Aben to Acquire 23,000 Hectares within B.C.'s Golden Triangle
Individual agreements were executed between Aben and Equity Exploration Consultants, Kiska Metals and CVE, a private third-party, whereby Aben will acquire a 100% interest (less underlying NSRs) by issuing a total of 7.0 million shares and completing $3,000,000 in exploration expenditures by June, 2020. Aben has also completed staking in the project area resulting in 100% unencumbered ownership of certain claims totalling approximately 6,300 ha. These agreements are subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.
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Aben’s Forrest Kerr land package consists of over 23,000 ha located along the Forrest Kerr Fault, immediately north of the Iskut River and southward of More Creek, with recent road access afforded to the northern and southern limits of the property. The claims consist of a 40km-long north-south belt overlying rocks of the Hazelton and Stuhini Groups, a complex assemblage of volcanic accumulations with intervening sedimentary sequences which are host to significant gold deposits in the Golden Triangle area.
Drilling throughout the project area is relatively limited, with analytical results ranging from trace amounts to multi-gram gold concentrations. Drilling highlights on the RDN (Kiska) package include drill-hole RG91-16 at the Boundary Zone, which returned 10.2 g/t gold over 17m (including 359.7 g/t gold over 0.45m) and RG91-21, which returned 101.0 g/t Au over 1.95 m and 137.8 g/t Au over 0.85 m (true widths unknown). Many of these intercepts, interpreted to be possible feeders zones to a precious-metal VMS system, have yet to see follow-up work. On the Forgold package, holes FG91-2 returned 3.87 g/t Au over 1.58m and FG91-3 returned 19.2 g/t Au over 0.82m (true widths unknown). Drilling at the Triple Creek Zone on the Forrest claims in 1990 returned up to 39.7m grading 1.78 g/t Au (including 2.0m grading 5.9 g/t Au, 190.0 g/t Ag and 12.4% Cu).
The project area is host to numerous high-grade gold, silver and base-metal mineral showings. Assay results range from trace amounts to multi-gram gold concentrations. Notable occurrences include Jungle (25.5 g/t Au-float); For (15.85% Cu in very narrow veins); Forgold (30.5 g/t Au and 15.85% Cu in narrow veins); Glimmer (17.0% Cu, 124 g/t Ag-grab); End (17.1 g/t Au-grab); Azurite (20.9 g/t Au over 3 m-trench); Tarn (12.1 g/t Au and 118.3 g/t Ag-grab); Klinker (27% Cu and 63 g/t Ag-grab sample taken adjacent to a glacier in 1990); Falls (22.11 g/t Au, .32% Cu-grab); Midway (15.0 g/t Au, 1.7% Cu-grab), Crooked Creek (36.33 g/t Au-chip sample over 0.10m) Marmot Heights (45.57 g/t Au-grab) and Moose Creek (32.16 g/t Au-grab). Aben has not been able to independently verify the methodology and results from historical work programs within the property boundaries. However, management believes that the historical work programs have been conducted in a professional manner and the quality of data and information produced from them are relevant.
Forrest Kerr Area History
Interest in the Golden Triangle region of British Columbia dates back to 1861, when placer gold was discovered at the confluence of the of the Stikine and Anuk rivers, sparking the Stikine Gold Rush. Large-scale lode mining first took place at the Premier Mine located north of Stewart in 1918. In 1964, Cominco discovered the Snip deposit, which commenced operation in 1991; ultimately producing over 1.1 million ounces at an average grade of 27.5 g/t. Eskay Creek was discovered in 1988 and ultimately produced in excess of 3 million ounces of gold and 160 million ounces of silver, in addition to appreciable lead and zinc. Pretivm Resources in June, 2014 announced updated Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves at Valley of the Kings containing 6.9 million ounces of gold from 13.5 Mt ore grading 15.7 g/t gold, with commercial production scheduled for 2017. Management cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate land are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the subject properties.
Systematic exploration within regions of the Forrest Kerr project area commenced in the mid-1980s and saw continuous exploration programs from 1988 to 2005. Little work has been completed from 2005-2016. Early work in the project area was focussed on exploration for Eskay-type (VMS) deposits, though the more recent discovery of structurally-related high-grade gold mineralization at Valley of the Kings underscores the variety of exploration targets available to Aben.
Since the completion of significant exploration activity in the early 2000s, the area has seen major infrastructure improvements including roads associated with the construction of the Forrest Kerr and McLymont Creek hydro-electric facilities near the southern boundary of the property and the construction of the 287KV Northwest Transmission Line. Development of the Galore Creek Project has also provided road access to the northern reaches of the Forrest Kerr Project, which provide greatly improved access in addition to new exposures made by road-cuts.
2016 Exploration Activity
Aben intends to immediately initiate a comprehensive data compilation, bringing all historical work into a single GIS database. This work will be followed by fieldwork aimed at determining drill targets for a possible fall, 2016 drilling campaign. Permitting for the drilling activity is currently underway.
Tim J. Termuende, Director of 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:
Aben Resources is a Canadian gold exploration company developing projects in British Columbia, the Yukon and North West Territories.
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
For further information contact myself or:
Don Myers
Aben Resources Ltd.
Corporate Communications
Telephone: 604-687-3376
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@abenresources.com
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.