Heraldo de Madrid - Aton Reports Further Results from the Abu Marawat Diamond Drilling Programme, Including 3.62 g/t Au and 47.2 g/t Ag Over an Interval of 27.60 Metres

Highlights:

• To date 66 diamond drill holes have been drilled at Abu Marawat, for a total of 5,468m. All holes have been drilled horizontally or at shallow angles to test previously undrilled near-surface mineralisation in an area of steep and mountainous terrain that is hard to access for conventional drilling rigs;

• Results for a further 31 holes, AMD-115 to AMD-145, are now available, with significant high grade polymetallic mineralised intersections including:

• 3.62 g/t Au, 47.2 g/t Ag, 4.15 g/t AuEq, 0.32% Cu and 0.63% Zn over a 27.60m interval on the CVZ, from 34.40m downhole depth (hole AMD-142);

• 4.53 g/t Au, 68.5 g/t Ag, 5.29 g/t AuEq, 0.42% Cu and 1.65% Zn over a 16.85m interval, on the CVZ, from 32.15m downhole depth (hole AMD-131);

• 6.64 g/t Au, 135 g/t Ag, 8.15 g/t AuEq, 0.45% Cu, 0.39% Pb and 4.85% Zn over a 3.75m interval on the Fin Vein, from 55.85m downhole depth (hole AMD-117);

• 3.70 g/t Au, 113 g/t Ag, 4.95 g/t AuEq, 0.30% Cu and 2.47% Zn over a 5.90m interval, on the Fin Vein, from 83.60m downhole depth (hole AMD-118).

"I am happy to be able to update investors on the ongoing diamond drilling at Abu Marawat, as well as the commencement of field programmes on the Hamama West PFS over the last few months" said Tonno Vahk, CEO. "The drilling has been proceeding steadily at Abu Marawat where we are looking to bring the resource up to indicated category, and we are very pleased as it continues to deliver more encouraging high grade gold-silver intersections from the Fin Vein, as well as significant near surface widths of polymetallic mineralisation from the CVZ, at very respectable gold equivalent grades of greater than 4-5 g/t. At the same time we are moving forwards with fieldwork on the Hamama West PFS, commenced in 2024. We have completed a short programme of infrastructure sterilisation and resource delineation RC drilling, as we switch the focus of the PFS to a modular CIL processing route, instead of the originally planned heap leaching. We are also particularly encouraged by the positive results from follow-up groundwater exploration drilling at Hamama. And with the commencement of another phase of RC drilling at Semna in February, the team continue to be very busy on the ground as Aton pushes ahead towards the development of the next gold mines in Egypt."

Abu Marawat gold-silver-copper-zinc deposit

The Abu Marawat gold-silver-copper-zinc deposit is located approximately 35km northeast of the Hamama West deposit and 10km north-northeast of the Semna gold mine project, and is accessed via a well maintained desert track from the Qena-Safaga highway, approximately 25km to the north (Figure 1). On March 1, 2012 Aton Resources, when formerly named Alexander Nubia International Inc, announced a maiden NI 43‐101 compliant Inferred Mineral Resource at Abu Marawat, prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., in compliance with the requirements set out in Canada's National Instrument 43‐101. The resource was subsequently restated in an updated Technical Report without amendment (see news release dated January 24, 2017), and which is available online at Aton's website at https://atonresources.com/investors/reports-and-presentations. This Inferred Mineral Resource was based on 98 diamond drill holes totalling 19,573 metres. 19 of these holes were drilled by a former property owner, Minex Minerals Egypt, a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenwich Resources Plc during the late 1980's, and the remainder were drilled by Aton in 2011. The Inferred Mineral Resource comprises 2.9 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.75 g/t Au, 29.3 g/t Ag, 0.77% Cu and 1.15% Zn, containing 162 thousand ounces of gold, 2.7 million ounces of silver, 49 million lbs of copper, and 73 million lbs of zinc, and was based on net smelter return ("NSR") cut‐off grades.

The polymetallic mineralisation at Abu Marawat is interpreted as being mesothermal in origin, and occurs in a series of discrete and roughly parallel N-S to NNW-SSE trending veins and structures, of which the Fin Vein and the Central Vein zone ("CVZ") are the most significant, hosted within a sequence of intensely hydrothermally altered, felsic metavolcanic rocks (Figure 2). The Fin Vein and the CVZ are about 50-100m apart and have been traced for at least 800m in surface outcrop and drill holes. Aton's previous drilling has demonstrated that these structures extend to at least 200m in depth.

