Aura Energy Limited Aura to commence drilling on Tasiast South Gold project

 
TIDMAURA 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
                                                                8 FEBRUARY 2017 
 
                              AURA ENERGY LIMITED 
                           ("Aura" or the "Company") 
 
                 AURA TO COMMENCE EXPLORATION DRILLING PROGRAM 
                       ON ITS TASIAST SOUTH GOLD PROJECT 
 
               COPPER AND NICKEL PROSPECTS WILL ALSO BE EXPLORED 
 
  KEY SHAREHOLDERS HAVE ELECTED EARLY EXCERSISE OF OPTIONS TO PROVIDE $1.84M 
                       FUNDING FOR THE DRILLING PROGRAM 
 
  * Aura achieves strong funding support to commence drilling on its recently 
    acquired gold projects covering 45 km of Archean Greenstone belts in 
    Mauritania 
 
  * Previous exploration and drill results show both system size and elevated 
    gold grades making these high potential targets 
 
  * Adjacent to 20 Moz Kinross Tasiast Gold Mine and Algold (TSX) permits 
 
  * Option exercise proceeds dedicated to gold and base metals program 
 
Aura Energy Limited (AEE; ASX, AURA; AIM) is pleased to announce that drilling 
of its two under-explored mineralised greenstone belts in Mauritania will 
commence shortly. A key group of shareholders have opted for early exercise of 
unlisted options, unlocking $1.84M for the company which will be dedicated to 
the exploration of these gold and base metal prospects. As such this 
exploration project is now well funded and the company will soon begin an 
aggressive drilling program on these highly prospective gold tenements. 
 
These highly prospective tenements, covering 175km2, lie along strike from 
Kinross' giant +20 million ounce Tasiast Gold Mine and Algold's Tijirit gold 
tenements (See Fig 1) which have recently returned exceptional drilling 
results.  The two areas are currently held under exploration permit 
applications and are expected to be granted soon. 
 
Peter Reeve, Aura Energy's Executive Chairman said "Aura is very excited to be 
a position, with the help of key shareholders, to commence exploration on its 
gold and base metal tenements in Mauritania. Aura's strategy of focussing on 
development of its near term Tiris uranium project, despite the past weak 
commodity environment, and expanding into a very prospective gold and base 
metal package has been a great success and has the potential to transform the 
company and provide great returns to shareholders. 
 
"Considering the large Tasiast Gold Mine is on the same belt just north of our 
project and Algold's recent strong drilling results on their adjacent 
tenements, the potential for technical and commercial success, in the eyes of 
our technical people, is very conceivable. 
 
"With serious interest finally coming back into the uranium sector, gold 
gaining strength again and economic growth driving base metals Aura is very 
well placed to make solid gains on both a technical and commercial basis across 
its projects. We are a different company from two years ago, and we plan to 
capitalise on that" 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
               Figure 1:  Location of the Tasiast South project 
 
Gold Prospects 
 
The highly prospective gold areas that make up the Tasiast South gold project 
are spread over two under-explored mineralised greenstone belts in Mauritania 
(See Fig 2) representing an excellent opportunity in lightly explored Archean 
greenstone belts and will leverage Aura's extensive operating experience in 
this part of the world. The project is favourably located 200 km from Aura's 
Nouakchott office, 60 km from the coast, and can be managed efficiently within 
the company's existing management resources without distraction from Aura's 
core uranium focus. 
 
The prospects cover portions of the Tasiast and Tijirit Greenstone Belts and 
have been explored previously by only one other company which was forced to 
suspend activities in the mineral industry downturn in 2012, despite having 
located zones of significant gold mineralisation.  Members of Aura's current 
technical team were involved in this previous work and are well acquainted with 
the area. 
 
