Aurania appoints Senior Advisor and Provides update on Awacha Target

Dr. Steve Garwin, B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD, FAusIMM, FAIG, FSEG, has over 34 years of experience as an exploration geologist and is one of the leading authorities on porphyry, epithermal and Carlin‐style mineralization in the circum‐Pacific region and applies methods of structural geology and geochemistry towards gold and copper exploration. He has worked with more than 35 exploration and mining companies in over 20 countries.

He has previously worked with Newmont Mining for ten years, including two years as Chief Geologist in Nevada, USA. He has been involved with several exploration and mining projects including the Batu Hijau copper-gold porphyry deposit (where he completed his PhD), the Indo Muro, Way Linggo and Tembang epithermal gold‐silver vein systems, and the Mesel sediment‐hosted gold deposit in Indonesia; mines of the Carlin Trend and Battle Mountain district in Nevada; the Whistler gold-copper porphyry deposit in Alaska; and the Santa Barbara gold‐porphyry deposit in south-eastern Ecuador.

Dr. Garwin has been instrumental in the discovery of the world-class, Alpala porphyry copper-gold deposit in the Cascabel project, north-western Ecuador and the implementation of state‐of‐the‐art detailed mapping and logging strategies for SolGold Plc. He is also part of the team that recently discovered the Porvenir (Cacharposa) copper-gold porphyry deposit in the Cordillera del Condor in south-eastern Ecuador. He has played a leading role in the recognition and delineation of the copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposits at Cortadera, Chile.  He has been an adjunct research fellow at the Centre for Exploration Targeting at the University of Western Australia since 2001 and was appointed a visiting fellow at the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Garwin has authored and co-authored more than 40 scientific papers and abstracts.

Steve’s initial findings for the Company’s Awacha porphyry target area (Figure 1) indicate: 

• Jurassic dioritic sills and dikes hosted by black shale, feldspathic sandstone and meta-basalt.
• A low-grade anomalous copper in soil (> 50 ppm Cu) and rock (> 200 ppm Cu) that extends 7 km (north-south) by 1-2 km (east-west) through the western part of the prospect.
• Hydrothermal alteration styles that range from chlorite-propylitic in the east to illitic, phyllic (quartz-sericite) and minor potassic (biotite) in the west.
• PIMA portable infrared spectrometer results indicate abundant illite (of high-crystallinity) and some kaolinite in the western part of the area.
• Discrete magnetic highs and a broad zone of conductivity characterize the Awacha prospect area.
• Hydrothermal alteration and metal assay results are consistent with the exposure of the intermediate- to upper-levels of a porphyry system.

Geological mapping and sampling continue at Awacha, where a chalcopyrite-bearing stream-boulder recently returned 2.2% Cu.  Dr. Garwin will continue to examine and appraise results as they are returned from the field, as well as review the Company’s portfolio of other porphyry prospects. 

Sample Analysis & Quality Assurance / Quality Control (“QAQC”)

Laboratories: The samples were prepared for analysis at MS Analytical (“MSA”) in Cuenca, Ecuador, and the analyses were done in Vancouver, Canada.

Sample preparation: Soil samples consisted of approximately one kilogram of clay from the iron-rich “B” horizon at each sample point. The soil samples were dried and subsequently screened through 80 mesh (using screens with apertures of approximately 0.18 millimetres).  A 250 gram (“g”) split of the material that passed through 80 mesh was pulverized to 85% passing 0.075mm and was packaged for shipment to the analytical facility.

The rock samples were jaw-crushed to 10 mesh (crushed material passes through a mesh with apertures of 2 millimetres (“mm”)), from which a one-kilogram sub-sample was taken.  The sub-sample was crushed to a grain size of 0.075mm and a 200 gram (“g”) split was set aside for analysis.

Analytical procedure:  A 0.5g split of the -0.075mm fraction of soil samples underwent digestion with aqua regia, and the liquid was analyzed for 48 elements by ICP-MS. Apart from being analyzed by ICP-MS, gold was also analyzed by fire assay with an ICP-AES finish.

Approximately 0.25g of rock pulp underwent four-acid digestion and analysis for 48 elements by ICP-MS.  For the over-limit samples, those that had a grade of greater than 1% copper, zinc and lead, and 100g/t silver, 0.4 grams of pulp underwent digestion in four acids and the resulting liquid was diluted and analyzed by ICP-MS.

QAQC: Aurania personnel inserted a certified standard pulp sample, alternating with a field blank, at approximate 20 sample intervals in all sample batches. Aurania’s analysis of results from its independent QAQC samples showed the batches reported on above, lie within acceptable limits.  In addition, the labs reported that the analyses had passed their internal QAQC tests.

Qualified Person

The geological information contained in this news release has been verified and approved by Jean-Paul Pallier, MSc.  Mr. Pallier is a designated EurGeol by the European Federation of Geologists and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators.

About Aurania

Aurania is a mineral exploration company engaged in the identification, evaluation, acquisition and exploration of mineral property interests, with a focus on precious metals and copper in South America.  Its flagship asset, The Lost Cities – Cutucu Project, is located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountain range of southeastern Ecuador.

Information on Aurania and technical reports are available at www.aurania.com and www.sedar.com, as well as on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/auranialtd/, Twitter at  https://twitter.com/auranialtd, and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/aurania-resources-ltd-.

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