Auryn fills coffers for 2018 exploration

Auryn Resources Inc. March 23 announced that it has raised US$9.8 million to help fund its 2018 exploration in Nunavut, British Columbia and Peru.

The financing included a bought deal offering involving the of sale 6,015,385 Auryn shares at US$1.30 each. This US$7.8 million offering was underwritten by Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corp., PI Financial Corp., Canaccord Genuity Corp., Echelon Wealth Partners Inc., Haywood Securities Inc. and Roth Capital Partners, LLC. Auryn paid a 6 percent commission to the underwriters.

Auryn also completed a concurrent private placement financing involving the sale of 1,091,826 flow-through shares at the Canadian dollar price equal to US$1.82 per share, for gross proceeds of US$2 million.

These flow-through shares were purchased by Goldcorp Inc., enabling the major gold producer to maintain its 12.5 percent interest in Auryn.

Under Canada's Income Tax Act, a flow-through financing allows mineral exploration companies to transfer their exploration expenses to individual investors that purchase the shares.

Most exploration companies do not generate revenues, so they do not need the tax write off, however, the flow-through investor can apply his portion of the exploration expense to reduce or eliminate his tax liability.

Under the tax act, exploration companies must spend the flow-through dollars raised on a qualifying mineral project in Canada within two years of closing the financing.

Auryn has two gold properties in Canada – Committee Bay in Nunavut and Homestake Ridge in British Columbia – to spend its flow-through dollars.

"With the completion of this financing, Auryn is well capitalized to advance its gold exploration portfolio in Canada and Peru," said Auryn Chairman Ivan Bebek. "The company plans to announce detailed 2018 exploration plans in the near future and appreciates the support it continually receives from key investors and shareholders."

While Auryn has yet to lay out the full details of its exploration plans for 2018, the company is already getting started at its Committee Bay gold project in Nunavut.

In February, the company announced that it has refined drill targets at Aiviq, a high-grade gold discovery made last year at the nearly 1-million-acre (390,000 hectares) Committee Bay property.

This expansive property is anchored by Three Bluffs, a deposit with 2.1 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 7.85 grams per metric ton (524,000 ounces) gold; and 2.9 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 7.64 g/t (720,000 oz) gold.

Auryn's 2017 exploration program discovered Aiviq, a gold prospect about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) north of Three Bluffs.

The gold identified at Aiviq is situated along a regional shear zone that is defined by a 7,000-meter-long gold-in-till anomaly. Till is sediment derived from the erosion caused by glaciers that can provide clues to the mineral content of the bedrock from which it eroded.

One hole drilled at the Aiviq discovery last year, 17RGR003, cut 12.2 meters of 4.7 g/t gold, including 3.05 meters of 18.09 g/t gold.

Auryn also plans further drilling at the Three Bluffs deposit this spring. The goal of this program is to expand the resource and to explore for new zones of mineralization that were previously untested.

The company also plans to use the funds raised to continue exploration at the Homestake Ridge gold-silver project in northwestern British Columbia; as well as its Huilacollo gold-silver and Sombrero copper-gold projects in Peru.

–SHANE LASLEY