Montreal, Quebec: Aurvista Gold Corporation (“Aurvista” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: AVA, OTC: ARVSF; Frankfurt: AV2/A1JL1Z) is pleased to highlight historic and more recent diamond drill hole results from the 40 plus years of exploration work at its Douay Gold Project (“Douay”) in 15 major exploration programs. Douay is located 40 km SW of the Matagami Zinc Base Metal Camp and 150 km N of the Val-d’Or-Malartic Gold Camp (both in Quebec).
As a number of new exploration projects in Quebec have been making headlines in recent months, Douay still remains one of the premier undeveloped gold projects in Quebec based on its past drilling results and Mineral Resources estimates*. Selective historic gold assay intervals from the higher gold grade zones at a cut-off grade at 5 g/t gold are outlined in the following table (refer below for a complete list of assay intervals or refer to Tables 3 and 4):
DDH # (year drilled) |
GOLD GRADE (g/t) |
FROM (m) |
TO (m) |
CORE LENGTH* (meters) |
GOLD ZONE |
D-102 (2005) | 15.01 | 283.10 | 291.30 | 8.20 |
Douay West |
84637 (1990) | 21.18 | 307.21 | 317.69 | 10.48 | |
40688 (1981) | 15.81 | 312.91 | 328.27 | 15.36 | Main |
54483 (1976) | 7.12 | 160.90 | 174.07 | 13.17 | |
70531-2 (1992) | 11.93 | 371.03 | 378.26 | 7.23 | 531 |
4140-93-01 (1993) | 10.73 | 182.00 | 187.00 | 5.00 | NW |
DO-12-97 (2012) | 5.36 | 304.50 | 313.50 | 9.00 |
Adam- Porphyry |
Included in | 1.07 | 255.00 | 438.00 | 183.00 | |
DO-11-61 (2011) | 6.67 | 98.00 | 110.00 | 12.00 | 10 |
DO-92-20 (1992) | 8.47 | 412.76 | 416.05 | 3.29 | 20 |
* Core lengths equal true widths of the gold mineralization.
Douay was initially explored from 1973 to 2010 for its higher grade gold potential with the discovery of 7 lenses ("Douay West", "10", "20", "531", "Central", "Main" and "NW"), followed by the 2005 discovery of a lower grade bulk gold porphyry (the “Main Porphyry”).
Exploration of the “Main Porphyry” was revived by Aurvista during the Company’s 2011 and 2012 drilling campaigns in light of the exploration and mining successes at the multi-million ounce Canadian-Malartic and Detour Lake bulk lower grade gold deposits. Drilling of the “Main Porphyry” led to the discovery of an additional higher grade lens, the “Adam-Porphyry” Zone, and a lower grade corridor (“South Porphyry”).
It is important to remind shareholders, stakeholders and prospective investors of past exploration successes at Douay leading to the discovery of the 8 higher grade zones and the 2 lower grade corridors within a 10 km by 3 km wide segment (or 30 km2) of the 20 km trend of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone (the “CBDZ”) on Douay (refer to the Company news releases dated December 17, 2014). All of this work recently led Aurvista to define a sizeable Mineral Resource estimate*: representing 2.7 million tonnes at 2.76 g/t gold for 0.2 million ounces of gold in the Indicated category with an additional 115 million tonnes at 0.75 g/t gold for 2.8 million ounces of gold in the Inferred category (at a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off), or 2.5 million tonnes at 2.98 g/t gold for 0.2 million ounces of gold in the Indicated category with an additional 61.8 million tonnes at 1.06 g/t gold for 2.1 million ounces of gold in the Inferred category (at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade).
Aurvista remains committed to the continued exploration of Douay with its near term exploration objective of increasing the quantity and quality of mineral resources by extending the higher grade gold lenses or by defining new ones with gold grades similar to those intersected in the past (refer to the table above, and Tables 3 and 4.)
Aurvista’s management firmly believes:
- The upside potential of the under-explored Douay Project is significant for a lower grade bulk gold-type system containing a number of higher grade gold lenses of variable sizes and grades;
- There has never been any historical mining on Douay, hence the higher grade gold lenses remain intact;
- Less than one-sixth of the Camp-scale size gold system at Douay has been explored via diamond drilling in any detail based on the distribution of the known higher and lower grade gold zones and location of drill holes;
- The gold system remains open along strike beyond the 10 km known trend and at depths below -400 m;
- The main gold target is the largely untested “Main Porphyry”, encompassing the Adam-Porphyry Zone. which was Aurvista’s 2012 discovery containing (at a 3 g/t gold cut-off) 383,000 tonnes grading 22.29 g/t gold for 274,500 ounces in the Inferred category within a lower grade envelope of 55.1 million tonnes at 1 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) also in the Inferred category, and the “South Porphyry”;
- The “Main Porphyry” is flanked by the largely unexplored NW Zone which to date contains 1 million tonnes grading 2.71 g/t for 87,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred category, and the Douay West Zone containing 2.33 million tonnes at 3 g/t gold for 225,000 ounces in the Indicated category and an additional 1.26 million tonnes at 1.8 g/t gold for 73,000 ouncesin the Inferred category (both zones at a 0.5 g/t cut-off); and
- Douay West is sufficiently advanced in order to go into pre-feasibility or feasibility mode if deemed beneficial.
