VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2021 / Banyan Gold Corp. (the “ Company ” or “ Banyan “) (TSX-V:BYN) is pleased to announce drilling has begun at the Aurex Hill Target, situated approximately one kilometre east of the Powerline Deposit on the AurMac Property, Yukon.
“Banyan is excited to return to Aurex Hill and follow-up on the near-surface gold mineralization identified in our 2020 drill program.” stated Tara Christie, President and CEO . “Phase 1 drilling on the Aurex Hill target should unlock the potential to develop another near-surface resource.”
Aurex Hill includes a roughly 10 sq km area defined by a large, coincident gold and arsenic-in-soil geochemical anomaly (Figure 1). Over 12,500 metres (“m”) of historic RAB drilling from 442 shallow (less than 50 m) holes, along with 15 diamond drill holes have been collared over Aurex Hill historically (Figure 2), prior to the development of the Banyan Geological Model which was tested and validated with the 2020 drilling.
A summary of highlights from the RAB drilling are presented in Table 1 – and indicate the mineralization potential of this area.
Table 1: Highlights* from historic RAB Aurex Hill results
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval* (m) | Au (g/t) |
| 93-147 | 9.2 | 48.8 | 39.6 | 1.18 |
| 93-151 | 18.3 | 45.7 | 27.4 | 0.73 |
| 93-153 | 9.2 | 30.5 | 21.3 | 0.75 |
| 93-158 | 15.2 | 36.6 | 21.4 | 0.93 |
| 94-80 | 3.1 | 24.4 | 21.3 | 0.71 |
| 94-114 | 9.2 | 27.4 | 18.2 | 0.70 |
| 94-121 | 6.1 | 21.3 | 15.2 | 0.97 |
| 94-129 | 12.2 | 30.5 | 18.3 | 0.74 |
| 94-133 | 6.1 | 30.5 | 24.4 | 0.73 |
| 94-161 | 9.2 | 18.3 | 9.1 | 1.54 |
| 94-167 | 6.1 | 18.3 | 12.2 | 0.88 |
| 94-174 | 15.2 | 27.4 | 12.2 | 0.79 |
| 94-184 | 9.2 | 24.4 | 15.2 | 0.78 |
| 94-193 | 3.1 | 18.3 | 15.2 | 1.44 |
| 96-67 | 3.1 | 30.5 | 27.4 | 0.74 |
* Historic drill results were reported by a previous operator, Yukon Revenue Mines Ltd., and utilized an Atlas Copco BRE 57-01 top hammer rotary percussion drill, in 1993, 1994 and 1996 exploration campaigns. Analytical results were reported to have been received from NAL lab in Whitehorse (gold – fire assay with gravimetric finish; antimony, bismuth and arsenic – atomic absorption spectroscopy); check assays were performed at Chemex Labs. Banyan has not verified the results and, therefore, they should not be relied upon. Banyan intends to verify a portion of these historically reported results as a part of this season’s exploration programs.
Figure 1: Phase 1 Drilling Plan showing Au-in-soil anomaly and historic diamond drill and RAB holes
Figure 2: Cross section showing historic RAB results and planned 2021 Aurex Hill holes
Diamond drilling at the Aurex Hill Zone in 2020 was comprised of seven (7), exploration holes designed to test a small portion of the highly prospective co-incident Au-As-in-soil anomalies previously defined by Banyan to be covering the majority of Aurex Hill. Drilling occurred in an untested area, over 300 m northwest of historic Aurex Hill diamond drill holes and hosts the same lithological package as at the Powerline Zone, over 1.25 km to the west.
The first holes in this area (see January 11, 2021 & February 8, 2021 news releases), intersected a well developed and pervasive oxidized footprint to depths of over 40 m associated with discordant sheeted auriferous quartz-arsenopyrite veining (Figure 3) and included the following highlights:
- 1.11 g/t Au over 17.9 metres from surface in AX-20-57
- 0.91 g/t Au over 20.5 metres from surface in AX-20-54
Figure 3: North-south cross section showing 2020 Aurex Hill results
The Phase 1, 5,000 m drill program at Aurex Hill is designed to build upon the success of the 2020 drilling in this newly recognized zone and endeavor to connect this mineralized portion of the Aurex Hill system with the historically RAB drilled zones.
Video version of this news release can be found on the Banyan Gold’s website.
2021 Drilling Update
Banyan has completed Phase 1 Powerline drilling with 10,476 m in a systematic, 100 m centered, drill grid designed to expand the Powerline Deposit. To date only 16 of 50 holes have received final assay results.
Qualified Person
Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, is a “qualified person” as defined under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release.
Upcoming Catalysts
Results from Phase One Powerline Drilling – 34 of 50 holes pending
Whistler Capital Events, July 9-11, 2021
Precious Metals Beaver Creek, September 8-11, 2021
COVID-19 Update
Banyan Gold continues to take proactive measures to protect the health and safety of our Yukon communities, our contractors and our employees from COVID 19 and exploration activities in 2021 will have additional safety measures in place, following and exceeding all the recommendations of Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer. Over 90% of Banyan Gold employees and contractors on site are fully vaccinated.
