Aurania extends drill target in Ecuador, stock soars

While completing its scout drilling program at the Tsenken N2 copper target in Ecuador, Aurania Resources (TSXV: ARU) has also discovered extensions to the areas of silver enrichment in soil previously reported from the Tiria-Shimpia silver-gold target over a cumulative length of 15 kilometres, the company reported on Friday.

The Tiria-Shimpia target — part of Aurania’s extensive Lost Cities – Cutucu project — is on the short-list for scout drilling when the program at Tsenken has been completed.

“Tiria-Shimpia is shaping up to be one of many compelling targets in Aurania’s portfolio,” Dr. Keith Barron, chairman and CEO of Aurania, said in a press release.

“Soil sampling has defined four main zones of silver enrichment that total 15 km in length. We’re excited about this target area because the silver zone lies in the central part of a far larger mineralized system that, itself, lies on the flank of the biggest magnetic feature of our entire geophysical survey,” Barron added.

Despite the large size of the target area at Tiria-Shimpia, regional exploration in adjacent areas suggests that the system is larger, and soil sampling will be done to refine those potential extensions, the company said.

Grid soil sampling will also be conducted to further refine existing target areas so that scout drilling can be efficiently planned.

According to the company, Aurania’s exploration of the Tiria-Shimpia target is guided by its likeness to the silver-lead-zinc deposits of the Colquijirca district in Peru that contains the Cerro de Pasco deposit that was mined for silver by the Colonial Spanish from the year 1630.

The Lost Cities – Cutucu project is situated along geological trend of the Cordillera del Condor that contains 26 million ounces of gold, principally in the Fruta del Norte deposit where production began in November 2019, as well as 30 billion pounds of copper in belt of porphyries.

The other large-scale mine in the region, Mirador, which was Ecuador’s first open-pit copper mine, was also brought into production last year.

Shares of Aurania Resources surged 14.5% on the TSX Venture Exchange by 1:30 p.m. EDT Friday, giving the Toronto-based miner a market capitalization of C$205.6 million.