VANCOUVER, Feb. 5, 2015 /CNW/ - Auryn Resources Inc.
(TSX-V: AUG, "Auryn"), and North Country Gold Corp. (NCG:
TSXV, "North Country") jointly announce that they have signed a
letter of intent (the "LOI") whereby Auryn can earn a 51% interest
in North Country's Committee Bay Project in Nunavut, Canada. This mineral project includes
184,481 acres situated along the Committee Bay Greenstone Belt (the
"CBGB"). The CBGB occurs approximately 180 km NE of Agnico Eagle
Mines' Meadowbank mine and extends more than 300 km northeast.
Shawn Wallace, President and CEO
of Auryn stated, "We are very pleased to have successfully formed a
working relationship with North Country. The opportunity to
leverage the large amount of quality exploration work completed to
date in order to exploit the exploration potential of this highly
productive, prolific high grade gold district presents an excellent
opportunity for value creation that will benefit both companies'
shareholders. Entering into this agreement also signifies Auryn's
first step at realizing its aspirations of becoming a formidable
high grade gold exploration and development company in the
Americas."
Brian Budd, President North
Country stated, "We are pleased that Auryn shares North Country's
enthusiasm for the unequalled investment opportunity offered by our
high-grade Committee Bay Gold Project and look forward to creating
significant shareholder value together by applying our combined
technical and market expertise to advance the Project toward an
economic outcome."
Under the terms of the LOI, Auryn shall have the option to spend
$6,000,000 over a 30 month period to
earn a 51% interest in the Committee Bay Project at which time the
parties will share costs pro rata in a customary joint venture. Of
this amount, $500,000 is a firm
commitment upon signing of a definitive option agreement (the
"Definitive Agreement"), which is to supersede the LOI. A technical
committee will be formed to jointly plan and oversee exploration
programs. Auryn will have ultimate discretion over the nature and
manner of exploration undertaken during the earn-in period and will
become the Operator of the ensuing joint venture, while North
Country will provide staff, equipment and consumables as the
Contractor to implement programs. Upon execution of the Definitive
Agreement, Auryn will purchase 10 million North Country common
shares at price of $0.05 each (the
"Auryn Placement") as part of a non-brokered private placement of
20 million common shares to be completed by North Country at a
price of $0.05 per share.
Completion of these transactions is subject to negotiation of
definitive agreements and TSX Venture Exchange approval.
The CBGB comprises one of a number of Archean aged greenstone
belts occurring within the larger Western
Churchill province of north-eastern Canada. The character and history of rock
packages, and the timing and nature of mineralization occurring
within the CBGB is considered to be equivalent to that of other
significant gold bearing Archean greenstones within the
Western Churchill Province, which
hosts deposits such as Meadowbank and Meliadine.
High-grade gold occurrences are found throughout the 300 km
strike length of the CBGB with the most significant being the Three
Bluffs deposit that contains resources as listed in the table
below: *(refer to NI43-101 report dated May
18, 2012 filed under North Country's profile at
www.sedar.com)
Class
|
Cut off grade (g/t
Au)
|
Tonnes (000
t)
|
Gold grade (g/t
Au)
|
Contained Au
(oz)
|
Indicated
|
3.5
|
1837.9
|
8.43
|
497,800
|
Inferred
|
3.5
|
2486.8
|
8.11
|
648,300
|
|
Cautionary Note
About Mineral Resources:
|
Mineral Resources
that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic
viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for
mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral
resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are
normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic
considerations applied to them that would enable them to be
categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that
these inferred mineral resources will be converted to measured and
indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral
reserves, once economic considerations are applied.
|
|
Numbers may not
add-up due to rounding.
|
|
Three Bluffs resource
estimations were completed by Roscoe Postle Associates Ltd in April
of 2012 (see North Country press release dated April 4th, 2012 and
the Technical Report on the Three Bluffs Project, Nunavut
Territory, Canada filed on Sedar, May 18, 2012).
|
|
There are no known
legal, political, environmental, or other risks that could
materially affect the potential development of the mineral
resources.
|
Three Bluffs deposit remains open for expansion both along
strike and at depth and is considered to have excellent exploration
upside to significantly increase the resource base within 5km of
the currently defined deposit trend.
Importantly, a high quality pipeline of targets exists within
the CBGB that are both drill ready and can quickly be advanced to
drill stage. The most advanced of these targets are
high-grade occurrences that have been defined through initial
diamond drill testing. These include the Inuk, West Plains,
and Raven targets that have the following drilling highlights
listed in the table below. Collectively, these advanced
targets demonstrate the potential to define additional high-grade
resources within the CBGB.
Prospect
|
Hole ID
|
Depth from
(m)
|
Depth to
(m)
|
Length (m)
|
Grade (g/t
Au)
|
Inuk
|
3I001B*1**
|
62.00
|
74.60
|
12.60
|
16.04
|
Inuk
|
07IN006*2**
|
67.00
|
78.00
|
11.00
|
11.18
|
West
Plains
|
05WP004*3**
|
56.85
|
65.58
|
8.73
|
14.76
|
West
Plains
|
06WP006*4**
|
109.00
|
117.00
|
8.00
|
13.14
|
Raven
|
05RV001*5**
|
102.38
|
107.79
|
5.49
|
12.60
|
Raven
|
05RV002*5**
|
38.81
|
41.24
|
2.43
|
36.22
|
|
* Please see press
releases dated 1September 2nd, 2003,
2September 5th, 2007, 3August
25th, 2005, 4October 6th 2006, and
5May 19th, 2005 filed on Sedar under Niblack
Mineral Development Inc.
|
|
** True width of
intercept unknown
|
Regional exploration targets will be developed through an
integrated geochemical, geophysical, and geological evaluation of
the extensive database developed across the CBGB by North Country
over the last 20 years. The database has highlighted 115 rock
samples grading greater than 5g/t Au that fall across nine broad
areas that have not had any follow up first pass drilling within a
200m radius.
About Auryn Resources: Auryn Resources is a
junior mining exploration company focused on delivering shareholder
value through project acquisition and development. The Company's
management team is highly experienced with an impressive track
record of success in the discovery, development, financing and
monetizing of mining assets for shareholders.
About North Country Gold Corp: North Country Gold's
vision is to build the company into a long term junior to mid-tier
gold producer through disciplined exploration and development of
high quality gold assets in stable safe mining jurisdictions.
The content of this news release and the Company's technical
disclosure has been reviewed and approved by Peter Kleespies, M.Sc., P.Geol., who is
the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43101 Standards of
Disclosure for Mineral Projects. A detailed description of
North Country Gold Corp.'s QA/QC program is provided on the
Company's website at www.northcountrygold.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed
"forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other
than statements of historical facts, that address exploration
drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that
the company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the
company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are
not guarantees of future performance and actual results or
developments may differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements
include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes,
continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability
to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to
third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding
mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and
continued availability of capital and financing, and general
economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned
that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance
and actual results or developments may differ materially from those
projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information
on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous
disclosure filings that are available at
www.sedar.com
SOURCE Auryn Resources Inc.