Banyan Drills 116.4 Metres Of 0.75 G/T Gold, Including Multiple High-Grade Intervals, At AurMac Property, Yukon
VANCOUVER, August 17, 2020 - Banyan Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "Banyan") (TSX-V: BYN) is pleased to release, the first analytical results of diamond drilling from the 2020 exploration program at the Airstrip Zone, AurMac Property, Yukon.
Highlights of the Airstrip Zone drill results to date include:
- 0.63 g/t Au over 46.0 m from 88.1 m in MQ-20-66
- 0.75 g/t Au over 116.4 m from 20.2 m in MQ-20-71
- 0.52 g/t Au over 38.7 m from 37.5 m in MQ-20-75
- 0.75 g/t Au over 32.5 m from 32.5 m in MQ-20-76
- 0.82 g/t Au over 20.5 m from 84.5 m in MQ-20-77
- 0.64 g/t Au over 65.2 m from 5.8 m in MQ-20-78
"These results not only demonstrate the continuity of the AurMac gold deposit, but the long intervals will add meaningfully to the Resource. Grades of up to 19.50 g/t Au have been reported to date as well as multiple intercepts over 3.00 g/t Au", stated Tara Christie, President and CEO, "We continue to methodically execute the AurMac exploration program based on the application of our geological and resource models. We plan to drill late into the fall."
The results received to date have demonstrated a continuity of gold grade within the projected mineralized zone of the Airstrip Deposit, on strike and down dip. Long intervals of Airstrip style grade (average ~ 0.5 g/t Au) have been intersected repeatedly within these undrilled portions of the deposit and will serve to add to the geological and resource models. Importantly, these holes have extended the strike length of the mineral zone by ~300m to the west and down dip within the conceptual pit limits used to constrain the 2020 Airstrip mineral resource estimation.
High Grade Highlights from the Airstrip Zone include:
- 8.33 g/t Au over 1.4 m in Hole MQ-20-66
- 3.22 g/t Au over 0.9 m in Hole MQ-20-70
- 19.5 g/t Au over 0.7 m in Hole MQ-20-71
- 3.13 g/t Au over 1.6 m in Hole MQ-20-71
- 19.4 g/t Au over 0.2 m in Hole MQ-20-71
- 3.94 g/t Au over 1.0 m in Hole MQ-20-71
- 7.93 g/t Au over 1.1 m in Hole MQ-20-71
- 3.07 g/t Au over 0.3 m in Hole MQ-20-74
- 4.35 g/t Au over 0.8 m in Hole MQ-20-75
- 4.16 g/t Au over 0.3 m in Hole MQ-20-75
- 8.64 /t Au over 1.5 m in Hole MQ-20-76
- 7.11 g/t Au over 1.0 m in Hole MQ-20-77
- 3.40 g/t Au over 1.5 m in Hole MQ-20-78
The Airstrip Zone is an on and near-surface gold deposit open to resource expansion to the east, west and downdip and represents an open-pit mineable bulk tonnage target that is advantaged by existing transportation infrastructure (main Yukon government highway system), the all-season road to Victoria Gold's Eagle mine, three-phase power lines and cellular communications. At a 0.20 g/t Au cut-off, the pit-constrained, inferred mineral resources are 46.0 million tonnes at an average gold grade of 0.524 g/t for a total of 774,926 ounces of gold. (See Table 3).
The 2020 phase 1 program included 3,578 meters (18 holes) on the Airstrip Zone, with results pending for over half of the holes. Table 1, below summarizes the assay results received from Banyan's Airstrip Zone.
