Quebec - Marban

Aurizon has signed an option agreement in July 2010 with Niogold Mining Corporation ("Niogold") on the Marban Block property, located in the Malartic gold camp in the Abitibi region, Quebec, pursuant to which:

• Aurizon can earn a 50% interest in the Marban Block, subject to underlying royalties, by:
  • incurring expenditures of C$20 million over three years, of which C$5.0 million is a firm commitment to be spent in the first year;
    
    
  • completing an updated NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate;
    
    
  • making a resource payment equal to the sum of C$30 (or C$40 if the price of gold is then above US$1,560) multiplied by 50% of the number of total gold ounces in the Measured and Indicated resource categories plus C$20 (or C$30 if the price of gold is then above US$1,560) multiplied by 50% of the number of total gold ounces in the Inferred resource category, based on the updated resource estimate.
• Aurizon can earn an additional 10% interest, for an aggregate of 60% interest, by delivering a feasibility study;
  
  
• Aurizon can earn an additional 5%, for an aggregate 65% interest, by arranging project financing for capital expenditures estimated by the feasibility study to place the project into commercial production;
  
  
• NioGold will be operator during the initial earn-in period and Aurizon will provide input on exploration programs and will become operator after the initial 50% interest has been earned.

The Marban Block includes the Gold Hawk, First Canadian, Norlartic and Marban properties and consists of forty-two (42) mining claims and three (3) mining concessions covering 976 hectares in the heart of the Malartic gold mining camp, Abitibi region, Quebec. A December 1, 2009 resource estimate on the Marban Block, included in a report prepared for Niogold dated March 11, 2010 titled "Updated Mineral Resource Technical Report, Malartic Project" by Michael M. Gustin P. Geo., Mine Development Associates of Reno Nevada (the "MDA Report"), reports indicated mineral resources of 598,000 ounces gold plus inferred mineral resources of 361,000 ounces gold. According to the MDA Report, the mineral resources are defined along a three-kilometre segment of the Norbenite-Marbanite fault zone, in and around the former Marban, Norlartic and Kierens gold mines, which are reported to have collectively produced approximately 600,000 ounces gold. The 2009 mineral resource estimate that the MDA Report indicated are potentially amenable to open pit extraction and underground extraction are summarized below:

      Estimated Open Pit Resources:

• Indicated:6.0 million tonnes @ 1.6 grams of gold per tonne (303,000 oz)
  
  
• Inferred: 4.4 million tonnes @ 1.3 grams of gold per tonne (179,000 oz)

     Estimated Underground Resources:

• Indicated:2.1 million tonnes @ 4.3 grams of gold per tonne (296,000 oz)
  
  
• Inferred: 1.5 million tonnes @ 3.9 grams of gold per tonne (182,000 oz)

A 0.5 grams of gold per tonne cut-off grade was applied to tabulate diluted resources lying within 200 meters vertically from the surface. These resources can reasonably be considered available for potential open-pit extraction and conventional mill processing. A 2.5 grams of gold per tonne cut-off grade was applied to tabulate the deeper undiluted resources lying more than 200 meters vertically below the surface. The higher-grade cut-off for the deeper mineralization is chosen to capture mineralization potentially available to underground extraction and conventional mill processing.

Year End 2012 Update

An updated mineral resource estimate on the Phase II drilling completed in August 2012 is in progress and is expected to be completed by early 2013.  Following the updated mineral resource estimate the Company will review and evaluate a Phase III drill program.

During the year, the Company incurred $5.1 million (2011: $4.8 million) of exploration expenditures at Marban, which have been charged to earnings.  Since the beginning of the agreement, the Company has incurred a total of $11.5 million of exploration expenditures in respect of this agreement.

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate - September 2012

The updated mineral resource estimate was prepared by SGS Canada Inc. - Geostat (“SGS Geostat”), in collaboration with Aurizon’s personnel. 

