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GreenOre Gold Plc partners with Erris Resources on Perthshire project

GreenOre Gold Plc (“GreenOre”) is pleased to announce the partnership with Erris Resources (“Erris”) on their Perthshire project.  Erris have the option to earn 80% of the project by defining a minimum of 250,000 ounces of gold within four years.

Following a review of the project with subsequent rock sampling and the discovery of alluvial gold, Erris identified two target areas within the Loch Tay prospect as having excellent gold potential: Ardtalnaig and Glen Almond. The Ardtalnaig target is focused an historical lead working containing a quartz-stockwork with significant gold grades.  The Glen Almond target was located with the discovery of a 10 gram nugget in July 2019 by a team from the University of Leeds.

Managing Director of GreenOre Gold plc, Gavin Berkenheger commented, “Our new partnership with AIM listed Erris Resources on our Perthshire project is an exciting milestone for GreenOre.  We are optimistic for success as the new mineral discoveries identified demonstrate how little is actually known of the region and its potential mineral wealth.  We wish Erris every success in identifying a significant gold resource and look forward to developing it with them.”

Further Information

Option  Agreement

Erris Resources and GreenOre entered into an Option Agreement on 9 December 2019 to explore for gold on the area covered by the Loch Tay Licence in Perthshire, Central Scotland. The Option Agreement is conditional, inter alia, on the satisfactory conclusion by Erris Resources of a due diligence review of the Project.

The Project area comprises 237 square kilometres of highly prospective ground within the Grampian Gold Belt, a region of Dalradian rocks, which host several significant mineral occurences and deposits of high-grade gold, base metals and baryte across Northern Ireland and Scotland. Grampian gold deposits include the Curraghinalt deposit in Northern Ireland (6.09 Moz at 13.6g/t Au) and the Cononish deposit in Scotland (266 KOz at 13.4 g/t Au).

An initial due diligence review, which involved preliminary prospecting and mapping by Erris Resources, has identified two priority target areas, Ardtalnaig and Glen Almond, as having excellent gold potential based on the presence of historic workings, mineralised outcrops and alluvial gold occurrences.

The main terms of the Option Agreement are as follows:

  • The Option Agreement is conditional on Erris Resources issuing an option notice to GreenOre following satisfactory completion by Erris Resources of a due diligence review of the Project by no later than 18 January 2020 (the “Option Notice”).
  • Following the issue of the Option Notice, Erris Resources will have the option to earn 80% of the Loch Tay Project consisting of the Loch Tay Mines Royal Option from GreenOre by defining a minimum inferred resource of 250,000 ounces gold, to be defined by an Independent Competent Person, within four years of the date of the Option Notice.
  • Upon defining 250,000 ounces within the required time frame, the ownership of the licence shall be allocated as to 80% Erris Resources and 20% GreenOre and any subsequent funding shall be on a pro-rata basis.
  • In the event of either party failing to fund their respective portion, they will be diluted according to a standard industry formula. If either party shall dilute to less than 10% then that party shall forfeit all ownership and be entitled to a 2% Net Smelter Return Royalty (“NSR”).
  • Erris Resources shall have the option to purchase 50% of the NSR for US$1M at any time prior to a production decision on the project.
  • Erris Resources will be the operator and will manage the exploration programme.

Targets on the Loch Tay Project

Following the initial due diligence review by Erris Resources including the review of 87 samples previously collected by GreenOre, two new target areas for gold have been outlined on the Ardtalnaig and Glen Almond estates approximately 17-20km southwest of Aberfeldy. The licence area hosts several significant mineral occurrences and historic workings for silver, lead and copper. The proximity to the Loch Tay Fault, a major crustal scale fault zone, is considered an important control on the mineralisation in the licence area.

Ardtalnaig Target: In the Ardtalnaig area, small-scale workings for lead, which are hosted in felsites, have been mapped and include several trenches and a possible adit with associated dumps. The felsites intruded the Dalradian schists following the main regional metamorphic events such that they are unaffected by deformation. The felsites are interpreted to be part of a sill complex and are essentially subvolcanic rhyolite intrusives; elsewhere in the licence area, outcropping flow banded rhyolite has been found which resembles the felsite. The felsites indicate the presence of late-orogenic magmatic activity which could have driven hydrothermal activity and mineralisation of gold and base metals. Recent sampling by GreenOre has yielded high-grade gold associated with quartz-stockwork breccias within these felsites. Quartz stockworks in felsite containing variable amounts of galena, sphalerite and baryte have been found within an area of intermittent outcrop measuring 1.7km x 1km while mineralised boulder trains increase the length of the zone to approximately 2.4km. The stockwork zones are thought to range from 0.5m to several metres in width and there could be several parallel structural zones present based on the distribution of mineralised boulders. The trend of the mineralised zones is approximately 160 degrees and is consistent with other occurrences in the wider licence area. Samples taken by GreeOre from the historic workings returned encouraging results for gold, silver lead and zinc. Two samples from separate workings returned the following: sample K06789 – 5.97g/t Au, 8.9g/t Ag, 2.21% Pb and 4.2% Zn and sample K24526 – 7.58 g/t Au, 16.9 g/t Ag, 4.43% Pb and 3.99% Zn. A boulder sample taken uphill from the workings returned a result of 8.74g/t Au, 11.85g/t Ag and 1.66% Pb. Most samples show strong correlations between gold, lead and baryte. The sulphides occur in vuggy quartz veins and stockworks indicative of shallow epithermal-style mineralisation. Further mapping, rock sampling and soil surveys are planned. The association of mineralisation with felsites and major structures in the area is important and this will guide exploration going forward.

Glen Almond Target: Some vein outcrops and alteration zones consisting of silicification of pelites and psammites were discovered in the Glen Almond area which is located 6.6km south of Ardtalnaig. The prospect lies 2.5km east-southeast of the Coire Buidhe silver mine, one of the more significant historic mines in the region where up to 18 veins were worked for high-grade silver associated with lead in argentiferous galena. In addition, a team from the University of Leeds which is studying alluvial gold, discovered a 10 gram nugget in the Glen Almond river within the Glen Almond target area in July 2019. The nugget is thought to be proximal to source due to its shape and association with quartz crystals which were still attached. A total of 77 fine gold grains were panned at a downstream site in Glen Almond as part of the same regional alluvial gold study. Further prospecting and mapping is required to locate the source of alluvial gold and expand the potential of the prospect.

The licence area, including the two main prospects, has good access, nearby infrastructure and is located in a region which has seen acceptance for mining projects.  Recently, operations at the Cononish deposit owned by Scotgold (43 km to the west) commenced and a planning application was approved by Perth and Kinross Council in September 2016 for the Duntanlich baryte mine 25km to the northeast which is owned by M-ISWACO, a Schlumberger company. The Foss baryte mine located 18km to the northeast will be winding down operations once Duntanlich is in production. Initial land access agreements have been signed by GreenOre with the two landowners at Ardtalnaig and Glen Almond.

ENDs

This announcement has been reviewed and approved by Gavin Berkenheger (C. Geol) in his capacity as the Qualified Person.

Information for Editors:
GreenOre is a mineral exploration company with a focus on Scottish gold deposits. GreenOre currently hold 7 Option Agreements for gold and silver with the Crown Estate Scotland covering a total of 1721km squared in Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire, Perthshire and Ross-shire. Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire exploration blocks are under joint venture with Koza Ltd.

Further information can be sourced from the Company website: www.greenoregold.com

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