Orogen Gold PLC Silverton Project Drilling Results (6296T)

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RNS Number : 6296T

Orogen Gold PLC

09 January 2017

09 January 2017

Orogen Gold Plc

("Orogen Gold", "Orogen" or "the Company")

Orogen reports on results from RC drilling at Silverton gold-silver property Nevada, USA

Orogen (AIM:ORE), a precious metals exploration company with projects in a developing gold province in Armenia and the Nevada gold-silver district, reports on the results from its initial reverse circulation ("RC") drilling programme on Galileo Resources plc's ("Galileo") Silverton property ("Property") in Nevada USA. The Company has the right to earn a majority interest in the Property under the terms of an earn-in agreement with Galileo, the terms of which were first announced in an RNS released on 27 June 2016.

Highlights

   --     Initial drill programme completed 
   --     Inclined RC holes cut extensive low-order gold mineralisation on the Silverton Fault Zone 
   --     Mineralised intervals up to 71.63m grading 0.20g/t Au, with values to 1.33g/t Au 

-- 600m strike length of fault system tested at intermediate depths in mineralised tuff-quartzite package

Colin Bird, CEO said: "Results from the initial test drilling programme have shown that the gold mineralisation along the Silverton Fault continues at depth over a wide interval. The programme was designed to test for high grade feeder zones and as such we did not identify any new lithology or conditions to support this prognosis. The new results will be assessed along with historic data in order to better understand mineralisation patterns and if appropriate generate further targets to be drill tested in 2017. In the meantime we will concentrate on the more advanced Mutsk gold project in Armenia, where the mineralisation footprint was extended significantly in the last few months and boundaries are yet to be defined."

Drilling Programme

Orogen completed a total of 1,274m of RC drilling in five holes on two initial targets within the Silverton claim area in October 2016 and has now received gold assay results for samples from the programme. Holes were targeted primarily at testing the Silverton Fault Zone at depth beneath previous shallower vertical drilling that had intercepted moderate to low grade gold and silver mineralisation over significant widths in the fault hanging-wall. The Silverton Fault appeared to be a potential feeder to widespread shallow gold mineralisation.

Holes OS-2 to OS-5 were angled at 60 to 70 degrees towards the west and northwest across the steeply east-dipping fault system over a 600m strike length from north to south. The holes generally confirmed earlier results, with low-grade gold occurring in a package of iron-stained and pyrite-bearing felsitic tuff and quartzite within the hanging-wall sequence above the fault structure. Three of the four holes aimed at the fault zone intersected gold mineralisation, including a wide interval in OS-2, however the intercepts were not enhanced compared to the shallower historic holes. The intervals are detailed in the table below:

 
         Silverton Project, Nevada 
             - Au assay results 
------------------------------------------- 
          Depth    Depth 
  Hole     from      to     Interval    Au 
   No       (m)      (m)       (m)      g/t 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 OS-2      24.38    96.01      71.63   0.20 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 incl.     24.38    39.62      15.24   0.34 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 incl.     38.10    39.62       1.52   1.33 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 and       54.86    62.48       7.62   0.38 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 
 OS-3       0.00    16.76      16.76   0.11 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 and      102.11   106.68       4.57   0.35 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 
 OS-5     118.87   123.44       4.57   0.28 
-------  -------  -------  ---------  ----- 
 

Hole OS-1 was drilled vertically in the northeast segment of the property to test the mineralised tuff unit proximal to a possible caldera boundary fault structure. While the geology was much as expected, no significant gold mineralisation was encountered.

Orogen will now assess the drilling results in tandem with the historic gold data and other potential targets on the Property prior to consideration of further work in 2017.

Sample assaying for the completed drilling programme was undertaken at the ALS Minerals analytical laboratory in Reno, Nevada. QAQC protocols included insertion of standard, blank and duplicate samples for check assay.

The Silverton Property

The Property is located northeast of Tonopah in the central Pancake Range. The Silverton claim block comprises 72 lode claims staked by Newcrest in March 2002. The geologic environment is similar to disseminated and bonanza epithermal gold mineralisation at the Round Mountain mine Nevada. The Silverton property is prospective for a range of deposit types, including bonanza style epithermal gold mineralisation.

The property contains a >100ppb Au rock chip anomaly measuring 2.5km x 3km. Au, Ag, As, and Hg mineralization are broadly coincident. Within the anomaly, a section of the N-S Silverton Fault measuring 1km x 0.5km returned chip samples values assaying >0.5g/t Au. These are centred on a 100m wide silicified contact between rhyolite to the east and carbonate rocks to the west.

Small-scale mining operated in the area from 1930 to 1937 and in 1953. Total production for the district is <100,000 oz. silver, <2,000 oz. gold and <1 ton of antimony. Over the last three decades multiple companies including Olympic Mining, Westgold, Newcrest and Pittston have explored the property for gold and silver. Work completed comprised extensive geochemical sampling, fluid inclusion studies, mapping, geophysics and drilling.

Earn-in Agreement

In June 2016 Orogen signed a definitive agreement with Galileo pursuant to which Orogen has the right to earn-in to a 51% interest in the Property by way of exploration expenditure of US$400,000 (the "First Expenditure") within 18 months and thereafter the possibility to spend an additional US$1,500,000 (the "Second Expenditure") within 30 months to earn-in a further 24% interest, in total 75%, in the Property.

Galileo will have the right to participate pro rata after the First Expenditure; should it exercise this right it would retain a 49% equity interest in Silverton (as opposed to being diluted down to 25%).

Technical Sign-Off

Ed Slowey, Operations Director of Orogen, is a Competent Person as defined by various international instruments and takes responsibility for the release of this information.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Enquiries:

 
Orogen Gold plc                    c/o Walbrook 
 Colin Bird, CEO 
---------------------------------  ------------ 
Cairn Financial Advisers 
 LLP (Nominated Adviser)           +44 (0) 20 
 Liam Murray / Sandy Jamieson       7213 0880 
---------------------------------  ------------ 
Beaufort Securities Limited 
 (Broker)                          +44 (0) 20 
 Jon Belliss                        7382 8300 
---------------------------------  ------------ 
Walbrook (Public Relations 
 and Investor Relations)           +44 (0) 20 
 Paul Cornelius / Gary Middleton    7933 8780 
---------------------------------  ------------ 
 

About Orogen Gold

Orogen Gold plc is a UK public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange AIM market (ticker: ORE). The Company is focused on mineral exploration and development and is currently operating an advanced gold exploration project at Mutsk in Armenia as well as the Silverton property. The Mutsk project was optioned by Orogen early in 2013 to follow-up reports of a new epithermal discovery within an established gold district. Exploration by Orogen has confirmed and extended the gold discovery through diamond drilling to over 1.3km extent and the deposit remains open in several directions. Orogen has just completed earning an 80% interest in the property and can increase that holding if its local partners elect not to contribute towards future work programmes.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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January 09, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)