About Banyan
Banyan’s primary asset AurMac is adjacent to Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine, in Canada’s Yukon Territory, which announced commercial production on July 1, 2020. The AurMac initial resource of 903,945 oz Au (see Table 2 below) was announced in May 2020. Our major strategic shareholders include Alexco Resource Corp, Victoria Gold Corporation and Osisko Development. Banyan is focused on gold exploration projects that have the geological potential, size of land package and proximity to infrastructure that is advantageous for a mineral project to have potential to become a mine. Our Yukon based projects both fit this model and our objective is to gain shareholder value by advancing projects in our pipeline.
The 173 sq km AurMac Property lies 30 km from Victoria Gold’s Eagle Project and adjacent to Alexco’s Keno Hill Silver District and is highly prospective for structurally controlled, intrusion related gold-silver mineralization. The property is located adjacent to the main Yukon highway and just off the main access road to the Victoria Gold open-pit, heap leach Eagle Gold mine. The AurMac Property benefits from a 3-phase powerline, existing Yukon Energy Corp. switching power station and cell phone coverage. Banyan has optioned the properties from Victoria Gold and Alexco respectively with a right to earn up to a 100% subject to royalties.
The 2020 Initial Mineral Resource Estimate prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) guidelines for the AurMac Property is 903,945 ounces of gold. It is a near surface, road accessible pit constrained Mineral Resource contained in two near/on-surface deposits: The Airstrip and Powerline deposits. The Mineral Resource is summarized in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Pit-Constrained Inferred Mineral Resources at a 0.2 g/t Au Cut-Off – AurMac Property
| Deposit | Classification | Tonnage Tonnes |
Average Au Grade g/t |
Au Content oz |
| Airstrip | Inferred | 45,997,911 | 0.524 | 774,926 |
| Powerline | Inferred | 6,578,609 | 0.610 | 129,019 |
| Total Combined | Inferred | 52,576,520 | 0.535 | 903,945 |
Notes :
- The effective date for the Mineral Resource is May 25, 2020.
- Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, changes in global gold markets or other relevant issues.
- The CIM definitions were followed for classification of Mineral Resources. The quantity and grade of reported inferred Mineral Resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred Mineral Resources as an indicated Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured Mineral Resource category.
- Mineral Resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.2 g/t Au, using a US$/CAN$ exchange rate of 0.75 and constrained within an open pit shell optimized with the Lerchs-Grossman algorithm to constrain the Mineral Resources with the following estimated parameters: gold price of US$1,500/ounce, US$1.50/t mining cost, US$2.00/t processing cost, US$2.50/t G+A, 80% heap leach recoveries, and 45° pit slop.
- Mineral Resource Estimate prepared in accordance with 43-101 guidelines by Marc Jutras, P.Eng., M.A.Sc., Principal, Ginto Consulting Inc, with technical report filed July 7,2020.
The Hyland Gold Project, located 70 km Northeast of Watson Lake, Yukon, along the Southeast end of the Tintina Gold Belt is a sediment hosted, structurally controlled, intrusion related gold deposit, with a large land package (over 125 sq km), with the resource contained in the Main Zone area (900 m x 600 m) daylighting at surface and numerous other known surface gold targets. The Main Zone oxide zone is amenable to heap leach open pit mining, with column leach recoveries of 86%. The project has an existing gravel access road.
Table 3 shows the Hyland Main Zone Indicated Gold Resource Estimate, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, at a 0.3 g/t gold equivalent cutoff, contains 8.6 million tonnes grading 0.85 g/t AuEq for 236,000 AuEq ounces with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 10.8 million tonnes grading 0.83 g/t AuEq for 288,000 AuEq ounces. NI 43-101 prepared by Robert Carne, Allan Armitage and Paul Gray on May 1, 2018.
Table 3: Hyland Main Zone Indicated Gold Resource Estimate
| Cut-off Grade
( AuEq g/t) |
In situ Tonnes | Au | Ag | AuEq | |||
| Grade (g/t) | Ozs | Grade (g/t) | Ozs | Grade (g/t) | Ozs | ||
| Indicated | |||||||
| 0.3 | 8,637,000 | 0.78 | 216,000 | 7.04 | 1,954,000 | 0.85 | 236,000 |
| Inferred | |||||||
| 0.3 | 10,784,000 | 0.77 | 266,000 | 5.32 | 1,845,000 | 0.83 | 288,000 |
Notes :
- Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate.
- Mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.3 g/t AuEq. AuEq grade is based on $1,350.00/oz Au, $17.00/oz Ag and assumes a 100% recovery. The AuEq calculation does not apply any adjustment factors for difference in metallurgical recoveries of gold and silver. This information can only be derived from definitive metallurgical testing which has yet to be completed.
Banyan trades on the TSX-Venture Exchange under the symbol “BYN”. For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.BanyanGold.com or contact the Company.
ON BEHALF OF BANYAN GOLD CORPORATION
(signed) “Tara Christie”
Tara Christie
President & CEO
For more information, please contact:
Tara Christie
Tel: (888) 629-0444
Email: tchristie@banyangold.com
David Rutt
Tel: (888) 629-0444
Email: drutt@banyangold.com
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the 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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release contains forward-looking information, which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, Banyan’s objectives, goals or future plans, statements regarding exploration expectations, exploration or development plans and mineral resource estimates. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, uncertainties inherent in resource estimates , capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, enhanced risks inherent to conducting business in any jurisdiction, and those risks set out in Banyan’s public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Banyan believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Banyan disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.
Statements in this news release regarding Banyan which are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “believe” and “continue” or the negative thereof or similar variations.
SOURCE: Banyan Gold Corp.
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