Aurania Resources Ltd (TSX-V:ARU, OTCQB:AUIAF) has revealed that its new head of corporate social responsibility Carolina Lasso Amaya has negotiated a key access agreement for its Lost Cities-Cutucu project in southeastern Ecuador.
The explorer has, for the first time, now been granted access to the 'Kim' community in the southern part of the firm's concessions and possibly the site of one of the 'Lost Cities', namely the Logroño de los Caballeros, a gold mining settlement founded in around 1562 by the Spanish conquistadors, the company told investors.
Consultancy firm Metron Inc. of Reston, Virginia, USA, previously used Bayesian data analysis to generate probability maps of the position of this 'Lost City' and forecasted this as a potential location.
"Metron incorporated historical documents, and clues from geography and geology into a 'search matrix', and then through statistical algorithms produced a map with statistical likelihoods the settlement would be in specific areas. Kim will be a focus of work going forward," said Aurania.
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Meanwhile, Lasso Amaya has replaced the firm's former head of corporate social responsibility. She has been the director of the Step Forward Foundation (Dar el Paso Adelante) in Ecuador for over two years and has extensive knowledge of the communities in the Cordillera de Cutucu.
"During her time with the Foundation, she has initiated a number of clean water projects, nutritional projects, and the extremely popular 'Warastai' soccer tournament between villages. Such activities are important in gaining and maintaining social license to operate with Aurania's stakeholders," noted the firm.
On the pandemic, Aurania also noted that the number of daily new COVID-19 infected cases in the Province of Morona-Santiago where Lost Cities-Cutucu lies has now dropped in half from a month ago.
"The Red Alert in Ecuador has not yet been lifted but there is optimism the pandemic is abating," it said.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com