Aura's Tasiast South project area has the following attributes: 
 
  * Tenements over two lightly explored greenstone belts covering 175 km2 
 
  * The +20 Moz Tasiast gold deposit is nearby on the same greenstone belt and 
    highlights the potential for major deposits in the region (See Fig 2) 
 
  * $3m has been expended by the previous explorer on airborne geophysics, soil 
    geochemistry, and reverse circulation and air-core drilling 
 
  * Broad zones of gold mineralisation have been identified with strong 
    similarities to the Tasiast Gold Mine mineralisation and alteration 
 
  * No testing deeper than 150m with most previous holes less than 100m 
 
  * High grade drill intersections have been reported by others in the district 
    from both past and current programs, including one in progress with Algold 
    Resources (TSX), which highlight the current interest and potential in 
    these poorly tested belts 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
     Figure 2:  Location of Aura areas in relation to known mineralisation 
 
Air-core drilling to bedrock by the previous explorer located several anomalous 
gold zones, up to eight kilometres in length (See Fig 3). Of particular 
interest is the Ghassariat Zone, which has 1-3 g/t gold values on three of the 
four air-core traverses drilled. This anomaly extends over about eight 
kilometres parallel to the strike of the greenstone belt. 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
Figure 3: Ghassariat Zone location and gold anomalous zones defined by air core 
                                   drilling 
 
Drilling to date has generally been shallow with limited deeper testing below 
the air core drilling. A small number of RC holes have provided very good 
results however the density of drilling is very low averaging approximately one 
hole per 20 km2. A systematic program will test both extensions along strike 
of, and beneath, existing mineralised intersections, as well as testing new 
targets. 
 
Intersections in the Ghassariat Zone reported by the previous explorer include: 
 
TGRC 022 - 71m @ 0.3 g/t Au including: 
 
  * 5m @ 1.2 g/t Au, 
 
  * 3m @ 1.0 g/t Au 
 
  * 11m @ 0.5 g/t Au 
 
TGRC 007 - 38m @ 0.4 g/t Au including: 
 
  * 1m @ 6.1 g/t Au 
 
  * 6m @ 0.7 g/t Au 
 
The Ghassariat Prospect intersections occur in strongly sulphidic and 
quartz-veined mafic volcanics and have marked similarities with some of the ore 
zones and near-ore alteration zones at the neighbouring Kinross Tasiast Mine 
(See Fig 4).   It is encouraging that the +1 g/t gold intersections lie within 
very thick (71m) zones of lower grade gold bearing sulphide alteration, 
indicating an extensive mineralised system. 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
 Figure 4: Sections (all at same scale) comparing Aura's Ghassariat Prospect's 
broad zones of sulphidic & gold alteration to the Tasiast gold mines alteration 
                             & mineralised shells 
 
Aura's Chief Geologist, Neil Clifford, commented: "Interestingly the Tasiast 
gold mineralisation is in Archean greenstones with strong similarities in terms 
of rock types, structure and mineralisation style with the great gold provinces 
in the Archean belts of Australia and Canada in which there have been many 
hundreds of gold mines.  In the Tasiast district there is only one gold mine, 
reflecting how little explored this belt is (See Fig 5).  Clearly the potential 
for additional and substantial discoveries in the Tasiast district is very 
high" 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
 Figure 5:  Comparison highlighting the lack of major gold deposits discovered 
   in the lightly explored Tasiast district versus the well explored Yilgarn 
                         Province of Western Australia 
 
Mr Clifford led the previous exploration in the Aura permit areas, and has 
extensive and successful experience in international minerals discovery and 
deposit evaluation particularly in gold. He has played key roles in the 
discovery of at least 9 major mineral deposits in Australia, South America and 
Africa, for a variety of commodities including gold, uranium, copper and tin. 
These discoveries have included 20 million ounces of gold - including Sunrise 
Dam - and seven have subsequently become mines.  He also played the lead role 
in the discovery of Aura's Tiris uranium deposits in Mauritania. He has been 
involved in West Africa since 2005. 
 
Algold (TSX) Recent Drilling Results 
 
Algold Resources, a TSX listed explorer, has recently released exceptional 
drilling results (see below) in tenements adjacent to Aura's (See Fig 6). The 
exceptional gold exploration results of Algold, and elsewhere in the region 
generally, present a compelling case for the future of Aura's gold exploration 

program given the similarity in the geological setting of each company's 
tenements and the very limited exploration on these extensive greenstone belt 
packages. 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
 Figure 6:  Location of the Aura Tasiast South Tenements and Algolds Tenements 
 
The recent Algold results have included the following drill assays; 
 
