Mr. Eldur Olafsson reports
VAGAR LICENCE EXPLORATION RESULTS
Amaroq Minerals Ltd. has provided the results of its 2022 exploration program at the Vagar licence.
Highlights:
- Anomalous gold was intersected in all completed drill holes, with key results summarized in the attached table.
- Drill results are indicative of an intrusion-related gold mineralization system associated with a large-tonnage target, centred on a gold anomalous zone of significant scale approximately 14 square kilometres, equivalent to 175 times the area of Wembley Stadium.
- A high frequency of sulphide-bearing quartz veins at depths of over 320 metres indicates a mineralizing system with significant depth potential.
- Surface sampling results at East Ridge (approximately two km to the southwest) including visible gold observed in quartz veining.
- Confirmed presence of orogenic gold mineralization with some geological similarities with the Nalunaq deposit, enabling the team to leverage off previous experience.
Eldur Olafsson, chief executive officer of Amaroq, commented:
"We are just starting our journey to explore this opportunity. Current drill intersections suggest that a large-tonnage intrusion-related gold system is in play, with significant depth potential bolstered by high-grade vein-hosted gold. Meanwhile, surface sampling at the East Ridge continues to illustrate the true scale of the deposit.
"The results are a positive step towards realizing the potential of Vagar Ridge, a target with a broad-spanning surface footprint, which we believe holds significant resource. We plan to deploy the same exploration strategy of carefully targeted scout drilling and geological modelling that we have successfully implemented at our cornerstone Nalunaq project, which will improve confidence ahead of more intensive resource drilling. Further, we see some opportunities for geological synergies between the deposits, which means our geological team will be one step closer to unlocking this key exploration asset."
Results overview
The 2022 exploration program focused on drilling a small portion of the Vagar Ridge target and confirming the scale of the wider area at East Ridge. Activities included the following:
- Initial scout drilling -- a total of 1,445 m drilled from four drill pads within a constrained area at the northern extent of Vagar Ridge. These were designed to identify the style and attitude of vein-hosted and granite-hosted (Femoren-type) gold mineralization ahead of more systematic exploration. Despite unseasonally bad weather conditions, 60 per cent of the scout drilling program was completed, with a large area of key Femoren-type targets remaining and scheduled for the next phase of scout drilling.
- Surface sampling -- 76 samples and geological data were acquired in the field over a previously untested region of East Ridge, and in the vicinity of Vagar Ridge. The aim of this work was to determine the scale and prospectivity of target areas identified during the 2021 campaign.
- Geological mapping -- data were collected by Amaroq Minerals geologists from across the Vagar Ridge and East Ridge areas, including structural measurements, to further develop understanding of lithologies and controlling structures across the target zones.
- Camp construction -- to facilitate this program, a small remote service camp was constructed to support the drilling and other activities. Following these results, the company is now considering plans toward establishing a permanent satellite camp to Nalunaq.
While the centre of the mineralization may not have been intersected in this first scout drilling campaign, elevated gold concentrations were intersected, including 0.5 m at 3.07 grams per tonne gold and one m at 1.27 g/t Au. These results also coincided with elevated grades of other signature elements such as tungsten and bismuth.
Results confirm mobility and emplacement of gold in hitherto untested areas perpendicular to the orientation of known southwest-northeast-trending veins which remain open along strike. This work has expanded the footprint of known gold mineralization at depth and enhanced Amaroq's understanding of the controls which will inform planned work during the 2023 campaign. This includes the importance of competency differences at lithological boundaries, including crosscutting premineralization dikes, as favourable fluid pathways.
These geological controls are reminiscent to those known to control the high-grade mineralization at Nalunaq, and as such, similar exploration theories and techniques may now be deployed at Vagar Ridge.
Drilling revealed faults, shears and extensive intervals of granite-hosted xenoliths which act as zones for enhanced fluid movement, and distinctive alteration patterns, potassic feldspar, actinolite, albite, epidote and silica being the most frequent. Sulphide minerals observed included pyrite and pyrrhotite.
