Auryn chases productive Aiviq gold system

Auryn Resources Inc. Nov. 13 reported that the 2018 drill program at its Committee Bay project in Nunavut expanded Aiviq, a gold discovery made last year, and discovered gold at Kalulik, a new prospect about 15 kilometers (nine miles) to the southwest.

Aiviq is situated about 7.5 miles north of 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 discovered Aiviq with rotary air blast drilling in 2017, including one hole that cut 12.2 meters of 4.7 g/t gold, including 3.05 meters of 18.09 g/t gold.

The company reported that all 16 holes drilled this year at Aiviq encountered the targeted structure, with the best intercept being 13.5 meters of 1.54 g/t gold, including six meters of 3.3 g/t gold. This hole, 18RG012, was drilled toward the southwest end of the 2018 program. With hole 12 encountering the most intense alteration and quartz veining along the system, Auryn said Aiviq remains open in this direction.

Other highlighted intercepts from drilling at Aiviq include 4.5 meters of 2.93 g/t gold in 18RG002; 1.5 meters of 8.95 g/t gold in 18RG006; and 1.5 meters of 5.1 g/t gold in 18RG009.

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.

Most of the holes at Aiviq 20- to 40-meter widths of intense quartz veining and sulfidized banded iron formations, which Auryn believes demonstrates the potential for a significant discovery along this regional fault zone.

Due to the strength of the hydrothermal system along this regional fault zone, Auryn further evaluated the high-resolution till samples collected in 2017 and 2018. This work identified two high-priority drill targets along the Aiviq regional fault zone. One of these targets, known as Shamrock, is located 4,000 meters south of the 2018 drill program. The other, located 500 meters southeast of this year's drill program, is called Aiviq South.

"We feel that we are in a productive gold system at Aiviq due to the strong alteration and fluid flow observed along this regional fault zone," said Auryn Resources Chief Geologist Michael Henrichsen. "The strengthening of the widths and mineralization at the southwest limit, and the new high-resolution till anomaly at Shamrock, lead us to believe we should continue exploring along this regional fault zone."

In addition to drilling, Auryn sampled a number of high-grade boulders down-ice of the Aiviq prospect, further demonstrating the potential of this regional fault zone. The highest grade samples returned 26.3, 13.2 and 12 g/t gold.

Auryn's technical team is currently evaluating the Aiviq South prospect as a potential source area of the high-grade boulder located down-ice of the Aiviq prospect. The Shamrock prospect is supported by historical high-grade boulder samples, including 12.89 and 7.61 g/t gold.

"The identification of three separate gold-bearing hydrothermal systems under cover at the Kalulik and Aiviq prospects indicate to us that our targeting process is leading us in the right direction," said Henrichsen.

Kalulik and Aarluk

Auryn also drilled 22 rotary air blast (RAB) holes at Kalulik and Aarluk, prospects southwest and north of Aiviq, respectively. The company said this drilling has identified gold-bearing hydrothermal systems with geological characteristics consistent with the Three Bluffs deposit, demonstrating an improved ability to target under till cover.

The Kalulik prospect is located along the same regional gold-bearing fault zone that hosts Aiviq and Shamrock. This year's drilling at Kalulik cut 10- to 20-meter-thick zones of low-grade gold mineralization in two hydrothermal systems, 4,000 meters apart. These results include 21.34 meters at 0.4 g/t gold and 16.76 meters at 0.45 g/t gold.

In addition, the identification of two separate gold-bearing structures speaks to the potential of the regional fault zone linking Aiviq and Kalulik.

The best hole drilled at Aarluk cut 3.05 meters of 3.39 g/t gold, in a weakly sulfidized banded iron formation. Auryn, however, does not plan to follow up on this find due to the geological characteristics observed.

There are still a lot of targets to follow up on and that have yet to be tested across Auryn's nearly 1-million-acre (390,000 hectares) Committee Bay gold property.

"The targets drilled this year represent a fraction of the opportunities still available at Committee Bay based on high-resolution till targets and historical drill intercepts that are still open for expansion," Henrichsen said.

Results are still pending from sampling at Gibson MacQuoid, another large gold property in Nunavut; drilling at Homestake Ridge, a high-grade gold-silver property in British Columbia; and the company's ongoing exploration in Peru.

"As the company continues to advance Committee Bay exploration plans, several catalysts are pending including Homestake Ridge drill results, Gibson MacQuoid surface results and continuous news from the company's highly active Sombrero project, where major copper-gold skarn and porphyry targets have recently been identified," said Auryn Resources Chairman Ivan Bebek.

–SHANE LASLEY