Ms. Tara Christie reports
BANYAN FILES TECHNICAL REPORT FOR AURMAC PROPERTY, 903,945 GOLD OUNCE INITIAL MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE, YUKON, CANADA
Banyan Gold Corp. has filed the technical report to support the initial mineral resource estimate in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) definition and standards incorporated by reference in National Instrument 43-101 for the Aurex and McQuesten properties (together, the AurMac property) (1). The AurMac property is located in the Mayo mining district, approximately 40 kilometres northeast from the village of Mayo, Yukon, and 356 kilometres north of Whitehorse, Yukon. The technical report was prepared by Marc Jutras, PEng, MASc, principal, Ginto Consulting Inc.
"This initial resource has given us a new benchmark valuation and confidence in our geological model to strengthen our targeting and continue to grow this mineral resource," stated Tara Christie, president and chief financial officer. "Our 2020 exploration work will meaningfully advance the AurMac project and will be in the spotlight with both our neighbours Victoria Gold (40 km away) and Alexco Resource Corp. mines (10 km away) now in production."
As announced on May 25, 2020, the initial AurMac mineral resource estimate comprises a total inferred mineral resource of 903,945 ounces of gold contained in two pit-constrained near/on-surface deposits, Airstrip and Powerline.
The mineral resource is summarized in the attached table.
PIT-CONSTRAINED INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES AT A
0.2 G/T AU CUT-OFF -- AURMAC PROPERTY
Average
Au
Grade grade Au
Deposit Classification Tonnage 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
(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.
Detailed images of the mineral resource model, including an interactive 3-D model and additional information, can be found on the company's website.
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
(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
(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-quarter 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 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 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.
About Banyan Gold Corp.
Banyan 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 its objective is to gain shareholder value by advancing projects in its pipeline.
The Hyland gold project, located 70 kilometres northeast 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 square km), with the mineral resource contained in the Main zone area (900 by 600 m) 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 per cent.
(1) Formerly referred to as the Aurex-McQuesten property in previous company disclosure.
(2) The gold price and cost assumptions are consistent with current pricing assumptions and costs, and in particular are consistent with those employed for recent technical reports for similar pit-constrained Yukon gold projects.
(3) Refer to press releases of the company dated Dec. 13, 2019, July 9, 2019, and May 25, 2017, for further details regarding the Aurex option agreement and McQuesten option agreement.
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