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Banyan Gold Corp
Symbol BYN
Shares Issued 130,818,915
Close 2020-05-25 C$ 0.115
Market Cap C$ 15,044,175
Recent Sedar Documents

Banyan releases NI 43-101 AurMac estimate

2020-05-25 06:51 ET - News Release

Ms. Tara Christie reports

BANYAN ANNOUNCES 903,945 GOLD OUNCE INITIAL MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE AURMAC PROPERTY, YUKON, CANADA

Banyan Gold Corp. has released an initial mineral resource estimate in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum definition standards incorporated by reference in National Instrument 43-101 for the Aurex and McQuesten properties, located in the Mayo mining district, approximately 56 kilometres northeast from the village of Mayo, Yukon, and 356 kilometres north of Whitehorse, Yukon.

The initial mineral resource estimate comprises a total inferred mineral resource of 903,945 ounces of gold on the near-surface, road-accessible AurMac property.

This pit-constrained mineral resource is contained in two near-/on-surface deposits: the Airstrip and Powerline deposits. The mineral resource is summarized in the associated table.

                PIT-CONSTRAINED INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES 
                AT A 0.2 G/T AU CUT-OFF -- AURMAC PROPERTY

Deposit          Classification        Tonnes  Average Au grade    Au content
                                                          (g/t)          (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. 
(2) Mineral resources that 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, 
socio-political, marketing, changes in global gold markets or other relevant 
issues. 
(3) 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.
(4) Mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.2 g/t Au, using a 
U.S./Canadian 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 $1,500 
(U.S.) per ounce, $1.50 (U.S.) per tonne mining cost, $2 (U.S.) per tonne 
processing cost, $2.50 (U.S.) per tonne general and administrative expenses,
80-per-cent heap leach recoveries, and 45-degree pit slope.

"We are excited with the value this initial mineral resource estimate generates for our shareholders, particularly given the modest exploration expenditures by Banyan, generating ounces at less than $2 per ounce. Both deposits are open, with mineralization known to extend beyond the current block model boundaries," stated Tara Christie, president and chief executive officer. "Further, examination of the Airstrip mineral resource model highlights its robust nature; when the cut-off grade is increased by 50 per cent, to 0.3 g/t, less than 15 per cent of the ounces are reduced while the grade increases by more than 20 per cent to an average of 0.65 g/t. Additionally, the deposit model exercise has identified a series of drill targets, which we are confident will meaningfully build upon this initial mineral resource."

A supporting National Instrument 43-101 technical report will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this release.

Detailed images of the mineral resource model, including an interactive 3-D model and additional information, can be found at the company's website.

About the AurMac property

The AurMac property is held by the company under earn-in option agreements with StrataGold Corp., a 100-per-cent-owned subsidiary of Victoria Gold Corp. and Alexco Resource Corp. The company has the right to earn up to a 100-per-cent interest in the AurMac property, subject to royalties, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the option agreements.

The Airstrip and Powerline deposits contained within the AurMac property are both on- and near-surface deposits and potentially open-pit minable, with expected low strip ratios. The AurMac property is located just 40 km from Victoria Gold's open-pit, heap leach mine and 10 km from Alexco's mill facility at the high-grade silver deposits of the Keno Hills district. The AurMac property lies on existing transportation infrastructure (main Yukon government highway system) and the all-season road to Victoria Gold's Eagle mine. The Airstrip and Powerline deposits are within one km of each other and both within 50 m of year-round access roads, have three-phase power lines and benefit from cellular communications.

Airstrip deposit

The Airstrip deposit is delineated by 102 drill holes. Topographic control was from a detailed lidar survey data set.

There are several geologic controls on gold mineralization as per the current geologic understanding of the Airstrip deposit. The Airstrip lithological model is made of seven units mainly oriented east-west, with six of the units dipping at approximately 40 degrees. The bulk of the inferred mineral resources are hosted within the calcareous package, a roughly 90-metre-thick zone that strikes east-west and dips approximately 35 degrees to the south.

