Update - Grant of Tenements

RNS Number : 4143V

Aura Energy Limited

08 April 2019

 

AURA ENERGY LIMITED

("Aura" or the "Company")

Update - Grant of Tenements

Following the announcement made by Company on 3^rd April 2019 in relation to the grant by the Mauritanian Government of two gold and base/battery metals tenements - Hadeibet Bellaa and Touerig Taet, the Company wishes to provide an addendum to the announcement in order to satisfy the request by the ASX for additional disclosures on exploration and evaluation activities conducted by a previous holder of these two tenements.

The full announcement can be seen at the following link with an extract appended to this announcement: https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-price-research/company/AEE

Aura Energy Limited Peter Reeve (Executive Chairman)	Telephone: [phone]      [e-mail]
WH Ireland Limited Adrian Hadden James Sinclair-Ford	Telephone: [phone]
Yellow Jersey PR Limited Charles Goodwill Joe Burgess	Telephone:  [phone] [phone]

AURA ENERGY LIMITED

ANNOUNCEMENT ADDENDUM

MAURITANIAN GOLD AND BASE METALS TENEMENTS GRANTED

1.       The acquirer's view on the reliability of the Exploration Results, including by reference to any of the criteria in Table 1 of the JORC Code 2012 which are relevant to understanding the reliability of the Exploration Results.

Aura has reviewed the exploration results reported, the methodologies employed, and the quality assurance/quality control procedures used and has summarised these in the accompany Table 1 of the JORC code 2012.  Aura is of the opinion that they conform with current industry standard practice for early stage exploration, and that the results are reliable.  

2.       To the extent known, a summary of the work programmes on which the Exploration Results were based.

Results reported refer to exploration work carried out by the former tenement holder Drake Resources Limited (ASX) (Drake).  Drake held permits over these areas from 2010 to 2015 and actively explored and evaluated the tenements from late 2010 to the end of 2012.

The work programme carried out by Drake comprised:

·          An airborne magnetic/radiometric survey over the tenement areas at a line spacing of 75 metres

·          Geological and structural interpretation of the airborne data by consultants

·          Aircore drilling campaign along lines across zones considered to be structurally favourable for mineralisation.  The aircore drilling involved 113 vertical drillholes on the Hadeibet Bellaa tenement and 346 vertical drillholes on the Touerig Taet tenement.

·          The aircore lines were generally about 2 kilometres apart with drillholes spaced 100 metres

An RC drilling campaign to test beneath aircore drillholes that had intersected elevated gold values involving 10 RC drillholes into the Bellaa tenement and 23 RC drill holes into the Touerig Taet tenement. All RC holes were inclined -60°.

3.       Any more recent Exploration Results or data relevant to understanding the Exploration Results.

          No work has been undertaken since the tenements were surrendered by Drake.

4.       The evaluation and/or exploration work the needs to be completed to report the Exploration Results in accordance with the JORC Code 2012

In order to report the Exploration Results in a form fully compliant with JORC Code 2012 Aura will fully compile all data from the former tenement holder and complete its evaluation of the data.

The tenements have been subject to first pass exploration only over an 18-month period.  There remains much to be done to fully assess the significance of anomalous values intersected.  Previous work was focussed on gold and little attention was paid to battery metals despite the location of strong nickel and cobalt values.

The next programs are still being formulated and are likely to involve:

·      ground geophysics to locate sulphide mineralisation and to help define drill targets

·      aircore or RAB drilling to collect basement samples, particularly in areas were high nickel values have been shown to occur

·      deep inclined RC and diamond drillholes to define the size of mineralised zones already identified as well as testing targets arising from the work listed above.

The following Table sets out collar location of drillholes reported in the announcement by the company on the tenements.