Table 1: Summary Table of 2020 Diamond Drill Analytical Results
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval* (m) | Au (g/t) |
| MQ-20-65 | 118.5 | 217.1 | 98.6 | 0.24 |
| Including | 121.4 | 122.2 | 0.8 | 2.97 |
| Including | 133.7 | 135.0 | 1.3 | 1.26 |
| Including | 137.3 | 137.8 | 0.5 | 1.03 |
| MQ-20-66 | 88.1 | 134.1 | 46.0 | 0.63 |
| Including | 111.0 | 111.9 | 0.9 | 2.02 |
| Including | 122.5 | 123.9 | 1.4 | 8.33 |
| Including | 123.9 | 124.9 | 1.0 | 1.84 |
| Including | 133.0 | 134.1 | 1.1 | 1.69 |
| MQ-20-70 | 17.9 | 45.7 | 27.8 | 0.45 |
| Including | 20.3 | 21.4 | 1.1 | 2.40 |
| Including | 40.1 | 41.9 | 1.8 | 1.26 |
| And | 65.5 | 83.7 | 18.2 | 0.40 |
| Including | 77.5 | 78.4 | 0.9 | 3.22 |
| And | 104.1 | 110.1 | 6.0 | 0.64 |
| Including | 104.1 | 105.8 | 1.7 | 1.14 |
| Including | 108.7 | 110.1 | 1.4 | 1.28 |
| And | 128.8 | 136.0 | 7.2 | 0.64 |
| Including | 134.1 | 136.0 | 1.9 | 1.91 |
| MQ-20-71 | 20.2 | 136.6 | 116.4 | 0.75 |
| Including | 20.2 | 26.8 | 6.6 | 1.44 |
| Including | 40.2 | 41.8 | 1.6 | 1.80 |
| Including | 51.7 | 54.6 | 2.9 | 2.77 |
| Including | 68.2 | 68.9 | 0.7 | 19.5 |
| Including | 68.9 | 69.5 | 0.6 | 2.32 |
| Including | 70.8 | 72.4 | 1.6 | 3.13 |
| Including | 73.7 | 73.9 | 0.2 | 19.4 |
| Including | 85.7 | 86.7 | 1.0 | 1.00 |
| Including | 92.3 | 93.3 | 1.0 | 3.94 |
| Including | 98.1 | 99.1 | 1.0 | 1.39 |
| Including | 109.4 | 110.9 | 1.5 | 1.39 |
| Including | 112.4 | 114.1 | 1.7 | 1.03 |
| Including | 114.1 | 115.2 | 1.1 | 7.93 |
| Including | 119.3 | 120.8 | 1.5 | 2.29 |
| Including | 135.1 | 136.6 | 1.5 | 1.45 |
| MQ-20-74 | 8.9 | 12.5 | 3.6 | 0.42 |
| And | 23.0 | 46.0 | 23.0 | 0.64 |
| Including | 25.9 | 26.9 | 1.0 | 1.46 |
| Including | 34.0 | 35.9 | 1.9 | 2.54 |
| Including | 43.1 | 44.5 | 1.4 | 1.00 |
| And | 61.0 | 95.0 | 34.0 | 0.51 |
| Including | 67.1 | 67.4 | 0.3 | 3.07 |
| Including | 79.5 | 82.8 | 3.3 | 2.85 |
| And | 136.2 | 143.0 | 6.8 | 0.57 |
| Including | 136.2 | 137.2 | 1.0 | 1.00 |
| Including | 140.0 | 141.5 | 1.5 | 1.17 |
| MQ-20-75 | 37.5 | 76.2 | 38.7 | 0.52 |
| Including | 43.0 | 44.0 | 1.0 | 1.15 |
| Including | 58.6 | 60.0 | 1.4 | 1.41 |
| Including | 66.6 | 67.4 | 0.8 | 4.35 |
| Including | 72.2 | 72.5 | 0.3 | 4.16 |
| Including | 75.2 | 77.5 | 2.3 | 1.74 |
| MQ-20-76 | 18.0 | 50.5 | 32.5 | 0.75 |
| Including | 41.0 | 42.5 | 1.5 | 1.69 |
| Including | 46.1 | 47.5 | 1.4 | 1.06 |
| Including | 49.0 | 50.5 | 1.5 | 8.64 |
| And | 76.2 | 85.0 | 8.8 | 0.38 |
| Including | 82.0 | 83.5 | 1.5 | 1.11 |
| MQ-20-77 | 9.0 | 51.4 | 42.4 | 0.45 |
| Including | 9.0 | 10.5 | 1.5 | 1.80 |
| Including | 18.0 | 21.0 | 3.0 | 1.50 |
| Including | 35.5 | 37.0 | 1.5 | 1.02 |
| And | 84.5 | 105.0 | 20.5 | 0.82 |
| Including | 96.5 | 99.5 | 3.0 | 1.27 |
| Including | 100.3 | 101.8 | 1.5 | 2.32 |
| Including | 104.0 | 105.0 | 1.0 | 7.11 |
| And | 135.8 | 139.3 | 3.5 | 1.20 |
| MQ-20-78 | 5.8 | 71.0 | 65.2 | 0.64 |
| Including | 21.5 | 24.5 | 3.0 | 1.38 |
| Including | 26.0 | 27.5 | 1.5 | 3.40 |
| Including | 40.0 | 41.5 | 1.5 | 2.22 |
| Including | 50.5 | 52.0 | 1.5 | 1.84 |
| Including | 64.0 | 65.5 | 1.5 | 1.40 |
| Including | 68.5 | 71.0 | 2.5 | 2.20 |
*True widths are considered to be greater than 90% of the reported intervals
Sections and further analysis of these holes will be provided when complete results from all adjacent holes are available. The time to receive analytical results has been longer than expected due to precautions and staffing related to COVID at the laboratory and compounded with the high volume of samples being submitted to the Yukon preparation laboratory and main Vancouver analytical laboratory facilities. While the laboratories are working to improve turnaround times, with the drill program progressing into the fall, Banyan anticipates the current average turnaround time of two months to continue. Results from additional holes will be reported when full hole results are available and quality control data has been verified. There are no results pending for Hole MQ-20-069 as the drillhole was abandoned due to ground conditions.
