TSV-X-listed Aton has reported “promising” results from its Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at the Semna gold mine in the Abu Marawat concession in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

The recently completed Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at Semna yielded several significant drill intersections from the eastern extension of the previously mined main vein. Drilling confirmed that high-grade mineralisation continues over a strike length of at least 500 m, with good mineralisation drilled in the easternmost hole.

Twenty-eight holes were drilled at Semna, for a total of 4 701 m. The programme was designed to test the main vein zone (MVZ) and its eastern extension, with two short holes testing the eastern adit vein.

Significant high-grade mineralised intersections from the Semna main vein eastern extension zone (MVZ-EX) include 11.69 g/t gold, 19.1 g/t silver, and 1.38% copper over a 5.19 m interval from 126.35 m downhole depth, and 21.53 g/t gold over a 1.5 m interval from 147.20 m downhole depth (both from hole SMD-048).

Other notable intersections include 15.05 g/t gold, 8.7 g/t silver, and 0.47% copper over a 2.55 m interval from 100.45 m downhole depth (hole SMD-025), and 3.16 g/t gold over a 13.96 m interval from 57.42 m downhole depth (hole SMD-043), including 27.90 g/t gold over 1.37 m from 68.94 m.

Additional findings include 3.49 g/t gold over a 7.97 m interval from 135.83 m downhole depth (hole SMD-027), including 8.10 g/t gold over 3.13 m from 135.83 m, and 16.77 g/t gold over a 1.55 m interval from 64.3 m downhole depth (hole SMD-044).

"The recently completed Phase 2 diamond drilling programme at Semna has continued to show excellent promise with more very significant drill intersections from the eastern extension of the previously mined main vein. The drilling has shown that the high-grade mineralisation continues over a strike length of at least 500 m, with good mineralisation drilled in the easternmost hole.

As always, a drill programme raises new questions, including an issue with one of the reverse circulation (RC) holes, and now is a suitable moment to review the data from the first two drill programmes. The presence of abundant coarse gold at Semna suggests that it is important to use as large diameter drill holes as possible, and we plan to return to Semna in the coming months, to continue with a combination of RC percussion and PQ size diamond drilling.

“However, the most important thing is that the persistence of the high grade and coarse gold-bearing mineralisation to the east of the old underground workings is quite clear,” Aton CEO Tonno Vahk said on July 5.

The Semna prospect is located about 27 km east-northeast of the Hamama West deposit and 13 km north-northeast of the Rodruin deposit, accessible by means of desert tracks from Hamama, Rodruin, or the Abu Marawat deposit to the north.

The Semna area has a long history of gold mining, exploited between 1904 and 1906 by two British companies, which worked the main vein on two underground levels. More recently, the area has been extensively worked by illegal artisanal miners, who have now been removed from the site.

During 2023, Aton completed a first phase of RC percussion drilling at Semna, completing 21 holes for a total of 3 662 m. This programme yielded robust results with mineralised intersections including 50.07 g/t gold over a 6 m interval (hole SMP-016), 28.36 g/t gold, 28.4 g/t silver, and 1.15% copper over a 4 m interval (hole SMP-003), 11.98 g/t gold over a 16 m interval (hole SMP-018), 10.61 g/t gold, 24 g/t silver and 1.20% copper over a 9 m interval (hole SMP-019), and 5.73 g/t gold over a 14 m interval (hole SMP-017). The RC drilling confirmed the presence of significant coarse gold in the Semna mineralisation, Aton said.

Subsequent metallurgical testwork undertaken by Aton returned positive results with gold recoveries in excess of 97% from two representative bulk samples of the Semna mineralisation. Gold was also recovered to two gravity concentrates at rates of 56.4% and 62.2%, again indicating a significant component of coarse gold in the Semna mineralisation.

The testwork indicated that the Semna mineralisation is amenable to treatment by both conventional carbon-in-leach and gravity concentration-leach processing options.

A total of 21 drill holes, SMD-021 to SMD-048, were completed at the Semna prospect for a total of 4 701 m during the recently completed Phase 2 diamond drill programme.

The programme was primarily designed to test for mineralisation in the MVZ-EX zone, which appears to strike in an east-northeasterly direction to the east of the old British mine workings, where it is buried beneath wadi sediments.

Other holes tested the depth extension of the MVZ, which was exploited underground in the 1900s, and the eastern adit vein. Half core samples were routinely assayed for gold, silver and copper, with samples from the first five holes of the programme also assayed for lead and zinc.

“We are now well into the new diamond drilling programme at Abu Marawat and we are liking what we are seeing so far. We are also making progress at Hamama, with the establishment of Abu Marawat Gold Mines.

“The programme for the next year has been agreed by the board of the joint venture operating company, and once we have crossed the Ts and dotted the final Is, we expect to start making rapid progress towards the development of the next gold mine in Egypt at Hamama West,” Vahk said.