- Aurion is getting to work on its high-grade surface discovery, Aamurusko
- The company has a joint venture with mining major B2Gold at Kutuvuoma
- The management and board own over 17% of the company
What Aurion Resources does:
Aurion Resources (TSX-V:AU) Ltd. (CVE:AU) is a Canadian exploration company which acquires early-stage precious metals exploration opportunities.
The gold explorer has a portfolio of properties in Finland, including its flagship Risti and Launi projects, as well as joint venture agreements with Kinross Gold (TSE:K) (NYSE:KGC), B2Gold Corp (TSE:BTO) and Strategic Resources in the Nordic country.
Aurion, headquartered in St. John's, a city on Newfoundland island off Canada's Atlantic coast, has the 16,197 hectare Risti Project in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in northern Finland. Aurion acquired the first exploration licence in 2015. The Risti Project is located north-northwest of Sodankylä, Finland, which is a 40-minute drive along paved and all-weather gravel roads through rolling hills and forests. The company notes that favorable geology at the project has similarities to prolific gold-rich orogenic gold belts globally, specifically the Timmins camp, Kirkland Lake, and Red Lake in Canada.
Aurion’s wholly-owned Launi Project consists of two blocks, Launi East and Launi West with a combined area of 14,330 hectares. Both exploration licences were recently granted. Launi East has no record of prior exploration or mining licences. Paved highway and all-weather gravel roads provide easy access to the property which is located only 8-10 kilometres (km) south of the Risti Project and 10 km northwest of Sodankylä.
The management and board own over 17% of the company and are focused on creating shareholder value.
How is it doing:
Aurion chairman David Lotan told shareholders early in the year that the company is excited about its prospects in 2021.
In July, the company reported drill results from the Aamurusko discovery at its Risti property, which included 88.90 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 0.40 metres (m).
Aurion said the latest drilling has confirmed and extended gold mineralized structures at Aamurusko Main as well as intersected a new conglomerate-hosted gold setting in a previously untested area.
The company noted that to date, 80% of all holes drilled at Aamurusko have intersected gold exceeding 1.0 g/t gold, with 51% of drill holes over 3.0 g/t gold, and 31% over 10.0 g/t gold.
It added that zones of gold mineralization remain open in multiple directions at all target areas.
Aurion kicked off its new exploration program at Risti and Launi in April, saying at the time it had started a diamond drilling program as well as till sampling on the two properties designed to test a number of target areas including the high-grade Aamurusko and Notches prospects at Risti and the Hinge Zone prospect at Launi East.
The company is expected to drill a total 10,000 metres, which will continue for most of the coming year.
On the financial front, Aurion announced in February that it had completed its previously-announced marketed private placement and non-brokered private placement, raising gross proceeds of C$11,411,278.
The company said the net proceeds of the offering will be used for exploration activities on Aurion's 100%-owned properties in Finland, including drilling at the Risti Property, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
A total of 13,425,033 common shares of the company were issued in the offerings at a price of C$0.85 each.
Inflection points:
- Early results indicate potential for large, high grade mineralized systems
- Advancing shareholder interest and JV deals with major gold companies like Kinross, Newmont and B2Gold
- Attracting a cornerstone investor in Eric Sprott who has invested C$5 million
What the boss says:
Aurion Resources (TSX-V:AU) chairman David Lotan recently told shareholders: “The gold-producing industry appears to be finally emerging from a prolonged period of fiscal discipline, balance sheet repair and asset divestiture. The sector is now rapidly consolidating and moving towards a growth-seeking phase.”
He added: “With a growing high-grade surface discovery and a dominant land position in an emerging gold camp – we believe that Aurion is ideally positioned.”
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com