The most common sampling length of the Airstrip deposit is 1.5 m, with approximately 40 per cent of the sample data, and composites were constructed at this interval. Capping of high-grade outliers was based on lithological domains and varied from 0.4 g/t Au to 9.0 g/t Au.

The estimation of gold grades into a block model was carried out with the ordinary kriging (OK) technique on capped composites and the resultant block model contains a block size of five m (easting) by five m (northing) by five m (elevation). Density was calculated from a total of 418 measurements from the drill core. The average density per lithology type was assigned to the corresponding blocks.

At a 0.20 g/t Au cut-off, the pit-constrained, inferred mineral resources are of 46.0 million tonnes at an average gold grade of 0.524 g/t for a total of 774,926 ounces of gold. Cut-off grade sensitivities for the Airstrip deposit are presented in the associated table.

      PIT-CONSTRAINED INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES -- AIRSTRIP DEPOSIT

Au cut-off               Tonnage    Average Au grade              Au content
(g/t)                                          (g/t)                    (oz)

0.10                  61,300,337               0.430                 847,466
0.15                  53,264,976               0.476                 815,154
0.20                  45,997,911               0.524                 774,926
0.25                  38,397,872               0.583                 719,725
0.30                  31,869,662               0.647                 662,938
0.35                  26,516,484               0.712                 606,998
0.40                  21,676,296               0.787                 548,467
0.45                  18,151,272               0.857                 500,125
0.50                  15,513,348               0.923                 460,361

Notes to table
(1) The effective date for the mineral resource is May 25, 2020.
(2) Mineral resources that 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, 
socio-political, marketing, changes in global gold markets or other relevant 
issues.
(3) The CIM definitions were followed for the classification of inferred 
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.
(4) Mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.2 g/t Au, using a 
U.S./Canadian 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 $1,500 
(U.S.) per ounce, $1.50 (U.S.) per tonne mining cost, $2 (U.S.) per tonne 
processing cost, $2.50 (U.S.) per tonne general and administrative expenses,
80-per-cent heap leach recoveries, and 45-degree pit slope.

Powerline deposit

The drill data for the Powerline deposit comprise 15 drill holes. The most common sampling length of the Powerline deposit is 1.5 m, with approximately 35 per cent of the sample data. The company selected 1.5 m as the composite length and it is based on the most common sampling length as well as on the envisioned block height of five m. Capping of high-grade outliers was based on grade distribution domains and ranged from 4.0 g/t Au to 6.0 g/t Au.

The estimation of gold grades into a block model was carried out with the inverse distance squared (ID2) technique on capped composites with the resultant block model containing a block size of five m (easting) by five m (northing) by five m (elevation).

At a 0.20 g/t Au cut-off, the pit-constrained, inferred mineral resources are of 6.6 million tonnes at an average gold grade of 0.61 g/t for a total of 129,019 ounces of gold. Cut-off grade sensitivities for the Powerline deposit are presented in the associated table.

  PIT-CONSTRAINED INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES -- POWERLINE DEPOSIT

Au cut-off           Tonnage         Average Au grade      Au content
(g/t)                                           (g/t)            (oz)

0.10               7,281,920                    0.565         132,277
0.15               6,930,115                    0.588         131,011
0.20               6,578,609                    0.610         129,019
0.25               6,084,687                    0.641         125,397
0.30               5,457,139                    0.683         119,833
0.35               4,939,191                    0.720         114,335
0.40               4,420,295                    0.761         108,150
0.45               4,083,388                    0.789         103,583
0.50               3,654,322                    0.826          97,046

Notes to table 
(1) The effective date for the mineral resource is May 25, 2020.
(2) Mineral resources that 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, socio-political, marketing, changes in global 
gold markets or other relevant issues.
(3) The CIM definitions were followed for the classification of 
inferred 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.
(4) Mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.2 g/t Au, 
using a U.S./Canadian 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 $1,500 (U.S.) per ounce, $1.50 (U.S.) 
per tonne mining cost, $2 (U.S.) per tonne processing cost, $2.50 
(U.S.) per tonne general and administrative expenses, 80-per-cent 
heap leach recoveries, and 45-degree pit slope.

