Banyan Completes Initial 51% Earn-in Commitments on the AurMac Property, Yukon

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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