Prospect Name	Hole ID	Easting	Northing	Inclination	Azimuth
		UTM WGS84 Z28			true
BELLA	11HBAC023	465898	2219203	60°
BELLA	11HBAC024	465997	2219202	60°
BELLA	11HBAC030	466598	2219199	90°
BELLA	11HBAC030	466598	2219199	90°
BELLA	11HBAC030	466598	2219199	90°
BELLA	11HBAC030	466598	2219199	90°
BELLA	11HBAC031	466697	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC031	466697	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC031	466697	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC033	466900	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC033	466900	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC033	466900	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC033	466900	2219203	90°
BELLA	11HBAC034	466997	2219204	90°
BELLA	11HBAC038	467400	2219200	90°
TAET	11TGAC013	444700	2218702	90°
TAET	11TGAC033	431000	2212800	90°
TAET	11TGAC053	430997	2210803	90°
BELLA	12HBAC073	463432	2217212	90°
BELLA	12HBRC007	467373	2219200	60°
BELLA	12HBRC03	465773	2219186	60°	114
BELLA	12HBRC04	466625	2219200	60°	270
BELLA	12HBRC05	466873	2219200	60°	90
BELLA	12HBRC06	467170	2219200	60°	90
BELLA	12HBRC07	467373	2219200	60°	90
TAET	12TGAC198	445378	2219429	90°
TAET	12TGRC09	432512	2212138	60°	180
TAET	12TGRC22	432512	2212012	60°	0

5.       Cautionary statement

The Company wishes to advise the market that:

•      Exploration Results reported by the previous explorer were in accordance with JORC 2004;

•      the Competent Person has not done sufficient additional information to disclose the Exploration Results in accordance with the JORC Code 2012;

•      it is not the opinion of the Competent Person that following further evaluation and/or exploration work the confidence in the prior reported Exploration Results may be reduced when reported under the JORC Code 2012;

•      nothing has come to the attention of the Company that causes it to question the accuracy or reliability of the Exploration Results reported by Drake to the ASX in May 2012 and August 2012; and

•      the Company has not independently validated the former owner's Exploration Results and therefore is not to be regarded as adopting or endorsing those results.

6.       Competent Person's statement

The Competent Person for references in the announcement released to the market on 3 April 2019 in relation exploration results and potential at the Tasiast South gold and base metals project is Mr Neil Clifford.  Mr Clifford was a consultant to Drake Resources Ltd and conducted field exploration programmes for Drake whilst it conducted gold exploration in Mauritania.  Mr Clifford is also retained by Aura Energy Limited as a consultant and as the Competent Person for Aura Energy Limited, Mr Clifford has advised that the information in the market announcement released to the market on 3 April 2019 and the information contained in this Addendum are an accurate representation of the available data and studies of the tenements.

Mr Clifford has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he performed for the previous holder of the tenements granted to the Company.  This qualifies Mr Clifford as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'.  

Mr Clifford is an independent consultant to Aura Energy Limited.   Mr Clifford is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).  Mr Clifford consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

ANNEXURE A

JORC Code 2012

Table 1

ASX announcement 3 APRIL 2019 

GOLD, BASE AND BATTERY METAL TENEMENTS GRANTED IN MAURITANIA

Section 1:   Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections)

