News 2022

Aton announces the first results and completion of the resource infill RC drilling programme at Hamama West

Aug 26, 2022 Download PDF

Vancouver, British Columbia, August 26, 2022: Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) (“Aton” or the “Company”) is pleased to update investors on progress at its Hamama West gold-silver project, located in the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat” or the “Concession”), in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

Highlights:

  • The Hamama West RC infill drilling programme was completed on August 24, 2022, with a total of 6,620m drilled, including 5 holes at the West Garida prospect;
  • Assay results have been received for the first 35 holes, HAP-101 to HAP-135, to date;
  • Significant intersections include 2.90 g/t Au, 68.9 g/t Ag and 3.71 g/t AuEq over a 37m interval from surface (drill hole HAP-115), 2.87 g/t Au, 54.3 g/t Ag and 3.51 AuEq over a 22m interval from 1m depth (hole HAP-110), and 1.43 g/t Au, 24.1 g/t Ag and 1.72 g/t AuEq over a 32m interval from 3m depth (hole HAP-115).

“The RC resource infill drilling programme at Hamama West has now been completed on schedule, and we are surely pleased with the initial results of the drilling that we have received so far” said Tonno Vahk, Interim CEO. “The results are in line with our expectations, and again confirm that the Hamama West oxide gold cap will be an easily mineable body of oxide mineralisation outcropping at surface, and which metallurgical testing has shown to be eminently treatable using heap leach processing technology. As soon as all the results have been received they will be forwarded on to our consultants Cube Consulting, who will commence work on revising the Hamama West mineral resource estimate. The development of the Hamama West starter open pit and heap leach project on the outcropping oxides, as only the second commercial gold mining operation in Egypt, will be a huge step forwards for the mining and mineral exploration sector in Egypt, the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, and of course for Aton, and for all our stakeholders.”

Hamama West RC drilling programme

The Hamama West project has an indicated resource of 137,000 ounces of gold equivalent (“AuEq”, gold and silver combined), and an inferred resource of 341,000 ounces AuEq. The uppermost oxide and transitional component of the Hamama West deposit (the “gold oxide cap”) comprises an inferred resource of 106,000 ounces AuEq (see news release dated January 24, 2017). Metallurgical testwork has indicated average gold recoveries of 75.6% and 72.7% from oxide and transitional mineralisation types respectively (see news release dated February 22, 2018), using standard heap leach processing technology. Aton plans to initially mine the outcropping oxide gold cap of the deposit, which is mineralised directly from surface, as a low capex/opex starter open pit mining operation, with a heap leach processing facility. The Hamama West oxides will provide early cash flow, and will represent the first stage of phased mine development at the Abu Marawat Concession.

The reverse circulation percussion (“RC”) resource infill drilling programme at the Hamama West gold-silver project (Figure 1) has now been completed, with the final hole, HAP-204, terminated on August 24, 2022. The programme was designed by Aton, in conjunction with our mineral resource consultants, Cube Consulting (Perth, Western Australia), to primarily test the oxide and transitional portion of the Hamama West mineral resource estimate (“MRE”), with the specific objective of upgrading the confidence of the existing inferred resource. A number of holes also tested the underlying sulphide resource, and a series of deeper holes was added at the end of the programme with a view to testing potential deeper sulphide mineralisation, and increasing the overall MRE at Hamama West.

Figure 1: Geology plan of the Abu Marawat Concession, showing the location of the Hamama West project

Figure 2: Schematic geology of the Hamama – West Garida areaA total of 6,620m was drilled for the programme, predominantly at the Hamama West zone. 3 holes were completed, for 297m, at the Western Carbonate zone, and 5 holes, for 390m, at the West Garida prospect approximately 3km east of Hamama West (Figure 2), with the remaining 5,933m drilled at Hamama West.

Drill holes were laid out using handheld GPS, with all collars to be surveyed by total station within the coming week. Drill holes were down hole surveyed at appropriate intervals using a Champ GyroTM north-seeking gyroscopic survey tool. Collar details of holes HAP-101 to HAP-135 are provided in Table 1 below:

Hole ID

Collar co-ordinates 1

Dip 2

Grid azimuth 2

EOH depth (m)

