Auro Metals Continues Its Resource Upgrade Drilling at Santa Barbara

Auro Metals Inc. (TSXV:AURO, OTC:AURFF) is rapidly building one of the most compelling exploration stories in Ecuador, and its 100%-owned Santa Barbara gold-copper project just keeps delivering.

Recall that Santa Barbara already boasts a substantial NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource, containing:

• Indicated: 29.8 million tonnes at 0.75 g/t gold equivalent, containing 697,000 ounces of gold and 68.2 million pounds of copper (or 722,000 oz. of gold equivalent).


• Inferred: 205.7 million tonnes at 0.54 g/t gold equivalent, containing 3.4 million ounces of gold and 425.9 million pounds of copper (or 3.6 million ounces of gold equivalent).

That alone makes Santa Barbara a "golden unicorn" in the porphyry world.

But here's what makes the story so compelling right now: Auro's Phase 1 drill campaign was designed to upgrade that Inferred resource - and the results not only confirmed historical drilling but also showed that Santa Barbara is bigger and richer than the current resource defines. Infill drilling has returned numerous long, consistent gold-copper intercepts, with gold tenors in several holes coming in higher than the resource grades.

Additionally, recent drilling has demonstrated that mineralization remains completely open — meaning the resource at Santa Barbara may still be in the early chapters of its growth story.

Resource Upgrade In Progress

Auro’s Phase 1 campaign totaled over 11,000 meters in 22 drill holes. Highlights from the 17 holes completed and reported so far include (results from 5 final holes of the Phase 1 campaign are pending):

• DSB-68: 905.22 meters of 0.60 g/t gold and 0.12% copper (0.63 g/t gold equivalent) from 56.5 meters downhole. Weaker mineralization continues until the end of the hole at a depth of 1,282 meters. This was the longest and deepest drillhole to date. Best intercept on a gram by meter basis ever drilled at Santa Barbara.


• DSB-54: 705.7 meters of 0.61 g/t gold and 0.1% copper (0.64 g/t gold equivalent) from surface.


• DSB-59: 625.12 meters of 0.64 g/t gold and 0.1% copper (0.67 g/t gold equivalent) from 81.43 meters downhole.


• DSB-60: 542 meters of 0.6 g/t gold and 0.12% copper (0.63 g/t gold equivalent).


• DSB-61: 496.5 meters of 0.76 g/t gold and 0.12% copper (0.79 g/t gold equivalent), including 212.5 meters of 1.12 g/t gold and 0.14% copper (1.15 g/t gold equivalent).

Bottom line: the program confirmed historical drilling, increased drill density within the Inferred and Indicated resource areas, and demonstrated that mineralization remains open in all directions. Drilling also extended mineralization at depth in several areas and returned gold and copper grades higher than those in the current Inferred resource — a very positive signal for the next resource update.

Auro's Phase 1 drilling also provided core samples for metallurgical (or met) testing, including gravity concentration, comminution, flotation, and cyanide leaching. The objective is to optimize Santa Barbara's processing flowsheet and maximize gold and copper recoveries. In other words, the company has begun analyzing the most economical way to process the deposit’s porphyry-style mineralization.

Progress At Santa Barbara Is Accelerating

Auro’s 20,000 m phase 2 campaign is now underway with four drill rigs turning. Three more rigs, capable of drilling to a depth of more than one kilometre, will be added. And if needed, the company can mobilize more rigs to accelerate its step-out and infill drilling.

One goal of the company’s Phase 2 campaign is to test the deposit's depth extension. As we showed above, several holes drilled during the first phase ended in mineralization. This suggests more valuable material may exist at depth.

Auro’s Phase 2 campaign has other objectives as well. The company plans to test gaps between the already-outlined portions of the deposit. If successful, these holes could not only increase the resource but also potentially lower the overall strip ratio. It also plans to test new targets identified through historical surface sampling and geophysical (induced polarization) survey. Finally, Auro plans to do infill drilling to upgrade as much of the Inferred resource as possible to the Indicated category.

Again, keep in mind that Santa Barbara is already a multi-million-ounce deposit. It hosts 4.3 million ounces of gold equivalent.

Looking further ahead, Phase 3 drilling will dovetail with the current program and focus on further step-out drilling and resource expansion.

The market has noticed the company’s accelerating progress. Since Auro released its first batch of drill results in June, its share price has soared by more than 40%.

However, we still believe the company is attractively valued. Compared to its peers, Auro Metals Inc. (TSXV:AURO, OTC:AURFF) has one of the lowest ratios of enterprise-value-to-attributable-gold-equivalent-resource in the industry.

This is why we urge investors to add Auro Metals Inc. (TSXV:AURO, OTC:AURFF) to their watchlists and learn more about the company here.