The Resource estimate is based only on Phase One Drilling – Marban Deposit

The updated mineral resource estimate integrates the results of all drill programs on the Marban deposit including those for the mineral resource estimate prepared by Mine Development Associates on December 1, 2009.  In addition to 9 new holes drilled by Niogold, a total of 137 new holes and 41,270 metres have been drilled during the Phase One program between August 30, 2010 and August 9, 2011.

Based on a cut-off grade of 0.35 grams of gold per tonne and a high value capping of 25 grams of gold per tonne, the updated In-pit mineral resources are estimated at 20,700,000 tonnes at 1.58 grams of gold per tonne or 1,053,000 ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category and at 3,780,000 tonnes at 1.60 grams of gold per tonne or 194,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.  The resources, outside of the pit shell and using a cut-off grade of 2.0 grams of gold per tonne, are estimated at 980,000 tonnes at 2.82 grams of gold per tonne or 89,000 ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category plus 800,000 tonnes at 2.68 grams of gold per tonne or 69,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

                                                    Table 1: Marban Gold Deposit – In-Pit Mineral Resources

The mineral resource estimate has been calculated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definitions Standards for mineral resources in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Mineral resources update effective date: November 16, 2011.

¹             Rounded to nearest 10 thousand  
²             High value capping factor at 25 g/t Au on assays
³             Rounded to nearest 1 thousand.

The in-pit and underground resources have been estimated based on the following parameters:

• Two distinct mining scenarios: open-pit and underground. The open pit mineral resources are reported within an initial Whittle pit shell;
• The base case scenario was performed with a minimum cut-off grade of 0.35 grams of gold per tonne.
• A total of 1,684 holes including 333 historical surface holes for a total of 136,789 metres of surface drilling and 1,205 historical underground holes for a total of 61,256 metres;
• A total of 858 underground channels and chips samples.
• A total of 107,904 assays which are available in the database;
• A capping of 25 grams of gold per tonne was applied to the assays. The results are presented as undiluted and in-situ;
• The mineral resources were modeled and estimated using SGS Proprietary software Genesis 1.0.17;
• The mineral resource model was interpreted from 144 transverse sections at intervals of 12.5 metres and from level plans at intervals of 5 metres;
• The interpolation was conducted on composite assays of 2 metres in length.
• The interpolation was done by Ordinary Kriging in two stages: One block model using mineralised envelopes for the high grade mineralisation (>0.5 grams of gold per tonne), and another block model for the lower grade mineralisation located outside the defined mineralised envelopes;
• The block model was defined by blocks of 5 metres long by 5 metres wide by 5 metres thick and covers a strike length of 1,400 metres to a maximum depth of 700 metres below surface;
• An average drill spacing of 25 metres x 25 metres was used for the measured and indicated resources;
• The average relative density used to calculate the tonnage of the Marban deposit was adjusted to 2.77tonnes/cubic metre;
• The historical Marban production was removed from the mineral resources.
• The Whittle pit optimisation was performed by SGS Geostat using a gold price of US$1,350 per ounce and an exchange rate of 1:1.
• The simulated pit is 1,400 metres long, 850 metres wide and 350 metres deep. The mineral resources located outside the Marban deposit optimised pit shell is evaluated using an underground (“U/G”) mining scenario, The base case cut-off grade for U/G mineral resources at Marban has been set at 2.0 grams of gold per tonne.

For further information on the resource update, please view the news release dated September 7, 2012 on our website at http://www.aurizon.com/English/News/News-Releases/default.aspx.         

  
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The MDA Report is available under Niogold's profile at www.sedar.com.

Data Verification / Qualified Person

Readers are cautioned that neither Aurizon nor any qualified person on behalf of Aurizon has verified the data disclosed in the MDA Report or any of the sampling, analytical or test data underlying the opinions and estimates set forth in the MDA Report, and assume no responsibility for such information. Information of a scientific or technical nature contained in this web site regarding the Marban Property has been reviewed by Martin Demers, P.Geo, Manager, Exploration and a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 solely for the purpose of determining that it accurately reflects information reported in the MDA Report.


This page last updated: April 3, 2013