Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ABN) (OTCQB: ABNAF) (Frankfurt: E2L2) (the “Aben or the Company”) announces the commencement of diamond drilling at the Forrest Kerr Gold Project in BC’s Golden Triangle and the completion of the 2019 drill program at the Justin Gold Project in the Yukon. The Company is planning to start with another 5000-meter drill program at Forrest Kerr this year that can be expanded to 10,000 meters as results dictate. Aben Resources is well funded with over $5 million in the treasury.
ABEN COMMENCES 2019 DRILL PROGRAM AT FORREST KERR PROJECT, BC
The 2019 drill exploration program at the Forrest Kerr Gold Project has now seen the mobilization of the drill and the start of drilling commenced. The size and scope of this years drill program will start out with 5000 metres and will increase based on exploration and drilling success. The initial drilling will be focused within and peripheral to the North Boundary Zone, which has previously returned high-grade results such as 38.7 grams/tonne (g/t) (1.12 oz/t) gold over 10.0 m (from 114.0-124.0 m) including 331.0 g/t (9.65 oz/t) gold over 1.0 m in hole FK18-10. Initially drill testing will focus on the potential for a northward extension of the high-grade mineralized core at North Boundary and to test for potential connectivity with historic high-grade gold discoveries such as 326.0 g/t gold reported in 1991 by Noranda in drill hole RG91-16 (located 200 m to the south of the North Boundary mineralized core). 2018 drilling was hampered by limited permitted pad locations as a result of extensive forest fire activity in the area. Over the winter season, an additional 45 drill pad locations have been approved by government agencies, allowing maximum flexibility for testing new geophysical and geochemical targets and for investigating evolving geological theories.
Forrest Kerr Project, Golden Triangle, B.C., location map:
https://www.abenresources.com/site/assets/files/4287/fk-003.jpg
Drill activities will also target polymetallic mineralization at the South Boundary Zone where broad intercepts of gold-silver-copper-zinc values in quartz veins were discovered in holes FK18-19, 20 & 21. An airborne magnetic survey was completed in May across the entire Boundary Zone, over an area that measures in excess of 2.0 km x 4.0 km. The magnetic geophysical data has thus far correlated well with geologic surface observations and should help delineate important geologic structures that influence mineralization.
Airborne Magnetic Survey from Boundary Zone on the Forrest Kerr Project:
https://abenresources.com/site/assets/files/1/Forrest-Kerr-Mag-Images-from-Boundary.pdf
Drilling to date has targeted near-surface, high-grade precious metal mineralization. Observations from past drilling and recently-acquired geophysical data (details below) support the theory that mineralization encountered may be related to deeper-seated and/or larger structurally-related systems. The Golden Triangle area is host to numerous world-class porphyry deposits (Galore Creek, Copper Canyon, Red Chris), in addition to numerous high-grade gold deposits (Brucejack, Snip, Premier). Aben intends to carry out deeper drilling during the 2019 season to test for these deposit types. Management cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate lands are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Forrest Kerr property.
In addition to the exploration activities at the Boundary Zone, Aben anticipates that a high priority target recently identified in the Forrest Zone (located 13 km south of Boundary) will also be drill tested this summer. The area of interest at Forrest Kerr is defined by highly anomalous gold-in-soil and gold-in-rock values coincident with a strong geophysical conductive anomaly originally reported in 2013.
Aben’s President and CEO Jim Pettit remarks, “The Company looks forward to continued success as we start our fourth season of exploration and drilling at the Forrest Kerr Gold Project. With the addition of the recently completed airborne magnetic survey to our extensive historic and more recent data compilation, we hope to gain greater understanding of structural influences in the highly mineralized Boundary Zone and, further to all this, we now have approval for 45 more drill pad locations that will allow us to optimize the targeting of prospective zones, both new and old.”
Forrest Kerr Project Exploration Target map:
https://www.abenresources.com/site/assets/files/4299/abn_forrest_kerr_future_targets.png
Soil Sampling Map at Forrest Zone:
https://www.abenresources.com/site/assets/files/4299/abn-forrest-kerr-soil-2017_1024x0.jpg
COMPLETION OF DRILLING AT THE JUSTIN GOLD PROJECT IN THE YUKON
The Company would also like to announce the completion of the 2019 drill program at the Justin Property in the Yukon where a total of 1556 metres utilizing both a diamond drill rig and a rotary air blast (RAB) drill to test for mineralized extensions on high priority targets.
The diamond drill rig completed 963.0 m in four holes at the POW Zone, an area that contains gold-bearing vein, breccia and skarn replacement mineralization as proven in surface sampling and recent drill programs (60.0 m grading 1.19 g/t Au in drillhole JN11009). The 2019 POW drilling sought to evaluate the potential to host bulk-tonnage gold mineralization and to test for the continuity of higher-grade skarn mineralization along strike. All four diamond drill holes encountered sulfide mineralization and have now been sent off site for analysis. Four rotary air blast holes were also completed at the POW Zone in order to test for the subsurface extension of semi-massive sulfide veinlets (pyrite + arsenopyrite +/- galena) discovered on surface.
The majority of RAB drilling took place at the recently discovered (2017) Lost Ace Zone, a gold-bearing vein system that has returned significant gold mineralization in trenching (chip sample averaged 20.8 g/t Au over 4.4 m including 88.2 g/t Au over 1.0 m). The first ever drilling at Lost Ace totaled 462 meters in 16 holes. Several drill holes at Lost Ace successfully intersected mineralization at the contact between a pebble conglomerate and an underlying phyllite unit where visible gold was discovered in surface sampling in 2018. The association of gold mineralization at this contact shares many characteristics with the mineralized setting at the adjacent 3-Aces project.
Aben Resources will be reporting the results from the 2019 exploration project at Justin in the upcoming weeks. To date, the Property has produced gold mineralization hosted within sheeted vein arrays, stockwork, breccias and skarn replacement mineralization with several other mineral occurrences that warrant further evaluation.
Additional info on the Justin Project can be found on Aben’s web site:
https://www.abenresources.com/projects/gold-projects/justin-gold-project-yk/
Cornell McDowell, P.Geo., V.P. of Exploration for Aben Resources, has reviewed and approved the technical aspects of this news release and is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Aben Resources Ltd.:
Aben Resources is a Canadian gold exploration company developing gold-focused projects in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Aben is a well-funded junior exploration company with approximately 116.6 million shares issued and outstanding.
For further information on Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ABN), visit our Company’s web site at www.abenresources.com.
ABEN RESOURCES LTD.
“Jim Pettit”
______________________
JAMES G. PETTIT
President & CEO
For further information contact myself or:
Don Myers
Aben Resources Ltd.
Director, Corporate Communications
Telephone: 604-639-3851
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@abenresources.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.