Comments

X

Y

Z

HAP-101

534289

2913870

506

-60

187

120

HAP-102

534316

2913876

516

-50

180

100

HAP-103

534339

2913865

510

-55

180

110

HAP-104

534358

2913840

507

-55

180

100

HAP-105

534344

2913832

507

-55

180

75

HAP-106

534319

2913832

507

-55

180

70

HAP-107

534280

2913818

527

-75

180

95

HAP-108

534280

2913818

527

-55

180

80

HAP-109

534281

2913784

528

-50

180

58

HAP-110

534286

2913766

528

-65

180

25

HAP-111

534321

2913750

520

-90

n/a

25

HAP-111a

534317

2913752

520

-90

n/a

4

Re-drill of top 4m of HAP-111

HAP-112

534341

2913749

522

-55

180

25

HAP-113

534342

2913722

524

-55

180

20

HAP-114

534340

2913765

531

-55

180

35

HAP-115

534338

2913785

528

-55

180

45

HAP-116

534400

2913757

535

-90

n/a

20

HAP-117

534400

2913772

522

-90

n/a

40

HAP-118

534429

2913771

534

-90

n/a

20

HAP-118a

534426

2913771

534

-90

n/a

4

Re-drill of top 4m of HAP-118

HAP-119

534458

2913787

530

-90

n/a

35

HAP-120

534459

2913805

527

-55

180

40

HAP-121

534490

2913807

530

-90

0

50

HAP-122

534490

2913807

530

-55

180

40

HAP-123

534524

2913792

535

-55

180

25

HAP-124

534496

2913771

535

-90

n/a

30

HAP-125

534530

2913771

532

-90

n/a

20

HAP-126

534563

2913783

530

-55

180

40

HAP-127

534563

2913783

530

-90

n/a

50

HAP-128

534601

2913789

534

-55

180

40

HAP-129

534601

2913789

534

-90

n/a

50

HAP-130

534335

2913809

518

-55

180

60

HAP-131

534361

2913806

516

-55

180

70

HAP-132

534405

2913820

518

-55

188

70

HAP-133

534430

2913821

521

-55

180

60

HAP-134

534461

2913829

518

-55

180

50

HAP-135

534488

2913840

517

-50

180

60

Notes:

  1. Collar co-ordinates surveyed by handheld Garmin GPS
  2. Collar surveys of drill holes undertaken at c. 3-6m depth, using a Champ Gyro north-seeking gyroscopic survey tool
  3. All co-ordinates are UTM (WGS84) Zone 36R

Table 1: Collar details of RC percussion holes HAP-101 to HAP-135

Figure 3: Hamama West RC drilling programme – drill hole collar plan (red: holes reporting, blue: oxide/transitional holes completed, but yet to be reported)Results

Selected significant intersections from the first 35 holes are shown below in Table 2, and full results from all holes are provided in Appendix A.

Hole ID

Intersection (m) 1

Au (g/t)

Ag (g/t)

AuEq 2

(g/t)

Comments

From

To

Interval

HAP-101

68

96

28

0.76

53.33

1.39

Sulphide mineralisation

HAP-107

40

56

16

1.22

54.46

1.86

Oxide / sulphide mineralisation

HAP-108

35

52

17

0.94

30.77

1.30

Oxide / sulphide mineralisation

HAP-109

3

35

32

1.43

24.09

1.72

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-110

1

23

22

2.87

54.27

3.51

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-111

0

10

10

1.80

132.1

3.36

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-112

0

5

5

5.55

156.6

7.40

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-114

0

20

20

1.90

42.40

2.40

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-115

0

37

37

2.90

68.94

3.71

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-116

0

7

7

3.07

37.07

3.51

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-117

0

11

11

2.35

40.39

2.82

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-118

0

10

10

1.25

29.35

1.59

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-119

0

16

16

1.86

27.57

2.18

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-120

1

31

30

1.06

21.93

1.32

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-130

0

35

35

0.99

29.41

1.34

Oxide mineralisation from surface

HAP-131

17

34

17

1.26

98.35

2.42

Transitional mineralisation

and

41

51

10

0.95

17.41

1.15

Sulphide mineralisation

Notes:

  1. Intersections calculated at a nominal cutoff grade of 0.5 g/t AuEq in runs of continuous mineralisation
  2. Gold equivalent, AuEq, is calculated at a ratio of 85:1 Au:Ag (ie. 1 g/t Au = 85 g/t Ag)

Table 2: Selected mineralised intersections from RC percussion holes HAP-101 to HAP-135

Sampling and analytical procedures

The RC holes were drilled at 140mm diameter, and the bulk percussion chip samples were collected directly into pre-written large plastic bags from the cyclone every metre, numbered with the hole number and hole depths, and laid out sequentially at the drill site. Between each metre of drilling the cyclone and top box were cleaned out with compressed air. The bags were then moved to a logging and storage area where the chips were logged by Aton geologists. The bulk 1m samples were weighed, and subsequently riffle split through a 3-tier splitter onsite by Aton field staff to produce an approximately 1/8 split, which was collected in cloth bags, numbered and tagged with the hole number and depth. The splitter was cleaned with compressed air between each sample. The reject material from this initial bulk split was re-bagged, labelled and tagged, and the bulk reject samples will be stored and retained on site at Hamama. A representative sample of each metre was washed, stored in marked plastic chip trays, each containing 20m of samples, photographed, and retained onsite as a permanent record of the drill hole.

