Vancouver, British Columbia - November 12, 2013 - Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") today provided a summary of historical drill results and technical data from the Company's Seal Zinc prospect ("Seal Zinc" or "Seal") in the Nunavut Territory.
The results tabled below demonstrate a cohesive zone of strata-bound zinc and silver mineralization located approximately 250 metres (m) from tidewater. Drilling has confirmed that mineralization is present over 450m of strike length and has a true thickness that varies from approximately 10m to approximately 25m. Mineralization remains open along strike and down dip within the host stratigraphic unit.
"The drill results from the Seal prospect and its proximity to tidewater confirm the compelling nature of this project," says Bruce Counts, Chief Operating Officer of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. "Seal compliments the Storm Copper prospect 20 kilometres (km) to the east, and the Aston Bay team is eager to advance this prospect towards a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource and a Preliminary Economic Assessment."
Aston Bay's focus at Seal has been to acquire the data necessary to conduct a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the project as quickly as possible. During the 2013 summer field program a principal engineer from P&E Mining Consultants Inc. made a site visit to Seal Zinc and collected representative samples of drill core. The historic drill hole data will be combined with data collected in 2013, with the goal of establishing a maiden NI 43-101-compliant Resource Estimate in 2014, if supported by market conditions. In addition, a 200 kilograms (kg) sample of mineralized surface rock was collected at Seal Zinc for the purpose of metallurgical testing.
"The Seal Zinc prospect has the potential to be a small but valuable project," says Benjamin Cox, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. "Going forward, the work at Seal will be designed to facilitate the evaluation of a range of small-scale development alternatives, including scenarios where mineralized rock is shipped directly to off-site processing facilities."
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Above: Aerial view of the Seal Zinc prospect, showing an approximate outline of surface mineralization.
For additional images showing the Seal Zinc Prospect, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/ABSEALZINC
The drill results from the Seal Zinc prospect presented in the table below include data acquired from Teck Metals Ltd. through a Data License Agreement on the Storm and Seal Projects (see Aston Bay news release dated January 9, 2013), and were not previously publicly available.
----------------------------------------------------- |Hole |From (m)|To (m)|Length (m)|Zn (%)|Ag (g/t)| |---------------------------------------------------| |AB95-02 |51.80 |70.60 |18.80 |10.58 |28.7 | |---------------------------------------------------| |includes|52.40 |60.70 |8.30 |15.62 |36.5 | |---------------------------------------------------| |and |66.00 |70.60 |4.60 |13.83 |46.9 | |---------------------------------------------------| |AB95-03 |76.60 |98.70 |22.10 |6.62 |27.1 | |---------------------------------------------------| |includes|76.60 |81.00 |4.40 |11.26 |51.5 | |---------------------------------------------------| |and |90.50 |96.40 |5.90 |13.38 |48.6 | |---------------------------------------------------| |AB95-06 |101.50 |132.30|30.80 |5.11 |23.0 | |---------------------------------------------------| |includes|101.50 |106.40|4.90 |8.51 |26.3 | |---------------------------------------------------| |and |110.80 |119.20|8.40 |7.76 |32.6 | |---------------------------------------------------| |and |128.30 |132.30|4.00 |8.63 |57.5 | |---------------------------------------------------| |AB95-07 |118.80 |137.00|18.20 |3.33 |21.6 | |---------------------------------------------------| |includes|133.50 |137.00|3.50 |15.13 |91.9 | |---------------------------------------------------| |AB95-10 |137.00 |147.00|10.00 |1.40 |21.9 | |---------------------------------------------------| |AB95-11 |191.00 |206.00|15.00 |1.06 |25.6 | |---------------------------------------------------| |includes|204.00 |206.00|2.00 |4.55 |111.0 | -----------------------------------------------------
Note: All drill intercepts reported are core length, and may not be indicative of the true width of the mineralization.
The Seal Zinc prospect is located approximately 250m inland on a small peninsula at the northern end of Aston Bay. The mineralization outcrops on a steep, southwest-facing slope as disseminated to massive sphalerite hosted in pyritic sandstone.
Above left: Aerial view looking approximately southeast into Aston Bay. The Seal Zinc prospect is located on the southwest-facing (right-hand) slope at the base of the peninsula. Above right: Aerial view of the Seal Zinc prospect, looking at the southwest-facing slope.
The mineralization at Seal is interpreted to be strata-bound, and is hosted in a porous and permeable basal quartz arenite, with interbeds of dolostone and sandy dolostone. Zinc sulphide mineralization occurs primarily as coarse-grained, reddish-brown blackjack sphalerite and less commonly as honey yellow, colloform sphalerite. The mineralization is characterized by local to complete replacement of the sandy dolostone interbeds, as well as interstitial disseminations in the massive sandstone beds. The known high-grade mineralization extends for 450m along strike, and is approximately 50-100m in width and up to 12-14m in thickness, containing 10-12% Zn and 35-40 g/t Ag.
Qualified Person
The content of this news release and the technical information that forms the basis for this disclosure has been prepared under the supervision of Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and a consultant to Aston Bay.
About Aston Bay Holdings
Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY) is a publicly traded mineral exploration company focused on the 345,033 acre Storm Property located on northwest Somerset Island, Nunavut. The property hosts the Storm Copper and Seal Zinc prospects. Aston Bay holds the right to earn or buy up to a 100% undivided interest in the Storm Property from Commander Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: CMD).
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Benjamin Cox, Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: (360) 262-6969
For further information about Aston Bay Holdings Ltd or this news release, please visit our website at www.astonbayholdings.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. 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.
This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.