Exploration Update
The Company has completed over 25 diamond holes totalling over 5,000 metres thus far this season on the AurMac property. Subsequent to the Airstrip Zone phase of drilling, the Powerline Zone has been the focus of exploration efforts, with over 1,400 metres drilled in seven holes to date. Assays remain pending for these holes.
Analytical Method
All drill core splits collected from the 2020 AurMac program were analyzed at Bureau Veritas Minerals of Vancouver, B.C. utilizing the aqua regia digestion ICP-MS 36-element AQ200 analytical package with FA450 50-gram Fire Assay with AAS finish for gold on all samples. All core samples were split on-site at Banyan's core processing facilities. Once split, half samples were placed back in the core boxes with the other half of split samples sealed in poly bags with one part of a three-part sample tag inserted within. Samples were delivered by Banyan personnel or a dedicated expediter to the Bureau Veritas, Whitehorse preparatory laboratory where samples are prepared and then shipped to Bureau Veritas's Analytical laboratory in Vancouver, B.C. for pulverization and final chemical analysis. A robust system of standards, ¼ core duplicates and blanks was implemented in the 2020 exploration drilling program and was monitored as chemical assay data became available.
Upcoming Events:
Upcoming events and registration details for them are listed on the Company website and include:
Webinars:
August 20th, 2020 - Hosted by Invest Yukon and 6ix
September 22nd , 2020 - Hosted by Adelaide Capital
Mines and Money- Virtual Conference - August 31- September 1, 2020
Precious Metals Summit Beaver Creek, Virtual Conference - September 15-17, 2020
Qualified Person
Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, is a "qualified person" as defined under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release.
COVID-19 Update
Banyan has taken proactive measures to protect the health and safety of our employees and communities from COVID 19 and exploration activities in 2020 will have additional safety measures in place, following and exceeding all the recommendations made by the Yukon's Chief Medical Officer.
About Banyan
Banyan's primary asset AurMac is adjacent to Victoria Gold's new Eagle Gold Mine, in Canada's Yukon Territory, which announced commercial production on July 1, 2020. The AurMac initial resource of 903,945 oz. Au (see Table 3 below) was announced in May 2020. Our major strategic shareholders include Osisko Gold Royalties, Sprott Funds, Alexco Resource Corp., and Victoria Gold Corp.. Banyan is focused on gold exploration projects that have the geological potential, size of land package and proximity to infrastructure that is advantageous for a mineral project to have potential to become a mine. Our Yukon based projects both fit this model and our objective is to gain shareholder value by advancing projects in our pipeline.
The 92 sq. km AurMac Property lies 30km from Victoria Gold's Eagle Project and adjacent to Alexco 's Keno Hill Silver District and is highly prospective for structurally controlled, intrusion related gold-silver mineralization. The property is located adjacent to the main Yukon highway and just off the main access road to the Victoria Gold open-pit, heap leach Eagle Gold mine. The AurMac Property benefits from a 3-phase powerline, existing Yukon Energy Corp. switching power station and cell phone coverage. Banyan has optioned the properties from Victoria Gold and Alexco respectively with a right to earn up to a 100% subject to royalties.
