• New gold intercepts along 1 km strike length of the structural corridor west of Helmi include:
  • 1.78 g/t Au over 15.10 m
  • 52.50 g/t Au over 0.55 m
  • 10/11 holes intersected gold mineralization
• Half of 11,000 m drilling program completed

Aurion Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AU) (OTCQX: AIRRF) reports results for eleven holes from the summer-fall 2022 drilling program on the Aurion-B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) Joint Venture, operated by B2Gold, in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in northern Finland.

Summary

• New gold intercepts along 1 km strike length of the structural corridor west of Helmi
  • 1.78 g/t Au over 15.10 m from 103.65 m (IKK22040)
  • 52.50 g/t Au over 0.55 m from 91.80 m (KUE22023)
  • 10/11 holes intersected gold mineralization along 1 km strike length of the structural corridor
• Half of 11,000 m drilling program completed
  • Approximately 11,000 m of drilling planned for the second half of 2022
  • Drilling planned to test the extent of the mineralized trend at Helmi and regional targets

Comments

“The mineralized system at Helmi is expanding towards the west. Recent step out drill holes returned several gold intercepts along approximately 1 km strike length to the west of the Helmi Main zone. Gold mineralized intervals have now been intersected along 2 km strike length of the structural corridor that extends 8 km between the Helmi and Kutuvuoma occurrences.” Commented Aurion’s CEO, Matti Talikka. “We expect further results from the ongoing 11,000 m drilling program, of which half has been completed, to be available later this year and early next year.”

Figures associated with this release can be found at the following link:

https://aurionresources.com/site/assets/files/1456/nr22-15figures.pdf

Helmi Discovery

The Helmi Discovery is located approximately 1.3 km west of Rupert Resources’ 3.95-million-ounce Ikkari Discovery. The Helmi area covers approximately 2 km strike length of the 8 km long sequence of prospective geology along a domain boundary in the eastern part of the JV property extending from the Ikkari Discovery to the Kutuvuoma test pit.

The Helmi Discovery was made during the second half of 2021 and drilling has returned a number of significant intercepts including 2.05 g/t Au over 77.50 m, 1.84 g/t Au over 52.40 m, 2.44 g/t Au over 43.45 m,  0.82 g/t Au over 108.10 m, 1.73 g/t Au over 44.95 m, 1.42 g/t Au over 30.70 m, 1.42 g/t Au over 30.60 m, 1.46 g/t Au over 39.00 m, 1.46 g/t Au over 28.70 m , 1.45 g/t Au over 35.50 m, 1.11 g/t Au over 45.80 m and 2.05 g/t Au over 18.30 m. Gold mineralization, at Helmi and along the prospective structural corridor, has been intersected along a strike length of  2 km and the mineralized zones remain open along strike and at depth.

Mineralization at Helmi is mainly hosted by strongly deformed and biotite-chlorite+/-magnetite-altered, quartz-carbonate-magnetite veined ultramafic rocks and mafic tuffs with fine grained veinlet and disseminated pyrite. Gold mineralization has also been encountered in sedimentary rocks across the domain boundary.

Summer-fall 2022 drill program

The summer-fall drill program is a follow-up to the successful winter-spring drill program at Helmi. The approximately 11,000 m program, commenced in June, is designed to further test the strike and depth extensions of the mineralized zones at Helmi and regional targets identified from the geophysical and geochemical surveys.

This press release contains results for eleven holes (4,281.40 m) that targeted the Helmi Discovery and the structural corridor to the west. Gold mineralization was intersected in 10 out of 11 holes in the western part of Helmi and along a 1 km strike length of the structural corridor.

Table 1: Aurion-B2Gold JV Drilling Summary

Drill hole IKK22039 was collared in the western part of Helmi, 300 m to the south from IKK22035 (0.51 g/t Au over 2.30 m) and was drilled from south to north. IKK22039 intersected 1.67 g/t Au over 1.40 m from 86.60 m and a mineralized interval of 0.53 g/t Au over 21.00 m from 322.80 m, potentially representing the periphery of one of the interpreted mineralized lenses.

Drill hole IKK22040 was collared on the Helmi Trend, 145 m to the south from IKK22031 (0.98 g/t Au over 12.10 m) and was drilled from south to north. IKK22040 intersected 1.78 g/t Au over 15.10 m from 103.65 m including 4.78 g/t Au over 4.45 m, approximately 95 m to the west from the mineralization intersected in hole IKK22031. The mineralization is hosted in brecciated volcanics close to the contact with younger sedimentary rocks.

Drill hole IKK22041 was collared on the Helmi Trend, 165 m to the south from IKK22040, as an undercut hole and was drilled from south to north. IKK22041 intersected 0.28 g/t Au over 16.90 m from 258.50 m extending the mineralization intersected in hole IKK22040 by 145 m down-dip along the volcanic-sediment contact.