Gold was encountered in surface sampling, at both Vagar Ridge and East Ridge. These include samples grading up to 2.22 g/t Au at East Ridge and 0.24 g/t Au at Vagar Ridge in a sample of altered granodiorite -- Femoren type.
The company believes that the Vagar Ridge project warrants a carefully focused exploratory program in order to understand the mineralization within a robust geological model before a more systematic and intensive drilling program is deployed. It is worth noting that a target of this scale will require significant drilling before its full potential can be understood and robustly quantified.
Geological background
The Vagar licence is situated 25 km to the north of the Nalunaq project and Amaroq Minerals' exploration camp and centre of operations.
Historical exploration of the Vagar Ridge target provided initial indications of both orogenic and intrusion-related gold mineralization with up to 2,533 g/t gold in auriferous quartz veins and up to 14.4 g/t gold in the host granodiorite. Orogenic mineralization, similar in style to that seen at Nalunaq, was historically drilled by Nuna Minerals A/S. Amaroq Minerals conducted follow-up exploration to ascertain the controls and scale of mineralization, not only in the two identified vein-hosted bodies at Vagar Ridge, but also in the granodiorite host and elsewhere across the licence.
Informative airborne geophysics and spectral imaging, along with desktop studies, including mineral system modelling carried out during 2021, enhanced the understanding of the geological context at Vagar. This included expanded knowledge of potentially significant structural and deformation controls, and confirmed six priority targets for exploration activities: Vagar Ridge (including East Ridge), John's Lake, Bismuth Valley, Qoorormiut Valley, Tom's Vein and Ivittuut.
Amaroq's mineral system modelling highlighted the importance of the Vagar area to the controlling geodynamics of the Nanortalik gold belt of Southern Greenland. The licence is located on the controlling boundary of an important sedimentary basin within an interpreted subduction-arc system that transects Greenland and into Eastern Canada. It is also an important intersection point of a number of key deep structures (translithospheric faults) that acted as the plumbing for gold mineralization of the region. Sedimentary basins within a subduction-arc system can be significant sites of orogenic or IRG gold mineralization as they are often locations of structural reactivation during collisional tectonics.
Sampling and quality assurance/quality control disclosure
All rock samples were placed into thick Hubco fabric bags with a sample ticket. Drill core was cut in half using a diamond blade core saw. Cut lines were drawn along the core foliation axis or perpendicular to vein contacts and the right-hand side of the core was sampled. All drill core samples were placed into thick polymer bags with a sample ticket.
All samples were prepared at ALS Geochemistry's containerized preparation laboratory on site at Nalunaq, before being packaged and sent to an accredited laboratory, ALS Geochemistry, Loughrea, Ireland, for analysis.
Sample preparation scheme PREP-31BY was used on all rock and drill core samples. This involves crushing to 70 per cent under two millimetres, rotary split off one kilogram and pulverizing the split to better than 85 per cent passing 75 microns. Samples were then analyzed by 50-gram fire assay with Au-AA24, which has a detection limit of 0.005 part per million Au. In addition, all samples were assayed with a 34-element four-acid digestion inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique (ME-ICP61) and with a portable X-ray fluorescence technique (pXRF-34) for silicon, titanium and zirconium.
The QA/QC program of Amaroq Minerals consists of the systematic insertion of certified standards of known gold content, quarter core field duplicates and blanks at a rate of one in 20 or 5 per cent per QA/QC type. In addition, ALS inserts blanks and standards into the analytical process.
About Amaroq Minerals Ltd.
Amaroq Minerals' principal business objectives are the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of gold and strategic metal properties in Greenland. The company's principal asset is a 100-per-cent interest in the Nalunaq project, an advanced exploration-stage property with an exploitation licence including the previously operating Nalunaq gold mine. The corporation has a portfolio of gold and strategic metal assets covering 7,866.85 square km, the largest mineral portfolio in Southern Greenland covering the two known gold belts in the region. Amaroq Minerals is incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and wholly owns Nalunaq A/S, incorporated under the Greenland Public Companies Act.
Qualified person statement
The technical information presented in this press release has been approved by James Gilbertson, CGeol, vice-president, exploration, for Amaroq Minerals and a chartered geologist with the Geological Society of London, and as such a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
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