Criteria	JORC Code explanation		Commentary
Sampling techniques	·     Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling. ·     Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used. ·     Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report. ·     In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases, more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information.	·           Samples referred to are drill chips collected during RC and air-core drilling.  Samples were collected in line with industry standard practice and were collected over 1 metre  drilling intervals ·           Drill chip samples collected at the drilling rig were riffle split on site to produce a c. 2kg sample for assay. ·           For samples collected in the weathering zone, i.e. approx. less than 50m deep, were in most cases combined by riffle splitting to produce composites over 4m intervals for assay.
Drilling techniques	·     Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc).	·           Drilling consisted initially of vertical air-core drilling conducted by Australian contractor Wallis Drilling, using an NQ size bit on lines approx. 2 km apart or in areas deemed to have favourable geological structure. Where elevated gold values (greater than 40 ppb) were obtained an inclined RC hole was drilled beneath the elevated gold sample.  RC drilling was conducted by South Africa drilling company Hall Core Drilling using 4½ inch hammer bit.
Drill sample recovery	·     Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed. ·     Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples. ·     Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material.	·           All drilling was supervised by qualified geologists.  All RC drill samples were weighed on site to determine sample recovery and these were recorded.   Sample recoveries, with the exception of the first few metres downhole, were considered to have acceptable recovery (>70%) for the purposes of this drilling. ·           No relationship between sample recovery and grade was observed. It is unknown whether bias arose from preferential loss of fines, but is considered unlikely to be of a magnitude material to this type of early stage exploration drilling.
Logging	·     Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies. ·     Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography. ·     The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged.	·          All drill chip samples were geologically logged by the site geologist after wet sieving a sample from each metre interval. ·          This was recorded in the company's logging template along with other relevant information: hole number, sample depth, sample number
Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation	·     If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken. ·     If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry. ·     For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique. ·     Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples. ·     Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling. ·     Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled.	·          Samples (except where very wet) were riffle split on site to produce a sample for assay.  ·          In most cases samples were spit dry, but samples that were very wet were coned & quartered on site to produce the assay sample. ·          The sampling procedures are considered to be industry standard for early stage exploration, acceptable for indicating the presence of mineralisation and an indication of grade. ·          For aircore drilling, 1 in every 20 samples submitted for assay was a field duplicate.  For RC drilling, 1 in every 25 samples was a field duplicate and 1 in every 40 samples was a CRM (Certified Reference Material) assay standard provided by AMIS. ·          The plate spacing in riffle splitters employed (c. 1.5 inch) conforms with Gy's sampling theory as appropriate for the size of the drill chips being split.
Quality of assay data and laboratory tests	·     The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total. ·     For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc. ·     Nature of quality control procedures adopted (eg standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established.	·     All samples were assayed by SGS technique FAE505 for gold.    FAE505 involves: Fusion of a 50 g sample with a litharge based flux, cupel, dissolve prill in aqua regia, extracted in DIBK and gold determined by flame AAS. Detection Limit 2 ppb. This is considered a total extraction technique for gold.    ICM 40B involves: Semi quantitative ICP-OES + ICP-MS scan, multi acid digestion ·      Quality control procedures employed by SGS are:    1 Reagent Blank in 84    1 Preparation Blank (prep process blank) in 84    2 Weighed replicates in 84    2 Preparation Duplicate (re split) in 84    4 SRM's (Standard Reference Material) in 84 Samples that were re-analysed from the same pulp reported acceptable agreement with original assay. ·      Quality control procedures employed by the company were:    For every 20 to 25 samples a duplicate was sent for assay    For every 40 RC samples a Certified Reference Material (CRM) sample was sent for assay    Duplicate and CRM analyses were within acceptable limits of expected values
Verification of sampling and assaying	·     The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel. ·     The use of twinned holes. ·     Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols. ·     Discuss any adjustment to assay data.	·      No verification other than the quality control procedures referred to above were conducted. ·      Assay results for samples were received electronically from SGS Laboratories and uploaded onto the company's database managed by Reflex Hub. ·           No adjustment of assay data, including high grade cutting, was undertaken, other than the quoting of average values over specified intervals.
Location of data points	·     Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation. ·     Specification of the grid system used. ·     Quality and adequacy of topographic control.	·     Drill hole collar locations were recorded at the completion of each hole by hand held Garmin GPS, with horizontal accuracy of approx. 5 metres ·     No downhole surveying of drillholes was conducted ·     Positional data was recorded in projection WGS84 Zone 28N. ·     The accuracy provided by hand held GPS is adequate for the exploratory nature of the drill program
Data spacing and distribution	·     Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results. ·     Whether the data spacing, and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied. ·     Whether sample compositing has been applied.	·      The drill holes were the first exploratory holes in the area and the objective was to test for the presence of gold.  Drill hole spacing is not adequate, at this stage, for Mineral resource estimation. ·      Aircore drill samples were in most cases composited into 4m interval samples for analysis.  The bottom hole assay sample was in all cases over 1 metre.  RC samples were composited over 4m in the oxidised zone.  In fresh rock 1m assay sample intervals were 1m.
Orientation of data in relation to geological structure	·     Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type. ·     If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material.	·           Each hole was intended to have an azimuth approximately 90 degrees to the strike. As outcrop is poor and the orientation of gold bearing structures is poorly understood, the true width of the drill intersections in not clear.
Sample security	·     The measures taken to ensure sample security.	·           Samples were taken by vehicle on the day of collection to the company's manned field camp, and stored there until collection by SGS Laboratories for transport to the SGS facility in Kayes, Mali.
Audits or reviews	·     The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data.	·           No reviews or audits of sampling techniques have been conducted

