The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
AUU: TSX-V
President and CEO: Rob Boaz Hon. B.A.
Chief Geologist & Director: James M. Franklin, Ph.D., P. Geo.
VP, Exploration and Consulting Geologist: Eric Craigie, B. Sc. (Geo.)
Formed in 2003, Aura Silver's strategy is to act as an exploration arm with other miners that host untested exploration potential on their mining properties in major silver belts. Aura Silver has two active projects in North America, including one located in an under-explored Archean greenstone belt in Nunavut. Aura Silver's Greyhound Lake Property is a high-grade precious and base metal prospect in the Churchill region of Nunavut about 46 kilometers, or 29 miles, south of Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank Gold Mine. The company has staked nearly 25,333 hectares, or 62,573 acres, giving it a strategic land position.
Aura Silver's 2010 drill program was established primarily to examine a large number of geophysical targets identified in its VTEM (2009) and earlier GEOTEM (2007) and MEGATEM (2006) surveys, using shallow (100-125 meter) drill holes.
The junior completed phase 1 of its 2010 exploration program at Greyhound in mid-August, and spent about C$700,000.
Soil sampling was undertaken with the completion of phase 1 drilling.
Using a combination of drilling and ongoing prospecting, Aura Silver Aug. 20 said it determined that the area surrounding Aura Lake is highly prospective for gold mineralization.
The junior Sept. 7 reported the discovery of a new gold-silver zone on the property, citing assays of soil samples that returned gold grades as high as 28.2 grams per metric ton and silver grades up to 5,380 g/t.
Further prospecting determined that this gold-rich zone may extend for 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles, in a north-east to south-west direction.
Aura Silver CEO Robert Boaz said the results are especially significant given that Greyhound "is hosted by strata that are very similar to those at (Meadowbank).
Chief geologist James Franklin said the results caused the junior to re-evaluate its geological model for the Aura Lake area.
"The potential for an extensive structurally related gold-silver system is further supported by the presence of the assay data presented herein, quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes, extensively carbonatized ultramafic rocks ("green carbonate") and intensively altered, sulfidic iron formation," Franklin said.
"All of these extend continuously from South Aura Lake for at least 3 kilometers to the south.
In addition, the newly discovered VMS target approximately 2 kilometers east of Aura Lake requires follow-up geophysical work.
The next phase of our program will focus on the 10-square-kilometer area that comprises the western 'core' of our Greyhound property."
IP geophysical surveys were being considered for the two most prospective areas of the property. This work would form the basis for additional drilling either later in the fall (weather depending), or in the spring of 2011. The company expects to report assay results once they are received, likely during early September 2010. Aura Silver also re-evaluated the potential for volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization north of Aura Lake based on additional mapping and its drill results and concluded that more exploration is needed to follow up on a "high-grade copper-zinc" occurrence in that area.
On Sept. 10, Aura Silver also said it added a Canada-only component to a previously announced private placement of its shares to raise an additional C$1 million specifically to fund IP geophysics and soil surveys this fall and a spring 2011 drilling program at Greyhound.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$1.44 million (at June 30, 2010)
Working capital: C$981,221 (at June 30, 2010)
Market capitalization: C$10.05 million (Sept. 13, 2010)
1128 Clapp Lane, P.O. Box 279 Manotick, ON Canada K4M 1A3
Tel: 613-692-7704 Fax: 613-692-3234
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