Banyan Gold Hits 6m of 4.4 G/T Gold and Identifies Replacement-Style Mineralization at Hyland

Calgary, Alberta (FSCwire) - Banyan Gold Corp. (“Banyan”) is pleased to announce the assay results from the 2015 Hyland Gold Project exploration program. These results confirm Banyan’s hypothesis the Hyland Gold Project hosts carbonate replacement-style gold and base-metals mineralization, akin to ATAC Resources Rau Trend, further north in the Selwyn Basin.   Further, as part of the 2015 exploration program, a highly successful surface trench program was conducted on the Montrose Ridge Zone, which lies approximately 8 kilometres from the 2015 drillholes.

“Banyan’s technical team continues to add value through discovery and step out drilling demonstrating solid potential for resource expansion at the Hyland Gold Project”, commented Mark Ayranto, Chairman. “Banyan had postulated, and now confirmed, carbonate replacement style mineralization exists on the Project through the discovery of previously unrecognized lead, zinc and copper mineralization at Hyland. Moreover, the 2015 discovery at Montrose Ridge substantively adds to the Hyland Gold District Scale concept and importantly validates Banyan’s exploration concepts as credible and the program was very effectively executed.”

Drill Results

The 2015 Hyland drill program was designed to drill test a deep-seated, carbonate-replacement style and listric fault related gold mineralization model theorized to exist on the Hyland Gold Project.  Drilling was successful in:

1.  Interception of a mineralized lower limestone unit of the Hyland Group Formation metasedimentary package.
2. Penetration through a fault zone within the north-south oriented Quartz Lake Corridor which is interpreted to represent a large-scale, structural control to gold mineralization. 

The Hyland Gold Project 2015 Mineral exploration program was completed during August 2015 and consisted of 739.85 metres of HQ and ND diamond drilling over three (3) drillholes within the mineralized Camp Zone. 

Highlights from the drill program of the 2015 Hyland Exploration program include:

Drillhole HY-15-45:  31.08m of 0.4 g/t Au from 2.45 to 33.53m  - including 13.43m of 0.62 g/t Au from 2.45 to 15.88m.  Elevated base metals were encountered at depth in this hole, beneath the fault zone as well, including a 870 ppm Cu complete with an overlimits (>200 g/t) Ag, 1.14m interval. 

Drillhole HY-15-46:  76.34m of 0.32 g/t Au from 75.56 to 151.90m - including 20.95m of 0.41 g/t Au from  73.88 to 94.83m and 35.9m of 0.36 g/t Au from 116 to 151.9m. 

Drillhole HY-15-47:  88.7m of 0.24 g/t Au from 35.52 to 135.22m which includes intervals of 29.82m of 0.33 g/t Au from 45.52 to 75.34m and 23.68m of 0.37 g/t Au from 110.54 to 134.22m.  This hole, and HY-15-46, illustrates a consistently and pervasively gold mineralized interval complete with elevated base metals at depth. Hole HY-15-47 intercepted an anomalously high interval of 2000 ppm* Pb from 94.7 to 127.43m. 

*2000ppm requires further definition as 3 of the intervals (5.23 m of the interval) returned >10,000ppm Pb and will require overlimits analyses to more accurately define the grades.  Overlimits Zinc assays were returned from these intervals as well.

Trench Results

The Montrose Ridge target has been discovered and tested by Banyan previously and this season’s discovery confirms the existence of a District-Scale mineralizing system at work at Hyland.  Montrose Trench highlights include 6m of 4.4 g/t Au from 0-6m in Trench MT-15-01 including 2m of 13.1 g/t Au from 4-6m.  Trench MT-15-01 also returned 24 m of 0.47 g/t Au from 18 to 42m, including 6m of 1.3 g/t Au from 36-42m.  Trench MT-15-01 was 42 m long, however only 30m were sampled due to overburden conditions from 6m to 18m.  Of the 193 samples collected and analyzed as part of the 2015 trench program, assays ranged from trace to 13.1 g/t Au and averaged 0.19 g/t Au.   Selected chip and channel samples from the other trenches completed included 2.25 g/t Au, 1.35 g/t Au, 2.9 g/t Au and 1.3 g/t Au. 

