Auriga Gold (AIA)

[coinmaker]

Drill results

Auriga Gold’s Drilling at Maverick Gold Project, Manitoba, Intersects High Grade Mineralization including 30.44 g/t Gold over 2.0 Meters
TORONTO, ONTARIO, March 24, 2011. Auriga Gold Corp. (TSXV: “AIA”) (“Auriga Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to report that ongoing drilling at the Company’s Maverick Gold Project, has continued to intersect parallel zones of high-grade gold mineralization including intersections of 30.44 g/t gold over 2.0 meters and 9.19 g/t over 2.0 meters. The Maverick Gold Project, located 65 km northeast of Flin Flon, Manitoba, includes the past-producing Puffy Lake Mine and the adjacent Nokomis Property.
Richard Sutcliffe, Auriga Gold’s President and CEO stated, “Our drilling program is showing encouraging continuity of high-grade gold mineralization at the Puffy Lake Mine. Our initial focus of drilling to confirm and extend the existing resources is progressing very well. The Maverick Gold Project has excellent location and infrastructure and we anticipate an opportunity to quickly establish a mine development plan at Maverick Gold.”
Diamond drill holes A3-02, 04, 07, 09 and 12 are part of the Phase 1 confirmation drilling program that commenced in December 2010 and are the second set of holes for which assay results have been received. All five drill holes reported in this release intersected gold mineralization associated with quartz veins and silicification within the host rocks. This drilling continues to confirm several parallel gold mineralized zones that dip toward the northeast at approximately 30 degrees. Phase 1 is a 15 hole, 3,350 meter drilling program to confirm historical (pre NI 43-101) gold resources at the past-producing Puffy Lake Mine. Phase 1 drilling has recently been completed and assay results on the seven remaining holes are pending. The Phase 2 program has commenced and includes 32 planned drill holes for a total of 1,600 meters to test the potential of shallow open pit mining of the mineralized vein system. Eight holes totaling 326 meters from the Phase 2 program have been completed as of March 20, 2011 and assays are pending.
A plan section showing the location of the diamond drill holes in relation to historical reserve blocks is available on the Company’s website at www.aurigagold.ca.
MAVERICK GOLD PROJECT – PUFFY LAKE PROPERTY
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ASSAYS
Hole
Location
Azimuth/Dip
From (m)
To (m)
Length (m)
Gold gpt
A3-02
373415E/6100730N
0/-90
175.75
177.75
2.00
9.19
incl.
176.25
176.75
0.50
23.80
A3-04
373270E/6100630N
0/-90
58.80
59.35
0.55
3.32
and
63.50
65.00
1.50
11.88
incl.
63.50
64.00
0.50
28.55
A3-07
373575E/6100805N
0/-90
298.10
300.10
2.00
30.44
A3-09
373815E/6100007N
0/-90
165.13
165.64
0.51
9.64
A3-12
373686E/6100519N
0/-90
216.80
217.80
1.00
2.17
note: true widths are currently estimated at 85-90% of drilled widths
About Auriga Gold
Auriga Gold Corp. is a Canadian mine development and exploration company with an experienced team focused on expanding gold resources and developing the combined Puffy Lake and Nokomis properties (the "Maverick Gold Project"). The Company plans to upgrade and expand the historic resources at the Maverick Gold Project and bring the Puffy Lake Mine back into production. The Puffy Lake Mine includes a 1,000 tpd flotation mill, a developed underground ramp to 130 metres depth, is road accessible and close to existing mining infrastructure. In 1993, Kilborn Engineering Pacific Ltd. estimated that the property contained probable resources of 1,346,200 tonnes of mineralization @ 8.57 g/t Au and possible resources of 833,700 tonnes @ 7.15 g/t Au. The resource was estimated as part of a 1993 feasibility study prepared for Pioneer Metals and uses a cut-off grade of 3.5 g/t Au and a minimum mining width of 1.2 metres. The Maverick Gold Project is located in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt of Central Manitoba.
NI 43-101: A qualified person has not done sufficient work to verify the historical resource estimates at Puffy Lake and Nokomis. These historic estimates predate NI 43-101, are not compliant with current definitions, have not been verified by the company and consequently should not be relied on by investors. The historical estimates are provided as an indication of historically reported estimates.
Qualified Person
The Company’s Qualified Person (“QP”) for the drill program at the Maverick Gold Project is Bruce Mackie, P.Geo. As QP, Mr. Mackie has prepared or supervised the preparation of the scientific or technical information for the property and has verified the data disclosed in this press release.
Sample Preparation, Analyses and Security
The assay and sample information as well as geological descriptions are taken from drill logs as prepared by the project geologists for the drill program. All drill cores are NQTW in size and assays are completed on split or sawed half-cores, with the second half of the core kept for future reference. The samples are put into rice bags which are sealed with security locks for shipping directly to Accurassay Laboratories, an accredited assay laboratory, in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The samples are analysed using standard fire assay procedures with an AA/ICP finish, using 50g aliquots. Assay results greater than 2.50 gram per tonne will be rerun using a gravimetric finish. In addition to the standard quality control of the laboratory, a series of blanks and standards are inserted in every shipment for quality control purposes.
For more information, please contact:
Auriga Gold Corp. Dr. Richard H. Sutcliffe, President and CEO Alison Tullis, Manager, Investor Relations Phone: [phone]
[e-mail] http://www.aurigagold.ca
Certain information regarding the Company including management's assessment of future plans and operations, may constitute forward looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve risks associated with mining exploration and development, volatility of prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of resource estimates, environmental and permitting risks, access to labour and
services, competition from other companies and ability to access sufficient capital. As a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. A feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the disclosed targets will be achieved nor that the proposed operations will be economically viable.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.