  * T16RC071 - 6 m @ 39.85 g/t Au,     * T16RC072 - 4 m @ 1.35 g/t Au 
 
  * T16RC070 - 3 m @ 30.03 g/t Au      * and 2 m @ 1.94 g/t Au 
 
  * T16RC045 - 5 m @ 6.64 g/t Au       * T16RC083 - 2 m @ 5.47 g/t Au 
 
  * T16RC035 - 7 m @ 3.2 g/t Au        * T16RC027 - 6 m @ 16.4 g/t Au 
 
  * T16RC069 - 3 m @ 2.03 g/t Au       * T16RC031 - 6 m @ 9.64 g/t Au 
 
  * T16RC024 - 6 m @ 4.23 g/t Au 
 
Nickel and Base Metal Potential 
 
Previous exploration for gold on these permit areas also located strongly 
anomalous nickel values in several areas, associated with ultramafic rocks (See 
Fig 6).  In parts of the tenements high nickel values are associated with 
anomalous copper highlighting potential for nickel-copper sulphide 
mineralisation, as also occurs in the greenstone belts of Australia and Canada. 
At this stage, there has been no follow-up work carried out on these nickel 
targets. 
 
To view this release as a .pdf complete with referenced images please click the 
following link: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/investor/ASX%20Announcements/2017/ 
    Tasiast%20South%20Gold%20Exploration%20Comencement%20and%20Funding.pdf 
 
    Figure 6:  Key nickel results in bedrock sampling by air-core drilling 
 
Acquisition Terms Restated 
 
Aura executed an agreement in June 2016 to acquire 100% of these permit areas 
(currently under application) by making 4 staged payments over 12 months 
totalling US$100,000. 
 
Additional financial terms are: 
 
  * If Aura defines an Indicated Resource of greater than 1 million ounces a 
    further payment to the vendor of US$250,000 
 
  * A royalty of $5/oz on gold and 0.4% NSR on other commodities is payable on 
    production from the permits, capped at US$5 million 
 
Next steps envisaged at Tasiast South are: 
 
  * Ground electrical geophysics to: 
 
      + Locate the strongest zones of sulphide development for drill targeting 
        within the Ghassariat Zone 
 
      + Locate sulphide zones within nickel-copper anomalous ultramafics 
 
  * Follow-up RC drilling of the mineralised intersections in the Ghassariat 
    Zone 
 
  * RC drilling of additional targets arising from ground geophysics 
 
  * Bedrock drilling (air-core or auger) to test 
 
      + Extensions of Algold's Tijirit gold mineralisation onto Aura's ground 
        holdings 
 
      + High nickel ultra-mafic bodies for nickel copper mineralisation 
 
Option Exercise 
 
Aura previously issued unlisted options associated with past capital raisings 
with a strike price of 2.5 cents and a two-year term to a range of 
sophisticated investors. Several of these investors have now elected to 
exercise these options and this has resulted in the receipt of $1.84m 
representing 65% of the 113 million 2.5 cent unlisted options. 
 
If the full series of 2.5 cent options were exercised, approximately $1.0 
million of additional funding would be received, bringing to a total of $2.83m 
from that series of options which would be available for this exploration 
program. 
 
Whilst Aura intends to dedicate these funds to the gold and base metal 
exploration program the company reserves the right to use these funds in the 
uranium projects or corporate purposes if this is required. 
 
Mauritania 
 
Mauritania has a long history of mining, a favourable and well administered 
Mining Act, and a government supportive of foreign investment.  Until recently, 
Mauritania has seen very little systematic gold exploration compared to other 
countries in the region. 
 
Aura continues to enjoy an excellent rapport with the Mauritanian government 
and mining departments which enthusiastically embrace exploration and mining 
development. The country remains peaceful and stable with a modern 
user-friendly fiscal regime. 
 
Aura has been active in the country since 2007. 
 
References in this announcement to exploration results and potential have been 
approved for release by Mr Neil Clifford (Geologist and Member of the 
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy) who has more than 40 years' 
relevant experience in the field of activity concerned.   Mr Clifford is a 
Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Clifford has 
consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it 
appears. 
 
For further information visit www.auraenergy.com.au or contact: 
 
Aura Energy Limited                   Telephone: [phone] 
Peter Reeve (Executive Chairman and   Email: [e-mail] 
CEO) 
 
WH Ireland Limited                    Telephone: [phone] 
Adrian Hadden 
Katy Mitchell 
James Bavister 
 
Yellow Jersey PR Limited              Telephone: 
Felicity Winkles                      [phone] 
Joe Burgess                           [phone] 
 
 
 
END 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)