Aurion Resources (TSX-V:AU) Ltd reported that its joint venture (JV) partner and mining major B2Gold Corp has drilled a new discovery, which sits just 1.3 kilometre (km) west of Rupert Resources' 4 million ounce Ikkari discovery along the Kutuvuoma-Ikkari corridor in northern Finland.
The results come from the first three holes of the ongoing 5,000 metre (m) drilling campaign. One hole showed 1.84 grams per ton (g/t) gold over 52.4 m from 85.3m depth, which included 2.61 g/t of the yellow metal over 21.2m from a depth of 95.2m. Another hole hit 1.42 g/t gold (Au) over 30.6m from 34.2m depth.
"We are very excited by the discovery of broad zones of consistent gold mineralization in the first holes drilled into a new target area within the Kutuvuoma-Ikkari corridor," said Aurion CEO Matti Talikka in a statement.
"B2's DDH-IKK21003, assaying 1.84 g/t Au over 52.4 m is comparable to Rupert's DDH-120038 (1.5 g/t Au over 54 m) deemed by Rupert as the discovery hole for Ikkari, the 3.95 Moz deposit less than 1.5 km away," he added. "This new discovery further validates the potential for the existence of multiple economic gold deposits along the 8 km structural corridor within the JV property."
READ: Aurion Resources reports that B2Gold is set to lift its stake in Finland JV to 70%
As reported on October 18, 2021, Aurion revealed that B2Gold Corp was to acquire a further 19% of the pair's JV taking its total interest in the project up to 70% after exercising an option.
The Aurion-B2Gold Corp joint venture covers an area of around 331 square kilometres (sq km) along the major crustal-scale Sirkka Shear Zone in the Central Lapland greenstone belt.
The JV already includes a number of discoveries, such as Kutuvuoma (16.47 g/t gold over 11.0m), Soretiavuoma (48 g/t gold over 1.1m), Sinermä (0.54 g/t gold over 40.2m), Kiekerömaa (5.8 g/t gold over 5m) and Kettukuusikko (4.33 g/t gold over 20.4m).
B2Gold has told Aurion it aims to sole fund all programs and budgets until a feasibility study is completed as required under the remaining option to acquire an additional 5% stake, subject to its right to terminate sole funding at any time.
B2Gold's planned 5,000m drilling program began in August this year and is currently around halfway through with results received for the first three holes (total 775.1m).
In addition to the ongoing diamond core drilling program, the planned exploration activities for 2021 include geophysical surveys, trenching and base of till sampling. The total JV budget for 2021 is approximately C$6 million, Aurion noted.
Aurion Resources is a Canadian exploration company that acquires early-stage precious metals exploration opportunities. It has a portfolio of properties in Finland, including its flagship Risti and Launi projects, as well as joint venture agreements with Kinross Gold, B2Gold Corp and strategic resources in Finland
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com