The 2015 Montrose Ridge trenches were designed to cross-cut interpreted strike of the controlling structures as closely as possible.  In all cases the trenches remain open in all directions with potential for hosting gold-mineralized structures.  In total approximately 380m of strike extent of the Montrose Ridge zone was tested in the 2015 program.  A soil-geochemical XRF study was conducted co-incident with the trench program and a striking bismuth-gold relationship was established from this study, and subsequently validated through chemical analyses.  The 2015 XRF study also helped to fine-tune final trench locations, and provided valuable elemental relationships which will be applied to all exploration efforts going forward.

This, the first detailed rock sampling program at Montrose established a lack of a silver association with the Montrose Ridge gold mineralization.  This is similar to the Cuz Zone, 2.5 km to the South of Montrose and fits with management’s interpretation that both Cuz and Montrose represent a separate mineralized system from the Hyland Main Zone system, where an approximate 1:4 gold-silver ratio exits.   This definition of repeated, multi-phased gold mineralization events on the Hyland Project further builds out the District-Scale gold system Banyan is working to demonstrate.

Maps and visual aids in support of the Hyland 2015 exploration program will be made available at www.banyangold.com.

Mineralization Comments

To date, Hyland exploration has concentrated on Sediment hosted, structurally hosted gold mineralization and has culminated in the delineation of the Main Zone as well as the more recent discoveries at Cuz and Montrose Ridge.

2015 drilling intersected a zone of carbonate replacement style gold, lead, zinc and copper mineralization hosted within a what is interpreted to be a broad North-South zone within the Quartz-Lake Structural Cooridor. The geometry of the mineralized system has yet to be fully understood, but is postulated to be spatially related to a listric fault, or fault zones within the lower limestone horizons of the Paleozoic Hyland Group.

The pyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, galena, bismuthinite and native copper mineralization intersected in the  2015 drilling are consistent with carbonate replacement style mineralization and have become a new focus for exploration at Hyland.

Atac Resources Rau Trend exhibits similar intrusion related, sediment hosted and replacement style gold mineralization over extensive strike lengths within the package of Hyland Group lithologies further to the north in the Selwyn Basin. Banyan believes the Hyland Gold deposit to be similar to Atac's discoveries and this year's discovery of base metals mineralization within Hyland’s lower limestone formation is the first step to proving up the district mineralization potential of the Hyland Gold Property.

This News Release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, B.Sc., P.Geo., Vice President Exploration for Banyan Gold, is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Analytical Method
 

All exploration drill core and trench samples from the 2015 Hyland Gold Project were analyzed at Bureau Veritas Commodities Canada Ltd. (formerly Acme Analytical Laboratories) of Vancouver, B.C. utilizing the MA-200, 45-element analytical package with FA430 Fire Assay with Gravimetric finish for gold on all samples. All core samples were split on-site at Banyan’s Hyland Gold exploration camp and shipped to the Laboratory’s preparation facility in Whitehorse, YT where samples were sorted and crushed to appropriate particle size (pulp) and representatively split to a smaller size for shipment to the lab’s Vancouver analysis facility. A system of standards was implemented in the 2015 exploration program and was monitored as chemical assay data became available.

About Banyan Gold

Banyan is a gold exploration and development company whose flagship property, the Hyland Gold Project (“Hyland”), is approximately 70km NE of Watson Lake, Yukon, along the southeast end of the Tintina Gold Belt. The Main Zone gold Inferred Resource, at a 0.6 g/t gold equivalent ("AuEq") cutoff, hosts a NI 43-101 compliant Resource of 12,503,994 tonnes containing 361,692 ounces gold at 0.9 g/t and 2,248,948 ounces silver at 5.59 g/t for a combined gold and silver 396,468 ounces gold equivalent. Based on the success of previous exploration and numerous untested drill ready targets Banyan Gold management foresees potential for a significant regional exploration at Hyland.

Banyan trades on the TSX-Venture Exchange under the symbol “BYN”. For more information please visit the corporate website at www.banyangold.com or contact Banyan Gold.

ON BEHALF OF THE BANYAN GOLD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(signed) "Mark Ayranto"

Mark Ayranto

President and Chief Executive Officer

For more information, please contact:

Mark Ayranto

Tel: (604) 648-8450

Email: mayranto@banyangold.com

The TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange) has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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