The mineralisation at Abu Marawat comprises a series of steep to near vertical finely brecciated quartz-carbonate-sulphide "veins". At surface the Fin Vein and CVZ are expressed by quartz-rich gossans, and all the larger structures display development of quartz-sericite-hematite±carbonate wallrock alteration in outcrop. Several of the veins, notably the CVZ, were mined at surface in ancient times, apparently primarily for copper. The main ore minerals present are sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, electrum, gold, and a number of gold and silver tellurides such as petzite and hessite. The gangue minerals comprise quartz, limonite, ankerite, pyrite, magnetite and hematite. Close to the surface the carbonate minerals have been leached, and the sulphides are largely replaced by hemimorphite, willemite, chrysocolla, malachite, limonite and hematite. In the oxidised material, the gold occurs as minute free grains in limonite or malachite. In the fresh sulphide mineralisation gold is associated with tellurides, chalcopyrite and sphalerite.

To its north, the Abu Marawat deposit is truncated by a large WNW-ESE trending fault postulated to run beneath wadi sediments. To the east a prominent ridge composed of altered ultramafic rocks (listwaenites) is thought to represent a significant geological terrane boundary (Figure 2).

The bulk of the Inferred Mineral Resource at the Abu Marawat deposit encompasses parts of the CVZ and the Fin Vein, but there are also multiple, subparallel veins to the east and to the west of these structures, such as the J Vein, the JVZ structure, the V Ridge Vein and the Valley Vein zone that are largely undrilled to date. The mineralised system at Abu Marawat currently remains open both laterally and at depth.

Abu Marawat diamond drilling programme

The current diamond drill programme started at the beginning of June 2024, and represents the first significant new fieldwork that Aton has carried out at Abu Marawat since 2011. To date 66 diamond drill holes (holes AMD-101 to AMD-166) have been completed, for a total of 5,468m. All the holes have been drilled horizontally or at shallow angles to test previously undrilled near-surface mineralisation at the Abu Marawat deposit in an area of steep and mountainous terrain.

Assay results are now available for a further 31 holes, AMD-115 to AMD-145, and the collar details of these holes are provided in Table 1. The holes variously tested the Fin Vein, the JVZ structure, the CVZ and the Valley Vein zone ("VVZ") in the southern and central eastern areas of the Abu Marawat deposit (Figure 2).

Table 1: Abu Marawat diamond drill hole collar details, holes AMD-115 to AMD-145

Holes AMD-115 to AMD-128 were drilled on westerly azimuths to test the Fin Vein from the east (Figure 3), with 4 of these holes being extended further west to additionally test the JVZ structure (holes AMD-115, AMD-116, AMD-121 and AMD-122),

Holes AMD-129 to AMD-132, AMD-134 to AMD-137, and AMD-142 to AMD-145 were also drilled on westerly azimuths from the eastern flank of the main Abu Marawat hill, to test the near surface extent of the southern NNW-SSE striking extent of the CVZ (Figure 4).

Holes AMD-133 and AMD-138 to AMD-141 were drilled on easterly azimuths to test the VVZ (Figure 4), which has been mapped at surface as quite a wide copper-bearing gossan over a strike length of about 300m (Figure 2).

Table 2: Selected intersections from the Abu Marawat diamond drilling programme, AMD-115 to AMD-145

Discussion of results

All intersection details from the currently reporting holes AMD-115 to AMD-145 are provided in Appendix A, with selected intersections shown in Table 2, above.

The programme continued to return significant polymetallic mineralised intersections from the Fin Vein, carrying notably high grades of silver, including 6.64 g/t Au, 135 g/t Ag, 8.15 g/t gold equivalent ("AuEq", calculated using Au and Ag only, with a Au:Ag ratio of 90), 0.45% Cu, 0.39% Pb and 4.85% Zn over a 3.75m interval, from 55.85m downhole depth, from hole AMD-117; 3.70 g/t Au, 113 g/t Ag, 4.95 g/t AuEq, 0.30% Cu, 0.10% Pb and 2.47% Zn over a 5.90m interval, from 83.60m downhole depth (hole AMD-118); and 3.34 g/t Au, 182 g/t Ag, 5.37 g/t AuEq, 0.39% Cu, 0.23% Pb and 5.54% Zn over a 4.00m interval, from 75.50m downhole depth (hole AMD-120). Please refer to the news release dated November 7, 2024 for further details about the Fin Vein.

