Exciting junior gold miner Aton Resources targets near-term production at the under-explored and highly prospective Abu Marawat gold concession in Egypt.
The company is delivering on a ‘3-Part Strategy’ to start production at its 341koz Hamama gold mine, fast-track evaluation of the Semna project, and complete an aggressive exploration campaign across the 255km2 Abu Marawat concession.
Operating in the Egyptian Nubian Shield, TSX-listed Aton Resources is the first international company to be issued an Egyptian mining licence since 2005.
The only other large-scale modern mine operating gold mine in Egypt is the Sukari mine, owned by London-listed £1.2bn market cap Centamin.
Aton’s 100% owned Abu Marawat concession is located in the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt in the “strategically significant” Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS). ANS is one of the world’s largest Precambrian rock formations and is thought to become a major mining destination due to its rich mineral deposits of gold, cobalt, copper, nickel, and uranium.
Abu Marawat is approximately 200km north of Centamin’s Sukari gold mine, which is forecast to produce 500,000 ounces of gold in 2024.
Aton has encountered gold occurrences throughout the concession area, including the 341,000-ounce gold equivalent Hamama deposit in the west and the Abu Marawat polymetallic deposit in the northeast.
The company plans to progress Hamama to production by 2026 through a starter open pit. The revenues from Hamama will support additional exploration across the concession – an enviable position for an early-stage gold producer.
Securing the gold mining license is an achievement testament to the strength of Aton’s assets and the technical team’s track record of developing world-class resources.
Arabian Nubian Shield
The Arabian Nubian Shield is a 3 million km2 crustal block of juvenile Neoproterozoic rocks around the Red Sea that covers parts of countries including Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Somalia.
The region is considered one of the most exciting emerging mining destinations due to relatively low levels of exploration to date and a string of recent discoveries.
The Arabian Nubian Shield is home to several Tier 1 gold and copper mines. In Egypt, Centamin operates the 5.8moz gold reserve Sukari mine, while in Saudi Arabia, Barrick produces 32,000 tonnes of copper annually at Jabal Sayid in a joint venture with state-owned Ma’aden.
Because the Egyptian sector of the Arabian Nubian Shield is significantly under-explored, Aton’s Abu Marawat concession is hugely exciting regarding the potential for future gold production.
Abu Marawat and Hamama
Located in the North Western section of the Abu Marawat concession, the Hamama deposit is Aton’s most important target, with plans to begin open-pit mining in 2026.
The Hamama project is characterised by a sequence of overturned Neoproterozoic metavolcanic rocks, predominantly of intermediate composition.
The local geology comprises a footwall sequence of andesitic lavas and tuffs, overlain by tuffaceous volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks.
Mineralisation
The Hamama West deposit, representing 750 meters of the 3 km mineralised horizon, has an Inferred Mineral Resource of 341,000 ounces of gold equivalent (“AuEq”) and an Indicated Mineral Resource of 137,000 ounces AuEq, as per an NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report.
The Independent Technical Report concluded after a comprehensive campaign of 109 diamond drill holes amounting to 11,827 meters were drilled across the Hamama West deposit.
The mineralisation at Hamama is hosted within a distinctive silica-carbonate horizon. It displays characteristics of a “VMS-epithermal hybrid” deposit type, the shallow marine equivalent of subaerial epithermal systems. This deposit type is similar to other VMS deposits in the Arabian Nubian Shield, such as Bisha and Hassai.
The mineralised horizon at Hamama has a strike length of 3 km and potentially remains open to the east and west. To date, three mineralised zones have been identified: Hamama West, Hamama Central, and Hamama East.
Additionally, high-grade gold-mineralised quartz veins have been discovered at West Garida, 3 km east of Hamama West.
Ancient iron, copper mining, and smelting sites, as well as evidence of Egypt’s ancient gold mining sites and tailings dumps, have been identified in the general Hamama area and the North Garida area, respectively.
Production timeline
To become cashflow positive and support exploration across the entire Abu Marawat concession, Aton plans to develop a starter open pit mining and heap leach processing operation at Hamama West, with the aim of starting production in 2026.
Aton received the license in early 2024 and has set to work achieving this goal.