Quality assurance, quality control measures and data verification

The reported work was completed using industry-standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program consisting of the insertion of certified standards and blanks into the sample stream and utilizing certified independent analytical laboratories for all assays. Additionally, historic QA/QC data and methodology on the AurMac property were reviewed and will be summarized in the NI 43-101 technical report. The qualified persons detected no significant QA/QC issues during review of the data.

A robust system of standards, one-fourth core duplicates and analytical blanks, was implemented in all Banyan drilling programs and was monitored as chemical assay data became available. All control samples were within accuracy and precision thresholds required to meet data quality standards. These control samples amounted to approximately 10 per cent of the all samples submitted to analytical laboratories. A verification program of historic core was carried out by resampling the entire length of two holes, MQ-00-004 and MQ-03-009. The per-cent relative difference between the reassays and the original assays ranged from minus 1.5 per cent to plus 2.5 per cent.

All geological data in the resource estimate were verified by Ginto Consulting Inc. as being accurate to the extent possible and to the extent possible all geological information was reviewed and confirmed. Ginto made site visits to the AurMac property in 2018 and 2019 and observed Banyan's drilling and sampling techniques, as well as viewed AurMac drill core. Ginto confirms that the assay sampling and QA/QC sampling of core by Banyan provide adequate and good verification of the data and believes the work to have been done within the guidelines of NI 43-101. Additional discussion on the AurMac mineral resource model data verification will be included in the forthcoming NI 43-101 technical report to be filed on SEDAR in the near future.

Qualified persons

The initial mineral resource estimate for the AurMac property was prepared by Marc Jutras, PEng, MASc, principal, Ginto Consulting Inc., an independent qualified person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the contents of this release.

Paul D. Gray, PGeo, 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.

Analytical method

All drill core and RC splits collected from the 2017 to 2019 Aurex-McQuesten programs were analyzed at Bureau Veritas Minerals of Vancouver, B.C., utilizing the aqua regia digestion ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) 36-element AQ200 analytical package with FA450 50-gram fire assay with AAS (atomic absorption spectroscopy) finish for gold on all samples. All core samples were split on site at Banyan's core processing facilities in Elsa, Yukon. 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. All RC samples were split in the field with a three-tier riffle splitter with 87.5 per cent of the sample being stored in a reject poly bag and 12.5 per cent of the sample in a submittal poly bag. Once split, both poly bags were sealed with one part of a three-part sample tag inserted within. Samples were delivered by Banyan personnel or a dedicated expediter to Bureau Veritas, an independent 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 more robust description of historic analytical procedures will be included in the forthcoming AurMac NI 43-101 report to be filed on SEDAR in due course.

Risk factors

Banyan is unaware of any legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of the mineral resource estimates described in this news release.

COVID-19 update

Banyan has taken pro-active measures to protect the health and safety of its 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.

There have been 11 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Yukon to date, with all patients having fully recovered. No cases have required hospitalization.

2020 exploration update

The geologic model validated at the Airstrip and Powerline deposits is likely applicable elsewhere on the 92-square-kilometre property, including other areas such as Aurex Hill where a seven-square-kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly has been identified. Banyan spent approximately $1.8-million on exploration to establish the initial mineral resources, with an exploration cost of less than $2 per ounce.

Banyan is in the process of planning its 2020 exploration programs, which are anticipated to start in June. Details of exploration plans will be released when available.

About Banyan Gold Corp.

Banyan Gold is focused on gold exploration projects that have the geological potential, size of land package and proximity to infrastructure that are advantageous for a mineral project to have potential to become a mine. The company's Yukon-based projects both fit this model and the company's objective is to gain shareholder value by advancing projects in its pipeline.

We seek Safe Harbor.

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