analysis are shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2: Results of XRD analysis
The XRD results showed most of the samples as being gangue dominated. The ROMO-001 composite sample
was mainly composed of quartz , and the ROMO -003, ROMO -004 and ROMO -005 samples were mostly
composed of dolomite , with iron oxides ( hematite and goethite) present. The ROMO -002 composite sample
contained a mixture of dolomite, quartz and iron oxides.
Whole ore leach tests
A series of whole ore leach tests were conducted on composite samples ROMO-001 to ROMO -004 to
investigate the amount of gold and silver that can be recovered from each sample by means of processing by
conventional CIL technology. The whole ore cyanidation leach tests were carried out at P80 grind sizes of
-75µm and -106µm to determine the effect of degree of liberation on gold and silver extraction. Results are
summarised in Table 3 below.
Sample
ID Test ID Grind size
P80 (μm)
Recovery after 48hrs (%) NaCN consumption
(kg/t)
Lime consumption
(kg/t) Au Ag
ROMO-001
LT1 106μm 87.3 61.5 1.65 0.56
LT2 75μm 87.7 65.6 1.47 0.51
ROMO-002
LT1 106μm 88.2 48.4 2.22 0.44
LT2 75μm 88.7 50.9 2.07 0.45
ROMO-003
LT1 106μm 90.8 65.3 1.32 0.24
LT2 75μm 91.7 65.7 1.20 0.31
ROMO-004
LT1 106μm 91.8 51.6 0.98 0.31
LT2 75μm 93.4 53.7 1.09 0.40
Table 3: Whole ore cyanidation leach test results
The test results for the samples leached to a grind size P80 of -75µm showed final gold recoveries to range
from 87.7% (ROMO-001) to 93.4% ( ROMO-004), averaging 90.4% from the 4 samples , after 48 hours of
leaching. Silver recoveries ranged from 50.9% (ROMO-002) to 65.7% (ROMO-003), averaging 59.0%. Leach
kinetic profiles indicate that most of the gold was extracted after 24 hours.
The test results for the samples leached to a grind size P 80 of -106µm showed final gold recoveries to range
from 87.3% (ROMO-001) to 91.8% ( ROMO-004), averaging 89.5%, a fter 48 hours of leaching . S ilver
recoveries ranged from 48.4% (ROMO-002) to 65.3% (ROMO-003) averaging 56.7%. Leach kinetic profiles
indicate that most of the gold was extracted after 24 hours.
Coarse ore bottle roll leach tests
A series of coarse ore bottle roll leach tests were conducted on each of the composite samples to investigate
the amount of gold and silver that can be recovered from each sample by means of processing by heap leach
technology. The coarse ore bottle roll cyanidation leach tests were carried out at P 100 crush size of -8mm to
determine the gold and silver extractions at a fine crush size. Results are summarised in Table 4 below.
Sample ID
Metal extraction (back calculated head)
BLT1
% Au
BLT2
% Au
Average
% Au
BLT1
% Ag
BLT2
% Ag
Average
% Ag
ROMO-001 70.2 67.2 68.7 18.9 20.6 19.7
ROMO-002 73.3 75.6 74.5 18.9 19.7 19.3
ROMO-003 74.6 76.0 75.3 37.4 38.8 38.1
ROMO-004 76.7 75.8 76.2 22.3 22.8 22.5
ROMO-005 66.5 65.8 66.2 31.3 30.4 30.8
Table 4: Coarse ore bottle roll cyanidation leach test results
The test results for the samples leached at a crush size P100 of -8mm showed average gold recoveries to range
from 66.2% (ROMO-005) to 76.2% ( ROMO-004), averaging 72.2% from the 5 samples , after 30 days of
leaching. Average silver recoveries ranged from 19.3% (ROMO-002) to 30.8% (ROMO-005), averaging 26.1%.
Leach kinetic profiles indicate that most of the gold was extracted after 10 days.
Discussion of results
The gold head assays reported by ALS correlated well with the estimated composite sample grades, calculated
from the weighted diamond drill hole assays, and indicate that the composite metallurgical samples were
representative of the sampled intervals.