All the 1m split samples were weighed again, and the samples were riffle split onsite at the Hamama sample preparation facility, typically a further 3-4 times using a smaller lab splitter, to produce a nominal c. 250-500g sample split for dispatch to the assay laboratory. Again the splitter was cleaned with compressed air between each sample. The laboratory splits were allocated new sample numbers.

QAQC samples are inserted into the sample stream at a rate of approximately 1 certified reference material (or “standard” sample) every 30 samples, 1 blank sample every 15 samples, and 1 field duplicate split sample every 15 samples.

The c. 250-500g 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 using an aqua regia digest followed by an AAS finish (analytical code Ag-AA45). Any high grade gold samples (Au >10 g/t) were re-analysed using analytical code Au-GRA21 (also fire assay, with a gravimetric finish). High grade Ag samples (Ag >100 g/t) were re-analysed using the ore grade technique Ag-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 exploration 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: info@atonresources.com

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 Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Appendix A

Hole ID

Intersection (m) 1

Au (g/t)

Ag (g/t)

AuEq2
(g/t)

Comments

From

To

Interval

HAP-101

68

96

28

0.76

53.33

1.39

HAP-102

-

-

-

-

-

-

NSA, 2m @ 0.18 g/t Au (on hangingwall contact)

HAP-103

87

91

4

0.55

7.38

0.63

HAP-104

-

-

-

-

-

-

NSA, 1m @ 0.23 g/t Au (on hangingwall contact)

HAP-105

38

40

2

1.21

38.80

1.66

and

59

61

2

0.67

12.30

0.82

HAP-106

52

56

4

0.83

12.40

0.97

HAP-107

40

56

16

1.22

54.46

1.86

HAP-108

35

52

17

0.94

30.77

1.30

HAP-109

3

35

32

1.43

24.09

1.72

HAP-110

1

23

22

2.87

54.27

3.51

HAP-111

0

10

10

1.80

132.1

3.36

HAP-112

0

5

5

5.55

156.6

7.40

HAP-113

-

-

-

-

-

-

Collared in hangingwall, not mineralised

HAP-114

0

20

20

1.90

42.40

2.40

HAP-115

0

37

37

2.90

68.94

3.71

HAP-116

0

7

7

3.07

37.07

3.51

HAP-117

0

11

11

2.35

40.39

2.82

HAP-118

0

10

10

1.25

29.35

1.59

HAP-119

0

16

16

1.86

27.57

2.18

HAP-120

1

31

30

1.06

21.93

1.32

HAP-121

-

-

-

-

-

-

No mineralisation

HAP-122

16

27

11

1.12

24.02

1.40

HAP-123

0

19

19

0.57

17.06

0.77

HAP-124

0

4

4

1.33

93.70

2.43

HAP-125

1

7

6

1.27

85.50

2.28

0-1m: NSR

HAP-126

-

-

-

-

-

-

No mineralisation - rhyolite dyke

HAP-127

0

3

3

0.99

15.80

1.17

Rhyolite dyke from 3m

HAP-128

13

16

3

0.61

3.77

0.65

0-13m: rhyolite dyke

HAP-129

-

-

-

-

-

-

Rhyolite dyke from surface, 0-1m: 1.19 g/t Au

HAP-130

0

35

35

0.99

29.41

1.34

HAP-131

17

34

17

1.26

98.35

2.42

and

41

51

10

0.95

17.41

1.15

HAP-132

-

-

-

-

-

-

NSA > 0.79 g/t Au

HAP-133

-

-

-

-

-

-

NSA > 0.69 g/t Au (possibly did not intersect hangingwall?)

HAP-134

-

-

-

-

-

-

NSA (possibly did not intersect hangingwall?)

HAP-135

-

-

-

-

-

-

NSA (possibly did not intersect hangingwall?)

Notes:

  1. Intersections calculated at a nominal cutoff grade of 0.5 g/t AuEq in runs of continuous mineralisation
  2. Gold equivalent, AuEq, is calculated at a ratio of 85:1 Au:Ag (ie. 1 g/t Au = 85 g/t Ag)