The 2020 Initial Mineral Resource Estimate prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") guidelines for the AurMac Property is 903,945 ounces of gold. It is a near surface, road accessible pit constrained Mineral Resource contained in two near/on-surface deposits: The Airstrip and Powerline deposits. The Mineral Resource is summarized in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Pit-Constrained Inferred Mineral Resources at a 0.2 g/t Au Cut-Off - AurMac Property
| Deposit | Classification | Tonnage Tonnes | Average Au Grade g/t | Au Content oz. |
| Airstrip | Inferred | 45,997,911 | 0.524 | 774,926 |
| Powerline | Inferred | 6,578,609 | 0.610 | 129,019 |
| Total Combined | Inferred | 52,576,520 | 0.535 | 903,945 |
Notes to Table 1:
- The effective date for the Mineral Resource is May 25, 2020.
- Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, changes in global gold markets or other relevant issues.
- The CIM definitions were followed for classification of Mineral Resources. The quantity and grade of reported inferred Mineral Resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred Mineral Resources as an indicated Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured Mineral Resource category.
- Mineral Resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.2 g/t Au, using a US$/CAN$ exchange rate of 0.75 and constrained within an open pit shell optimized with the Lerchs-Grossman algorithm to constrain the Mineral Resources with the following estimated parameters: gold price of US$1,500/ounce, US$1.50/t mining cost, US$2.00/t processing cost, US$2.50/t G+A, 80% heap leach recoveries, and 45° pit slope[1]
- Mineral Resource Estimate prepared in accordance with 43-101 guidelines by Marc Jutras, P.Eng., M.A.Sc., Principal, Ginto Consulting Inc, with technical report filed July 7,2020.
The Hyland Gold Project, located 70km NE of Watson Lake, Yukon, along the southeast end of the Tintina Gold Belt is a sediment hosted, structurally controlled, intrusion related gold deposit, with a large land package (over 125 sq. km), with the resource contained in the Main Zone area (900x600m) daylighting at surface and numerous other known surface gold targets. The Main Zone oxide zone is amenable to heap leach open pit mining, with column leach recoveries of 86%. The project has an existing gravel access road.
Table 4 shows the Hyland Main Zone Indicated Gold Resource Estimate, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, at a 0.3 g/t gold equivalent cutoff, contains 8.6 million tonnes grading 0.85 g/t AuEq for 236,000 AuEq ounces with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 10.8 million tonnes grading 0.83 g/t AuEq for 288,000 AuEq ounces. NI 43-101 prepared by Robert Carne, Allan Armitage and Paul Gray on May 1, 2018.
Table 4: Hyland Main Zone Indicated Gold Resource Estimate
| Cut-off Grade (AuEq g/t) | In situ Tonnes | Au | Ag | AuEq | |||
| Grade (g/t) | Ozs | Grade (g/t) | Ozs | Grade (g/t) | Ozs | ||
| Indicated | |||||||
| 0.3 | 8,637,000 | 0.78 | 216,000 | 7.04 | 1,954,000 | 0.85 | 236,000 |
| Inferred | |||||||
| 0.3 | 10,784,000 | 0.77 | 266,000 | 5.32 | 1,845,000 | 0.83 | 288,000 |
(1) Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate.
(2) Mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.3 g/t AuEq. AuEq grade is based on $1,350.00/oz Au, $17.00/oz Ag and assumes a 100% recovery. The AuEq calculation does not apply any adjustment factors for difference in metallurgical recoveries of gold and silver. This information can only be derived from definitive metallurgical testing which has yet to be completed.
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 the Company.
ON BEHALF OF Banyan Gold Corp.
(signed) "Tara Christie"
Tara Christie
President & CEO
For more information, please contact:
Tara Christie
Tel: (888) 629-0444
Email: tchristie@banyangold.com
David Rutt
Tel: (888) 629-0444
Email: drutt@banyangold.com
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release contains forward-looking information, which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, Banyan's objectives, goals or future plans, statements regarding exploration expectations, exploration or development plans and mineral resource estimates. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, uncertainties inherent in resource estimates , capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, enhanced risks inherent to conducting business in any jurisdiction, and those risks set out in Banyan's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Banyan believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Banyan disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.
Statements in this news release regarding Banyan which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations.
SOURCE: Banyan Gold Corp.
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