OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 09/29/10 -- Aura Silver Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AUU) ('Aura Silver' or the 'Company') is pleased to report on data from a soil sampling survey undertaken in August on its Greyhound property, Nunavut, Canada. The Company recently reported that rock samples taken in the Aura Lake area contain high grade gold and silver contents of up to 28.2 g/t Au and 5,380 g/t Ag. The newly acquired soil data suggest that gold and silver mineralization appears to be pervasive within a 1 kilometer corridor that extends for as much as 4 kilometers along strike.
Robert Boaz, CEO of Aura Silver stated 'We have now confirmed through our soil sampling program that there is a high potential for discovery of buried high grade gold and silver mineralization within the vicinity of Aura Lake. We plan to capitalize on this recent success by implementing a ground geophysics program within the month to determine specific drill targets. In addition, the Company believes it has narrowed down the location of the possible source of the high-grade copper-zinc mineralization north-east of Aura Lake.'
The Company's Greyhound property comprises 25,333 hectares located approximately 40 kilometers north of the community of Baker Lake and 46 kilometers south of Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank mine. The Meadowbank mine contains proven and probable reserves of 3.7 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 3.5 g/t (www.agnico-eagle.com). Infrastructure is excellent; the all-weather road from Baker Lake to the Meadowbank mine crosses through the Greyhound property, lying within one kilometer of this gold/silver zone discovery.
Three distinctly anomalous areas are evident in the soil sample data. The most consistent is near the southern corner of Aura Lake where gold and associated elements are enriched over a 400,000 m(2) area that has, near its northwestern corner, a 30,000 m(2) area containing the previously reported gold and silver-enriched rock samples, including seven samples that contain an average grade of 14.8 g/t Au (range from 0.3 to 28.8 g/t) and in the same area an average grade of 1,472 g/t Ag (range from 21-5,380 g/t). The gold appears to be concentrated near the edge of a granitoid intrusion, and also on the western margin of the area associated with banded magnetite iron formation (BIF). The southernmost line of the soil grid in this area contained several samples with the highest gold content found in the survey, thus this grid will be extended to determine the overall size of the target.
A second gold-enriched area of soil samples is a 200,000 m(2) area centered 2.3 kilometers south-southwest of the southern end of Aura Lake. In this area, 80% of the soil samples are above background values, and the highest assays for gold and second highest for silver occur here. A single sample of frost-heave rock taken during a brief prospecting effort contains 4.27 g/t Au.
Both gold-enriched areas are distinctly anomalous in silver. The anomalous silver zones appear to be displaced to the west by a few hundred meters, perhaps indicating the presence of a zoned gold-silver system. In addition to gold and silver, the key indicator elements associated with these metals (arsenic and antimony, respectively) provide excellent definition of the anomalous zones, enabling more precise target determinations for Aura Silver's next drilling program.
The third zone which is a distinctly anomalous volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) area occurs 1.8 kilometers east of the north end of Aura Lake, due east of the previously reported float occurrences that contain up to 18.5% Zn and 9.2% Cu. Here, a corridor extending 700m in strike by 200m in width is distinctly anomalous in copper, zinc, silver and to a lesser extent gold. Most diagnostic in this area is the presence of strongly Na (sodium)-depleted rhyolite. All four bedrock samples taken over a strike length of 380m contain less than 0.5% Na2O. Such extensive Na depletion is a clear indication of proximity to VMS-type mineralization. This grid will be expanded to determine the overall size of the anomalous area. Final assays from drilling in 2010 have now been received and these did not uncover any VMS-related mineralization, although several zones of anomalous gold were intersected. Most VTEM conductors near Aura and Greyhound Lakes appear to be related to graphitic zones. Additional drilling in this copper-zinc zone is anticipated depending on further soil sampling and ground geophysical surveying.
The soil sampling was carried out on 200m spaced lines, at 100m sample intervals. These samples were taken from the B soil horizon and were sent to ALS Canada Inc's facility in Yellowknife. Samples were dissolved using a four-acid dissolution method, and analyzed by ICPAES (ALS's ME-ICP61 method); gold was determined by fire assay-ICP analysis. The lithological samples were analyzed by high precision lithium metaborate fusion-dissolution methods using ICP AES and ICP-MS methods (ALS's CCP-PKG01).
Aura Silver intends to immediately expand its soil sampling program, prior to freeze-up and to complete an induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey over the most prospective zone for gold and silver mineralization.
Dr. James M. Franklin, P. Geo. is Aura Silver's qualified person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101) and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.
About Aura Silver
Aura Silver is a TSX Venture listed company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal prospects in Canada (100% owned Greyhound project) and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Aura Silver has 59,102,402 common shares outstanding.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release may contain forward looking statements that are made as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions which involve risks and uncertainties associated with our business including the uncertainty as to whether further exploration will result in the target(s) being delineated as a mineral resource, capital expenditures, operating costs, mineral resources, recovery rates, grades and prices, estimated goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, the private placement financing activities of the Company, plans and references to the Company's future successes with its business and the economic environment in which the business operates. All such statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as a number of factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially from current expectations. Please refer to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent annual MD&A and the Company's continuous disclosure documents that can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Aura Silver does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Robert Boaz
President and CEO
905-403-8010
boaz@aurasilver.com
www.aurasilver.com