The 4 holes that were extended to test the JVZ structure all intersected moderate widths of mineralisation, but this was again typically somewhat sporadic and low grade. The JVZ structure returned mineralised intersections including 1.18 g/t Au, 58.7 g/t Ag, and 1.83 g/t AuEq over a 3.50m interval, from 84.60m downhole depth (hole AMD-122), and 0.88 g/t Au, 18.9 g/t Ag, and 1.09 g/t AuEq over a 6.50m interval, from 73.30m downhole depth (hole AMD-116). Please again refer to the news release dated November 7, 2024 for further details about the JVZ structure.

The CVZ is manifested by similar mineralisation to that seen in the Fin Vein, consisting of brecciated quartz-carbonate-sulphide "veins", with abundant iron oxides and oxide copper and zinc species, where drilled in the near-surface oxide zone. Copper seems to be relatively elevated compared to zinc in the CVZ mineralisation, and silver grades while still high, are generally lower than in the Fin Vein. The CVZ appears to consist of 2 reasonably well defined but discontinuous "boundary" structures, approximately 20-25m apart, which display variable degrees of lower grade "stockwork" style mineralisation between them. The highest grades, often associated with ancient mining workings, typically occur on the margins of either one, or both, of the 2 "boundary" structures. At the southern end of the CVZ the recent drilling suggests that the mineralised zone is reasonably persistent between the 2 "boundary" structures over an overall width of 25-30m, although the grades within this zone do appear to be highly variable over quite short lateral and vertical distances. As per the Company's previous interpretation the grades appear to be diminishing southwards, with the mineralisation pinching out south of the area tested by the holes currently being reported.

This first series of holes testing the CVZ returned several high grade mineralised intersections, sometimes over quite significant widths including 3.62 g/t Au, 47.2 g/t Ag, 4.15 g/t AuEq, 0.32% Cu and 0.63% Zn over a 27.60m interval, from 34.40m downhole depth (hole AMD-142); 4.53 g/t Au, 68.5 g/t Ag, 5.29 g/t AuEq, 0.42% Cu and 1.65% Zn over a 16.85m interval, from 32.15m downhole depth (hole AMD-131), 6.22 g/t Au, 46.9 g/t Ag, 6.74 g/t AuEq, 0.85% Cu and 1.99% Zn over a 3.80m interval, from 49.90m downhole depth (hole AMD-135) and 0.71 g/t Au, 15.2 g/t Ag, 0.88 g/t AuEq, 0.16% Cu and 1.10% Zn over a 34.70m interval, from 24.00m downhole depth (hole AMD-129).

5 holes were also drilled on the VVZ, AMD-133 and AMD-138 to AMD-141, which has been mapped over a 300m strike length as a quite wide, but rather discontinuous copper-bearing gossanous zone, located to the east of the southern end of the CVZ (Figure 2). Surface sampling has returned sporadic low grade gold and silver, as well as copper grades from the VVZ. The 5 holes failed to interest any significant mineralisation associated with the VVZ, although hole AMD-138 intersected 2.07 g/t Au and 6.8 g/t Ag (2.14 g/t AuEq) over a 5.80m interval, from surface, associated with a subsidiary NNE-SSW striking mineralised structure, located approximately 25m to the west of the main VVZ (Figure 4).

Activity Update

• The Company has recently switched the focus of its Hamama West Pre-Feasibility Study (see news release dated November 8, 2024), being conducted by Wardell Armstrong International ("WAI") to a modular CIL processing route, which will allow for the later processing of material from the high grade Semna deposit, as well as the Rodruin and Abu Marawat deposits. The Company is undertaking ongoing discussions with its JV partners at the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority ("EMRA"), and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, with regards to the proposed changes to the originally envisaged heap leach processing route, as outlined in Aton's 2023 submission to EMRA (see news release dated August 24, 2023).

• Work on the Hamama PFS is well underway, with the Company having completed a short programme of reverse circulation percussion ("RC") drilling at Hamama West, including infrastructure sterilisation drilling for the proposed sites of the modular CIL plant and dry stack tailings facility, as well as additional resource delineation drilling at the Crocs Nose zone and Hamama Central. The results of this programme will be reported separately in due course.

• The Company has carried out further RC drilling to follow up on its successful 2023 groundwater exploration drilling programme (see news release dated October 11, 2023), with positive results. The new RC drilling, conducted in January 2025, has confirmed that the Nubian Sandstone aquifer in the vicinity of the borehole HAW-01 (see news release dated October 11, 2023) has sufficient properties to yield adequate water for the Hamama West mine project (WAI internal technical note, 17/2/2025). The next step will be the construction of a 300mm diameter pump test well, with the initial drilling and construction of a c. 300-350m deep monitoring well planned to commence in April 2025.