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section)

Criteria	JORC Code explanation		Commentary
Mineral tenement and land tenure status	·     Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings. ·     The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area.	·      Results reported lie on 2 Permis de Recherche: Hadeibet Bellaa (referred to as Bella) No 2457, and Touerig Taet (referred to as Taet) No 2458  which were approved for grant to Tiris International Mining Company sarl, a wholly owned Mauritanian subsidiary of Aura Energy, on March 28, 2019. ·      The 2 permits have been granted for a period of 3 years, extendable up to 9 years. ·      Aura is not aware of any impediment to obtaining licences to operate in the area.
Exploration done by other parties	·     Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties.	·           All results referred to were carried out by Drake Resources Limited, the former holder of exploration permits over the area.
Geology	·     Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation.	·           The permit lie on Archean greenstone belts and the gold mineralisation appears to be to be orogenic gold type and similar to that in other Archean greenstones provinces in Canada, Australia, East Africa.  The elevated nickel and cobalt values are associated with ultramafic rocks, also common in other Archean greenstone provinces.
Drill hole Information	·     A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: 1.   easting and northing of the drill hole collar 2.   elevation or RL (Reduced Level - elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar 3.   dip and azimuth of the hole 4.   down hole length and interception depth 5.   hole length. ·     If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case.	·           Hole collar coordinates, azimuth and dip are recorded in the text of the ASX announcement or accompanying Addendum. ·           The area is a flat peneplain and hole RLs are not material for the interpretations presented in the announcement.
Data aggregation methods	·     In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (eg cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated. ·     Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high grade results and longer lengths of low grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail. ·     The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated.		·     No weighting or grade truncation or high-grade cutting techniques have been applied to the data reported. ·     Interval grades reported are standard length weighted averages ·     Where replicate assays have been carried out the value reported is the arithmetic average of replicated assays. No metal equivalents have been reported
Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths	·     These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results. ·     If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported. ·     If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (eg 'down hole length, true width not known').	·      Orientation of the mineralised systems are as yet poorly understood. True widths of quoted downhole intersections are therefore as yet uncertain.
Diagrams	·     Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views.	·           Maps and a section are provided in the main announcement text.
Balanced reporting	·     Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Exploration Results.	·      Results reported are highlights from a program of aircore and RC drilling conducted between February 2011 and June 2012, involving 10 RC and 113 aircore drillholes in Bella permit and 23 RC and 346 aircore drillholes into Taet permit.  The objective of the programs was to locate zones of gold and base metal mineralisation.  The highlight results reported are consistent with that objective.
Other substantive exploration data	·     Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances.	·           In addition to drilling airborne magnetic surveys were flown by the previous explorer over both permits, and this was used to interpret geology and structure and to guide the drilling.
Further work	·     The nature and scale of planned further work (eg tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling). ·     Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive.	·           Previous work on the permit areas has been first pass exploration conducted over an 18 month period and results reported are from that program.  Much remains to be done to assess the significance of anomalous values intersected.  Previous work was focussed on gold and little attention was paid to battery metals despite the location of strong nickel and cobalt values. ·           The next programs are still being formulated and are likely to involve: ground geophysics to locate sulphide mineralisation and to help define drill targets, aircore or RAB drilling to collect basement samples, particularly in areas were high nickel values have been shown to occur, deep inclined RC and diamond drillholes to define the size of mineralised zones already identified as well as testing targets arising.

 

END

 

 

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