- Douay has seen 15 major exploration programs since 1973 (refer below to Table 1)
- The first 13 programs were focused on the discovery and exploration of 7 higher grade gold zones over an 8 km stretch of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone;
- From 1973 to 2010, the previous vendors completed 144,783 meters of drilling in 575 diamond drill holes, while Aurvista completed the last two programs and essentially focused its efforts on the higher grade Douay West Zone and the lower grade bulk gold porphyry, and drilled from 2011 to 2014 some 42,955 meters in 127 diamond drill holes; and
- Aurvista’s drilling led to the discovery of 1 higher grade gold lenses - the “Adam-Porphyry” Zone - and 2 lower grade bulk gold target – “Main Porphyry” and “South Porphyry”;
Diamond drilling for the entire project was mostly focused on the higher grade gold zones:
- Diamond drilling totaled 187,738 meters in 702 drill holes (refer below to Table 2), with an additional 165 Reverse Circulation drill holes dating from the late 1980’s;
- There were 95,941 individual samples taken for gold assays, of which 317 assay intervals greater than 0.3 g/t gold were composited to delineate the 7 higher grade gold zones (refer below to Table 3) demonstrating the kilometric distribution, variability and continuity of the gold mineralization from bedrock surface to a -400 meter depth over a known 8 km strike length; and
- There are 43 assay intervals greater than 5 g/t gold from the “Douay West”, “Main”, “531”, “10”, “20”, “Adam-Porphyry” and “NW” zones (refer below to Table 4)
Aurvista is committed to the continued exploration of Douay
The Company is planning a two-staged exploration campaign on the Project for the period June to December 2016 with the prime objective of determining the best of the 25 defined targets identified in 2014-2015 with a view of significantly increasing the current Mineral Resource estimates*.
The First Stage campaign will complete the Priority Targeting Program (the "Program") in two areas where management is confident additional gold mineralization will be discovered, the first being in the 8 km by 3 km wide (at its longest and widest points) SE-tilted parallelogram-shaped polygon enclosing the Douay-Style Mineralization ("DSM") containing all the known gold zones ("Douay West", "10", "20", "531", "Central", "Main", "NW", “Adam-Porphyry”, "Main Porphyry" and "South Porphyry") and current Mineral Resource estimates*. The second area is the 6 km by 1 km wide cluster of EM INPUTTM anomalies conductors running along the southwest boundary of the DSM that have affinities to Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide or VMS mineralization associated with gold. The Second Stage campaign will consist of a 4,000 meters of drilling to delineate additional gold and/or copper-gold mineralization on the best targets.
The Summer Program will include:
- Completing an airborne geophysical Magnetic, Electromagnetic and Radiometric survey of the central portion of the Douay Project to define key contacts and faults which could be linked to gold and any potential base metal bearing massive sulphide lenses within the 6 km by 1 km Copper-Gold corridor to a depth of -150 meters.
- Re-logging selective previous and historical drill core for litho-geochemical and thin section work along key gold mineralized and non-mineralized sections across the Douay Project, all to define the chemical signatures and alteration mineralogy of the known gold and/or base metal mineralization. This will assist the airborne geophysical survey in the vectoring towards additional gold mineralization; and the drilling of the best priority targets that could potentially lead to the expansion of, and better quality, mineral resources.
The technical contents in this news release have approved by Mr. Jean Lafleur, M. Sc., P. Geo., President and CEO for Aurvista Gold Corporation, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.
* Mineral Resource estimates reported in this news release were estimated in accordance with the definitions contained in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves Definitions and Guidelines that were prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council on November 27, 2010. Of note, tonnes and ounces have been rounded as per NI 43-101 standards.
About Aurvista Gold Corp.
Aurvista Gold Corporation is a junior gold exploration and development Company with 85,689,121 shares shares outstanding trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and OTC Pink Sheets in the US. Aurvista’s only asset is the Douay Gold Project, consisting of a 100% owned interest in 250 contiguous claims totaling 133.1 km2, plus a 90% interest in 5 contiguous claims totaling 0.2 km2 and a 75% interest in 32 contiguous claims totaling 11.9 km2. In total there are 287 claims covering 145.3 km2 located along a 20 km segment of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt of northern Quebec. The 32 joint venture claims are with SOQUEM, occupying the central northern portion of Douay, and such ownership is subject to Aurvista completing a further $175,000 of approved work with no time limitation on this work.
In August, 2012, Aurvista updated the Mineral Resources estimates* that included all drilling completed to the end of March 2012. Douay contained Mineral Resources estimates* of 2.7 million tonnes of Indicated Resources at 2.76 g/t gold for 238,000 ounces (above a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade) or 3,458,000 tonnes grading 2.98 g/t gold (at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade) for 235,500 ounces. There were additional Inferred Resources of 115 million tonnes at 0.75 g/t gold for 2.75 million ounces (above a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade) or 62 million tonnes grading 1.06 g/t gold for 2.1 million ounces (above a 0.5 g/t cut-off grade). Details can be viewed on the Company’s website at www.aurvistagold.com.
For further information please contact:
Mr. Jean Lafleur, P. Geo.
President and CEO, Director
Cell +1 514 927 3633
Mr. Bryan Keeler
Chief Financial Officer
+1 416 504 4126
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management’s best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company’s expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When used herein, words such as “anticipate”, “will”, “intend” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Aurvista Gold Corporation’s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company’s website at www.aurvistagold.com.