VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 9, 2020 / Banyan Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "Banyan") (TSXV:BYN) is pleased to announce the issuance of shares to Alexco Resource Corp. (400,000 shares) and Victoria Gold Corp (750,000 shares). With these issuances, the Company has now completed the expenditures and share issuance to earn 51% of both the underlying McQuesten and Aurex properties, which form the core of the AurMac property.
"We are pleased to be able to formally announce earning 51% of the underlying properties of the AurMac Project", stated Tara Christie, President and CEO, "from the initial 903,945 oz inferred resources announced in May (see Table 2 below) to the ongoing 10,000 metre drill program, it has been a very productive year at AurMac which has seen us extend the size of both the Airstrip and Powerline Zones and carry out an initial drill program on the Aurex Hill target. I am encouraged that this year's results continue to reinforce the near-surface gold potential of the larger AurMac Property."
Banyan has also incurred a further $1.2M on the McQuesten property and $0.2M on the Aurex property towards the exploration commitments of the 75% earn in on the properties, which require $1M in expenditures on the McQuesten property and $3.5M on the Aurex Property.
Issuance of Stock Options
The Board of Directors of the Company announces the issuance of 2,010,000 stock options to purchase 2,010,000 shares at an exercise price of $0.23 per share, expiring 5 years from the date of the grant.
The stock options are being issued to consultants, directors and officers of the Company in connection with the Corporation's annual compensation review process. The options were granted under and are subject to the terms and conditions of the Company's stock option plan.
Upcoming Events
AME Roundup 2021 – Virtual Presentation January 21, 2021
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 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 2 below) was announced in May 2020. Our major strategic shareholders include Osisko Gold Royalties, Sprott Funds, Alexco Resource Corp., and Victoria Gold Corporation. 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 173 sq km AurMac Property lies 40 km from Victoria Gold's Eagle Gold Mine 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 2 below.
Table 2: 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:
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.
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 70 km 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 3 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 3: 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
Notes:
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.
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 CORPORATION
(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.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains forward-looking information, which is not comprised of historical facts. 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. 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, statements relating to future outlook and anticipated events such as: potential quantity and/or grade of minerals; potential size and expansion of a mineralized zone, including the potential to expand Powerline gold mineralization; the discovery of additional near-surface gold resources; Banyan's objectives, goals or future plans; statements regarding exploration expectations; proposed timing and descriptions of exploration or development plans, including drilling programs; 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.
SOURCE: Banyan Gold Corp.
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