Aton Reports the First Results From Its Diamond Drilling Programme at the Abu Marawat Deposit, Including 8.98 g/t Au, 185 g/t Ag, 0.43% Cu and 6.12% Zn Over an Interval of 3.90 Metres

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 7, 2024 / Aton Resources Inc. (TSXV:AAN) ("Aton" or the "Company") updates investors on the results of the ongoing drilling at the Abu Marawat deposit, located within the retained exploration areas of the Company's Abu Marawat Concession ("Abu Marawat" or the "Concession") in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

Highlights:

• To date 35 diamond drill holes have been drilled at Abu Marawat, for a total of 3,381m. 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 the first 14 holes of the programme (AMD-101 to AMD-114) are now available, with significant high grade polymetallic mineralised intersections including:

• 8.98 g/t Au, 185 g/t Ag, 11.16 g/t AuEq, 0.43% Cu, 0.23% Pb and 6.12% Zn over a 3.90m interval , from 82.10m downhole depth, from hole AMD-110;

• 9.57 g/t Au, 92.9 g/t Ag, 10.66 g/t AuEq and 0.52% Cu over a 3.90m interval , from 24.20m downhole depth (hole AMD-107);

• 6.24 g/t Au, 203 g/t Ag, 8.63 g/t AuEq, 0.30% Cu, 0.10% Pb and 4.81% Zn over a 2.60m interval , from 97.20m downhole depth (hole AMD-111);

• 3.15 g/t Au, 172 g/t Ag, 5.17 g/t AuEq, 0.50% Cu, 0.23% Pb and 4.69% Zn over a 3.15m interval , from 82.50m downhole depth (hole AMD-112).

"I am pleased to announce these very encouraging first results from our new diamond drilling programme, the first new drilling that Aton has carried out at Abu Marawat since 2011" said Tonno Vahk, CEO. "This new drilling programme has been designed to test areas of previously undrilled mineralisation at Abu Marawat that lie outside or on the southern margins of the 2012 maiden resource. The primary objective of the new drilling programme is to upgrade the mineral resources at the Abu Marawat deposit to indicated category. This is an integral part of the longer term plan to bring the retained exploration areas into the exploitation lease, and ultimately leading to the development of multiple gold mining operations on the Concession including the Hamama West, Rodruin and Semna deposits, as well as Abu Marawat. In Egypt the Company continues to make steady progress with our partners the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority towards the initial development of the Hamama West mine."

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 50m 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-iron-oxide±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. 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 and sphalerite.

To the north Abu Marawat 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 the CVZ and the Fin Vein, such as the J Vein and the JVZ structure that are currently largely undrilled, with the mineralised system at Abu Marawat remaining open both laterally and at depth.

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 35 diamond drill holes (holes AMD-101 to AMD-135) have been completed, for a total of 3,381m. All holes have been drilled horizontally or at shallow angles using Energold's Global Drilling ID500-G track-mounted rig (see news release dated November 23, 2021) previously used to drill at the Rodruin deposit. The programme has been designed to test previously undrilled near-surface mineralisation at the southern extent of the Abu Marawat deposit in an area of steep and mountainous terrain that is hard to access for conventional drilling rigs (Figure 3).

Table 1: Abu Marawat diamond drill hole collar details

The assay results are now available for the first 14 holes of the programme, AMD-101 to AMD-114, which were designed to test the mapped J and Fin Veins, and the JVZ structure (Figure 4). The collar details of these holes are provided in Table 1. In this area the JVZ structure obliquely crosses the summit ridge line of the Abu Marawat hill (seen on the right of Figure 3), with the J Vein outcropping west of the ridge line, and the Fin Vein outcropping to the east. Due to the steep topography there has been no previous drilling carried out in this area to test the outcropping near surface mineralisation.

The first 9 holes of the new diamond drilling programme at Abu Marawat, AMD-101 to AMD-109, were designed to test the J Vein and JVZ structures which have been mapped at surface, from the west side of the main Abu Marawat hill (Figure 4). The J Vein and JVZ structure have returned good gold grades from surface grab and channel sampling.

Holes AMD-110 to AMD-114 were drilled from the east side on westerly azimuths and were primarily designed to test the Fin Vein (Figure 4). Hole AMD-108 was also extended far enough from the western side to intersect the Fin Vein.

All intersection details from the programme are provided in Appendix A, with selected intersections shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Selected intersections from the Abu Marawat diamond drilling programme

Significant polymetallic mineralised intersections from the first 14 holes of the programme included 8.98 g/t Au, 185 g/t Ag, 11.16 g/t gold equivalent ("AuEq", calculated using Au and Ag only, with a Au:Ag ratio of 85) , 0.43% Cu, 0.23% Pb and 6.12% Zn over a 3.90m interval , from 82.10m downhole depth, from hole AMD-110; 6.24 g/t Au, 203 g/t Ag, 8.63 g/t AuEq, 0.30% Cu, 0.10% Pb and 4.81% Zn over a 2.60m interval , from 97.20m downhole depth (hole AMD-111); and 3.15 g/t Au, 172 g/t Ag, 5.17 g/t AuEq, 0.50% Cu, 0.23% Pb and 4.69% Zn over a 3.15m interval , from 82.50m downhole depth (hole AMD-112), all from the Fin Vein.