Drill hole IKK22042 was collared in the western part of Helmi, 55 m to the north from IKK22034 (1.46 g/t Au over 33.00 m and 2.11 g/t Au over 21.70 m) and was drilled from north to south. IKK22042 intersected four mineralized intervals of 1.31 g/t Au over 0.90 m from 227.00 m, 0.49 g/t Au over 5.43 m from 319.97 m, 0.41 g/t Au over 7.20 m from 335.80 m and a wide mineralized interval of 0.56 g/t Au over 20.32 m from 361.68 m. Strong alteration observed over wide intervals suggests proximity to mineralized lenses.

Drill hole KUE22020 was collared on the Helmi Trend, 175 m to the north from KUE21008 (0.71 g/t Au over 36.00 m) and was drilled from north to south. KUE22020 intersected 1.31 g/t Au over 1.00 m from 62.80 m.

Drill hole KUE22021 was collared on the Helmi Trend, 90 m to the south from KUE21009 (1.00 g/t Au over 4.24 m) and was drilled from south to north. KUE22021 intersected 0.59 g/t Au over 11.05 m from 178.80 m in brecciated volcanic rocks close to the volcanic-sediment contact.

Drill hole KUE22022 was collared along the structural corridor 180 m to the west from KUE21009 (1.00 g/t Au over 4.24 m) and was drilled from south to north. KUE22022 intersected four mafic to ultramafic hosted mineralized intervals of 0.79 g/t Au over 5.45 m from 263.80 m, 0.99 g/t Au over 1.85 m from 276.65 m, 17.60 g/t Au over 0.40 m from 305.45 m and 1.47 g/t Au over 1.60 m from 315.80 m.

Drill hole KUE22023 was collared along the structural corridor, 70 m to the south from KUE20005 (2.21 g/t Au over 1.40 m) and was drilled from south to north. KUE22023 intersected five mineralized intervals of 52.50 g/t Au over 0.55 m from 91.80 m, 2.07 g/t Au over 2.25 m from 147.60 m, 2.77 g/t Au over 0.90 m from 162.45 m, 7.24 g/t Au over 1.25 m from 230.60 m and 1.59 g/t Au over 5.40 m from 305.60 m.

Drill hole KUE22024 was collared along the structural corridor, 335 m to the west from KUE21009 (1.00 g/t Au over 4.24 m) and was drilled from south to north. KUE22024 intersected four mineralized intervals of 3.61 g/t Au over 4.10 m from 72.80 m (including 11.10 g/t Au over 0.50 m and 17.75 g/t Au over 0.40 m), 0.67 g/t Au over 3.75 m from 276.70 m, 0.45 g/t Au over 5.90 m from 375.90 m and 0.94 g/t Au over 1.55 m from 392.90 m.

Drill hole KUE22025 was collared on the Helmi Trend, 70 m to the west from IKK22040, and was drilled from south to north. KUE22025 intersected a volcanic-sediment hosted mineralized interval of 0.50 g/t Au over 18.00 m from 51.40 m including 1.11 g/t Au over 5.00 m from 54.20 m.

Drill hole KUE22026 was collared along the structural corridor, 550 m to the west from KUE22024, and was drilled from south to north. The majority of KUE22026 remained in younger sediments and intersected anomalous gold (>0.1 g/t Au).

Background

The JV (30% Aurion/70% B2Gold) covers approximately 331 km² along the major crustal scale Sirkka Shear Zone in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt and includes a number of discoveries such as Helmi (2.05 g/t Au over 77.50 m), Kutuvuoma (16.47 g/t Au over 11.0 m), Soretiavuoma (48 g/t Au over 1.1 m), Sinermä (0.54 g/t Au over 40.2 m), Kiekerömaa (5.8 g/t Au over 5.0 m) and Kettukuusikko (4.33 g/t Au over 20.4 m).

B2Gold is the operator of the JV. The expanded budget for 2022 is approximately CAN$13.5 million (from CAN$10.0 million) and includes approximately 17,000 m of drilling. The JV will also continue to perform geophysical surveys and base of till sampling programs that have been successfully used to generate drill targets.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

All samples were delivered to ALS preparation facility in Sodankylä, Finland where sample preparation work was completed. Analytical work for these samples was completed at ALS facilities in Loughrea, Co. Galway, Ireland and Rosia Montana, Romania. ALS is an internationally accredited lab and are ISO compliant (ISO 9001:2008, ISO/IEC 17025:2017). Samples were analyzed for gold using the Au-AA26 procedure (50 g fire assay with AAS finish: Lower Detection Limit (“LDL”) 0.01 g/t gold; Upper Detection Limit (“UDL”) – 100 g/t gold). B2Gold has an internal QA/QC program involving the insertion of certified standards and blanks into the sample stream. ALS has its own QA/QC protocol using standards, blanks and duplicates.

This news release has been reviewed by Andrew Hussey, P.Geo., GIS Geologist and Database Manager for Aurion Resources, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. For more information on these projects please visit our website at www.aurionresources.com.

About Aurion Resources Ltd.

Aurion Resources Ltd. is a well-funded, Canadian exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the OTCQX Best Market. Aurion’s strategy is to generate or acquire early-stage precious metals exploration opportunities and advance them through direct exploration by our experienced team or by business partnerships and joint venture arrangements. Aurion’s current focus is exploring on its fully owned Risti and Launi projects, as well as advancing joint venture properties with B2Gold and Kinross in northern Finland.