Aurelius Expands Multiple High Grade Gold Zones at Aureus East and Provides Summary of Phase 1 Drill Program

• Hole AE-21-008 Intersected
• 4.7m @ 5.3 g/t gold, from 205.5m to 210.2m
• Including 1.55m @ 13.8 g/t gold, from 206.45m to 208.0m
• Hole AE-21-009 Intersected
• 1.6m @ 16.5 g/t gold, from 101.8m to 103.4m
• Hole AE-21-016 Intersected
• 0.6m @ 67.7 g/t gold, from 163.05m to 163.65m

• Confirmed a significant gold system on the property, tripling the depth and identifying over 30 discreet gold horizons to below 900m;
• Identified gold in sediment hosting wall rocks around the veins, traditionally viewed as non-mineral bearing, resulting in broader and more extensive gold zones than previously modelled;
• Identified longer, more extensive limbs than traditionally modelled, which provides a new target area for additional growth;
• Southern limbs confirmed to be at least 100m long; previously believed to only extend ~10-15m);
• Width of the gold system is now at least 200m across strike (building volume);
• Isolated historical hits confirmed and now incorporated into southern leg model with much greater continuity and extension of legs than previously interpreted; and,
• Drilling has started to intersect gold in under-drilled northern limbs.
• Hole AE-20-007 encountered 0.5m at 21 g/t gold in the floor below underground drill Pad 2 (April 6, 2021 Press Release) and at least eight high grade zones including;
• 2m @ 132.4 g/t gold
• 32m @ 2.91 g/t gold (new zone @ 245m below the drift)
• including 0.6m @ 55.8 g/t gold;
• and 0.8m @ 22.6 g/t gold;
• and 1.0m @ 21.8 g/t gold.
• AE-21-011 intersected (April 12, 2021 Press Release)
• 3.0m @ 17.4 g/t gold (Zone 9)
• including 1.0m @ 43.3 g/t gold
• 14.2m @ 5.32 g/t gold (Zone 10)
• AE-21-013 intersected
• 2.9m @ 13.3 g/t gold (Zone 9)
• including 1.0 m @ 28.6 g/t gold
• 2.7m @ 15.1 g/t gold (Zone 10)
• including 1.0m @ 39.7 g/t gold
• AE-21-015 intersected
• 5.7m @ 9.42 g/t gold (Zone 9)
• including 1.7m @ 28.8 g/t gold (Zone 9)
• ZONE 9, newly discovered:
• Intersected 10 times during Phase 1 (9 times underground and 1 time from surface);
• 5 intervals above 25 g/t gold (including two samples greater than 120 g/t gold); and 2 more intervals above 9 g/t gold;
• During Phase 1 ZONE 9 was intersected over an 80m strike length.
• Extensive gold mineralization adjacent to underground development demonstrates significant opportunities for the Company as we identified an under-drilled, under-assayed and misunderstood asset, encountering:
• Gold in the floor of the drift at Pad 2;
• Multiple new high-grade zones have been identified including Zones 9 and 10;
• Existing underground development didn’t not excavate, and appears to “miss”, significant gold hits identified in historical drilling database.
• The Company continues to systematically sample historical drill core stored on the property to identify gold mineralization and also continues to find un-assayed gold mineralization in these holes.

Figure 1: A schematic cross section demonstrating gold mineralization geometry of typical hinges and more extensive influence of the limbs. Gold veins displayed in yellow and as black lines in the limbs.

 

Aurelius realized early success from the Pad 1 drilling, as Hole AE-20-003 encountered over 30 new mineral horizons and extended mineralization to below 900m from surface (see release of January 14, 2021). Holes AE-20-004 and AE-20-005 confirmed that Zone 9, a quartz vein horizon, demonstrates consistency in the occurrence of coarse gold, occurring at the contact between the quartz and sediment contact, and repeated. Zone 9 was intersected 10 times during Phase 1, over an 80m strike length, yielding 5 intervals above 25 g/t gold (including two samples greater than 120 g/t gold), and 2 intervals above 9 g/t gold. Hole AE-20-007 encountered multiple horizons including the highest grades to date, including 2.0m at 132.4 g/t gold (see release of April 6, 2021), and very significantly, intersected 0.5m at 21 g/t gold in the floor of the drift, previously excavated for the 2018 bulk sample undertaken by previous operators. That information, combined with existing data in the historical database and a new underground survey, indicates that the prior operators likely missed the gold they were aiming to obtain in the bulk sample. The recent assays from the surface drilling program have provided significant new information as to the potential extent, and influence, of the limbs. The historical extent of the limbs has typically been limited to a length of 10-15m. The surface program demonstrates the limbs on the south of the project, appear to extend to lengths to over 100m, and has also demonstrated the presence of mineralized limbs on the north side of the project. This provides the Company with further targeting potential.

 

Jeremy Niemi, P.Geo, Vice President, Exploration, commented, “Our Phase 1 program, included a surface drilling campaign designed to complement the hinge focused underground drilling by stretching the gold mineralization well to the south in near vertical concentrated veins. Expanding the gold mineralization in the limbs offers the opportunity to increase the contained gold per vertical metre and opens-up considerable volume to develop mineral resources. The under explored limbs are open in all directions and have been followed from surface down to a 500m depth so far.”

 

 

Figure 2: A representativecore photo showing multiple occurrences of visible gold in hole AE-21-016 at a depth of 163.5m which assayed 0.6m of 67.7 g/t gold.

 

Aureus East Phase 2 Drill Program

 

The Phase 2 drill program at Aureus East commenced in April 2021 and is ongoing, with the underground drill focussing on defining the hinge zones and the surface rig drilling south limbs and specific hinge zones. Phase 2 is concentrated on the most advanced area on the property which is where the gold system is proximal to the underground development. This area includes 500m along strike (east-west) and down to a depth of 500m below surface. Surface drilling will continue to explore the under-drilled limbs and aims to expand them to the south and widen the extents of the gold mineralization. Drilling is planned to extend beyond this area in subsequent phases of drilling.

 

In conjunction with the drilling, surface mapping and sampling will seek additional new gold veins parallel to the main zone and to the north and south. The Aureus West deposit is approximately 800m south of the western limit of the gold mineralization at Aureus East and the gap between the two deposits is under explored and highly prospective.

Figure 3. Longitudinal section of Aureus East gold mineralization in grade shells with drilling. Phase 2 target area highlighted in yellow.

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