The mineralogical (XRD) analysis indicates that the samples can be sub -divided into 3 broad categories of
mineralisation, as follows:
• Sample ROMO -001 represented the phyllic alteration hosted mineralisation from the Aladdin’s Hill
zone, and was comprised predominantly of quartz, with subsidiary iron oxide and phyllosilicate
minerals including kaolinite and sericite (illite and mica in Figure 2), and chlorite. This mineralisation
occurs within intensely phyllic altered volcaniclastic sediments and tuffs.
• Samples ROMO -003, ROMO -004 and ROMO -005 from the Central Buttress and GF Zones, were
comprised predominantly of dolomite, with subsidiary quartz and iron oxide (goethite). These results
confirm that the mineralisation represented by these 3 samples occurs within gossanous (iron oxide
bearing) carbonate-silica rocks.
• Sample ROMO-002 from the Aladdin’s Hill NE zone also consist ed predominantly of dolomite, with
subsidiary quartz, iron oxide (goethite), and chlorite. The increased quartz and chlorite content of this
sample relative to samples ROMO-003 to ROMO-005 was indicative of the fact that while the bulk of
the mineralisation at Aladdin’s Hill NE is again hosted in gossanous carbonate -silica rocks, a minor
component of the mineralisation is also hosted in volcaniclastic sediments and tuffs.
Results of the whole ore cyanidation leach tests showed high gold leach extraction for all of the Rodruin oxide
composites tested. At a grind size of 75µm average gold and silver leach extractions from the 4 samples were
90.4% and 59.0% respectively, while at a grind size of 106 µm average gold and silver leach extractions from
the 4 samples were 89.5% and 56.7% respectively. The grind size optimisation test results indicated that a
finer grind size P 80 of -75µm resulted in both higher gold and silver leach extractions, however these did not
significantly increase at the finer 75µm grind size, relative to the coarser 106µm grind size. Leach kinetics were
very rapid with the majority of the gold extracted after 24 hours of leaching.
Results of the coarse ore bottle roll leach tests show ed average gold and silver leach extractions from the 5
samples of 72.2% and 26.1% respectively , at a fine crush size P 100 of -8mm, and after 30 days of leaching.
Leach kinetics were fairly rapid with the majority of the gold extracted after 10 days of leaching.
These initial whole ore and coarse ore bottle roll cyanidation leach test results indicate that the oxide
mineralisation types from the Aladdin’s Hill, Central Buttress Zone, Aladdin’s Hill NE, and GF Zones tested in
this variability programme will all be amenable to processing via both heap leach and conventional CIL
technologies. The coarse ore bottle rol l cyanidation leach test results from sample ROMO -005 (<0.5 g/t Au
gossanous carbonate hosted mineralisation from the Central Buttress and GF z ones) indicate that this low
grade mineralisation type is also amenable to processing using heap leach technology.
Exploration activity update
• A short c. 1,500m programme of diamond drilling programme at Hamama is expected to be completed
this week . Drilling was carried out at the previous ly largely untested Hamama East and Hamama
Central zones, as well as at the Crocs Nose Zone at Hamama West. Results are expected soon, and
will be published when they become available.
• Field mapping and sampling is continuing at the company’s Abu Gaharish, Semna, Bohlog, Zeno, Sir
Bakis and Massaghat regional prospects, ahead of reverse circulation percussion (“RC”) drilling
programmes planned to commence at the beginning of May, following the Eid -al-Fitr holiday at the
end of the holy month of Ramadan. Site preparation for these programmes will commence this week,
with drilling starting at the West Garida prospect, 3 km from Hamama West, where Aton intersected
high grade mineralisation, returning grades of up to 41.7 g/t Au, in a short 5 hole RC drilling programme
in 2022 (see news release dated September 1, 2022).
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 bas e metal
exploration targets at Abu Marawat, including the
Hamama deposit in the west, the Abu Marawat deposit in
the northeast, and the advanced Rodruin exploration
prospect in the south of the Concession. Two historic
British gold mines are also located o n 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 km 2 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 i n this News Release
was prepared by Gary Patrick BSc, MAusIMM, CP (Met),
Principal Consultant of Metallurg Pty Ltd. Mr. Patrick is a
qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43 -101
Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
For further informat ion 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.
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