• Environmental monitoring programmes for the Hamama West Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, also being undertaken by WAI, have commenced at Hamama West.

• In February 2025, the Company also commenced the phase 3 RC drilling programme at the Semna deposit to follow up on the 2023 phase 1 RC and 2024 phase 2 diamond drilling programmes, which have confirmed the presence of high grade gold mineralisation at Semna. This initially planned c. 5,000m RC programme will continue to run concurrently with the diamond drilling at Abu Marawat.

Sampling and analytical procedures

The Abu Marawat diamond drill holes were drilled at a combination of either HQ3 size (61.1mm diameter) and/or PQ3 size (83mm diameter). Core was loaded into metal core boxes by the drill crew under supervision of Aton geologists. The core was metre marked onsite at the Abu Marawat camp, with basic geotechnical measurements (total core recovery, solid core recovery, and rock quality designation) undertaken by Aton geologists, as well as specific gravity measurements. It was also photographed in both wet and dry states at Abu Marawat. The core was then carefully packed and transported to the Rodruin exploration camp, where it was geologically logged by senior Aton geologists, and marked up for cutting and sampling at the Rodruin core farm. Samples were typically selected over nominal 1m intervals, but as determined by the logged lithologies. The core was half-cut by Aton staff at the onsite Rodruin sample preparation facility. After the core had been cut, the relevant cut intervals were then photographed again.

The split half-core samples were collected and bagged up in cloth bags, weighed and crushed to -4mm onsite, and split to a nominal c. 500-1,000g sample size. The coarse crushed reject samples are retained onsite at the Rodruin sample preparation facility.

QAQC samples were inserted into the sample runs at a rate of approximately 1 certified reference material (or "standard" sample) every 30 samples, 1 blank sample every 15 samples, and 1 duplicate split sample every 15 samples.

The dried, crushed and split samples were shipped to ALS Minerals sample preparation laboratory at Marsa Alam, Egypt, where they were pulverised to a size fraction of better than 85% passing 75 microns. From this pulverised material a further sub-sample was split off with a nominal c. 100g size, which was shipped on to ALS Minerals at Rosia Montana, Romania for geochemical analysis. The reject pulp material was returned to the sample preparation facility at Rodruin, where it is also retained onsite

The samples were analysed for gold by fire assay (30g charge) with an atomic absorption spectroscopy ("AAS") finish (analytical code Au-AA23). Any high grade gold samples (>10 g/t Au) were re-analysed using analytical code Au-GRA21 (also fire assay, with a gravimetric finish).

Samples were also analysed for silver, copper, lead and zinc using an aqua regia digest followed by an AAS finish (analytical code AA45). Any high grade silver and base metal samples (Ag >100 g/t, and Cu, Pb or Zn >10,000ppm or >1%) were re-analysed using the ore grade technique AA46 (also an aqua regia digest followed by an AAS finish).

About Aton Resources Inc.

Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) is focused on its 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession ("Abu Marawat"), located in Egypt's Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200 km north of AngloGold Ashanti's world-class Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified numerous gold and base metal exploration targets at Abu Marawat, including the Hamama deposit in the west, the Abu Marawat deposit in the northeast, and the Rodruin deposit in the south of the Concession. Two historic British gold mines are also located on the Concession at Semna and Sir Bakis. Aton has identified several distinct geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display potential for the development of a variety of styles of precious and base metal mineralisation. The Abu Marawat exploitation lease is 57.66 km² in size, covering the Hamama West and Rodruin mineral deposits, and was established In January 2024 and is valid for an initial period of 20 years. The Concession also includes an additional 255.0 km² of exploration areas at Abu Marawat, retained for a further period of 4 years from January 2024. Abu Marawat is located in an area of excellent infrastructure; a four-lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline are in close proximity, as are the international airports at Hurghada and Luxor.

Qualified person

The technical information contained in this News Release was prepared by Javier Orduña BSc (hons), MSc, MCSM, DIC, MAIG, SEG(M), Chief Geologist of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Orduña is a qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

For further information regarding Aton Resources Inc., please visit us at www.atonresources.com or contact:

TONNO VAHK
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +1 604 318 0390
Email: [email protected]

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Appendix A - Abu Marawat significant intersections, holes AMD-115 to AMD-145

SOURCE: Aton Resources, Inc.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

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