Aya Gold & Silver (TSX: AYA) has agreed to acquire a 139 square kilometre portfolio of copper-silver exploration permits in Morocco for C$4.0 million, payable entirely in Aya common shares.
The ground sits roughly 35 kilometres west of the company’s Zgounder silver mine, in the Tizi area of the Zgounder district, and includes a 19 square kilometre mining licence. Aya will take control through a wholly owned subsidiary, acquiring all issued and outstanding shares of the entity that holds the permits.
The geology is familiar. The permits cover Neoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary rocks near the Askouen granite, a setting that broadly mirrors the one hosting Aya’s Zgounder mine.
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Aya describes the ground as having been underexplored historically. Historical work in the area chased a manganese horizon, and the copper-silver system underneath went largely untested. That legacy activity did leave something useful behind, namely about 20 kilometres of existing road access.
Historical trenching returned 15 metres grading 0.65% copper and 33 g/t silver, and the principal copper-silver horizon has been traced over more than 2 kilometres of strike. Grab samples have run as high as 837 g/t silver and 4.6% copper, with Aya’s own reconnaissance sampling returning 500 g/t silver and 4.0% copper.
Mineralization appears in more than one style, including sediment-hosted stratiform copper alongside structurally controlled vein and shear-hosted copper-silver.
“This acquisition is consistent with our vision of building a dominant land position around Zgounder and strategically consolidating prospective opportunities in Morocco,” said chief executive Benoit La Salle. “We see significant potential to apply Aya’s exploration expertise and establish a new copper-silver platform within our growing Moroccan portfolio.”
Aya plans to conduct 12 to 18 months of stream sediment geochemistry, high-resolution hyperspectral work, airborne geophysics, mapping and prospecting before deciding where to drill.
Aya Gold & Silver last traded at $38.66 on the TSX.