Holes AMD-108 and AMD-110 to AMD-114 all returned fairly consistent polymetallic intersections from the Fin Vein, varying in width from 2.5m to 3.9m (averaging 2.9m). Drilled widths approximate to the true width of the Fin Vein mineralised zone. Gold grades over these mineralised intersections averaged 4.47 g/t Au, silver grades averaged 164 g/t Ag, with gold equivalent averaging 6.40 g/t AuEq, copper grades averaged 0.39% Cu, and zinc grades averaged 5.17% Zn.

In outcrop the Fin Vein stands up as distinct positive topographic feature suggesting sharp margins, but in the drill core its margins are rather cryptic and diffuse (Figure 5). The overall NNW-SSE orientation of the Fin Vein in outcrop is in part due to frequent sinistral displacement on approximately E-W or NW-SE striking structures and/or small cross veins (Figure 4). Drilling has shown that the Fin Vein occasionally anastomoses and/or splits into more than one branch. The drilling to date has also confirmed that in this area the Fin Vein steeply dips primarily to the east, but is somewhat variable, appearing to roll over to the west in places, and strikes in an approximately north-south direction. Curiously the Fin Vein is almost devoid of ancient workings suggesting that its contained gold is not coarse, and not recognised by the miners in ancient times. The Fin Vein appears to be replacive in origin, and typically displays a granular or brecciated quartz fabric, with a saccharoidal, and honeycombed or vuggy texture when weathered, caused by the removal of granular carbonate minerals and the oxidation of sulphides (Figure 5). It is primarily composed of quartz, carbonates, and iron oxides, as well as copper, zinc and lead oxide mineral species in the weathered zone.

The J Vein and JVZ structure manifest similarly in outcrop to the Fin Vein, but are somewhat more discontinuous, and also frequently anastomose into multiple structures and "veins". There are far more significant ancient workings on the J Vein than on the Fin Vein (Figure 3). Surface sampling carried out prior to the start of the drilling programme returned assays from selective grab samples on the J Vein including 15.70 g/t Au, 157 g/t Ag, 0.75% Cu and 1.11% Zn (sample AHA-46265, 563698E-2932821N) and 12.10 g/t Au, 301 g/t Ag, and 1.54% Pb (sample AHA-46190, 563715E-2932780N). Selective grab sampling on the JVZ structure returned assays including 23.70 g/t Au, 30.6 g/t Ag and 0.44% Cu (sample AHA-46195, 563768E-2932789N).

Drill intersections on both the J Vein and the JVZ structure however were sporadic, generally narrow and low grade. The J Vein returned mineralised intersections including 1.10 g/t Au, 11.2 g/t Ag, and 1.22 g/t AuEq over a 2.70m interval, from 9.60m downhole depth (hole AMD-103), and 0.84 g/t Au, 15.4 g/t Ag, and 1.01 g/t AuEq over a 7.30m interval, from 16.40m downhole depth (hole AMD-106). The JVZ structure returned mineralised intersections including 11.50 g/t Au, 19.3 g/t Ag, 11.71 g/t AuEq and 5.50% Zn over a 0.70m interval, from 79.10m downhole depth (hole AMD-105).

A series of discontinuous mineralised structures and veins were mapped between the J Vein and the JVZ structure, with a shallow (dipping c. 45° to the south) orientation. The distribution and size of these structures was hard to determine as they were largely covered by loose scree and talus on the steep slopes, but abundant heavily copper-stained float boulders are evident in this area, and are believed to be sourced from these shallow structures. These shallow structures may represent mineralised cross-structures between the more laterally continuous J Vein and JVZ structures, and they returned selective grab sample grades including 12.75 g/t Au, 184 g/t Ag, 1.41% Cu, 0.91% Pb and 17.45% Z n (sample AHA-46288, 563743E-2932758N) and 13.45 g/t Au, 93.6 g/t Ag, 0.48% Cu, 0.43% Pb and 5.58% Zn (sample AHA-46194, 563753E-2932762N). Hole AMD-107 returned a high grade mineralised intersection of 9.57 g/t Au, 92.9 g/t Ag, 10.66 g/t AuEq and 0.52% Cu over a 3.90m interval , from 24.20m downhole depth, apparently associated with these flat-lying or shallow structures.

The 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. (TSXV:AAN:) is focused on its 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession ("Abu Marawat"), located in Egypt's Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200 km north of Centamin'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 km ² 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 km ² 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.

SOURCE: Aton Resources, Inc.