Aurion Stakes Properties Prospective for Gold and Critical Minerals in Northeastern Finland

• Properties cover over 1,000 km² in northeastern Finland and are prospective for:
  • Gold – Auermavaara prospect
  • Lithium – Geological terrain considered prospective for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites
  • Phosphate and REE – Properties cover part of Sokli carbonatite complex
• Company evaluating strategic options for the critical minerals opportunities

Aurion Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AU) (OTCQX: AIRRF) (“Aurion” or the “Company”) announces that is has staked properties prospective for gold, lithium, phosphate and rare earth elements (REE) in northeastern Finland.

Summary

• Properties cover over 1,000 km² in northeastern Finland
  • Unexplored to underexplored region
• Gold – Auermavaara prospect
  • Up to 10.4 g/t Au in grab samples
• Lithium – Geological terrain considered prospective for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites
  • Highly anomalous lithium in regional till sampling
  • Unexplored region for lithium
• Phosphate and REE – Properties cover part of the Sokli carbonatite complex
  • Historic drill intercepts in residuum of weathered bedrock include:
    • 13.51% P₂O₅ and 5.03% total rare earth oxides (TREO) over 12.00 m from 2.00 m
    • 8.53% P₂O₅ over 48.50 m from 23.10 m, including 14.79% P₂O₅ over 19.20 m from 23.10 m
    • 7.15% P₂O₅ over 57.90 m from 6.55 m, including 11.81% P₂O₅ and 18.30% Fe₂O₃ over 22.75 m from 6.55 m
    • 10.57% P₂O₅ over 22.90 m from 34.40 m
  • Historic drill intercepts in fresh rock include:
    • 4.23% P₂O₅ over 125.00 m from 54.00 m
    • 3.33% P₂O₅ over 189.40 m from 31.00 m
  • Historic trench result:
    • 10.42% P₂O₅ and 2.78% TREO over 39.10 m
  • Part of the Kola Alkaline Province
• Company to evaluate strategic options for the critical minerals opportunities

Link to Figures: https://aurionresources.com/site/assets/files/1494/nr23-11figures.pdf.

Comments
“Gold in Central Lapland is the top priority for Aurion, however, our prospect generation business continues to be active. We are pleased to add this large and underexplored land package prospective for gold and critical minerals,” commented Matti Talikka, Aurion’s CEO. “The recent introduction of the European Critical Raw Materials Act highlights the role of critical metals for renewable energy and electrification. We look forward to making a contribution to Finland’s pursuit of these objectives. Our work in vanadium helped to launch Strategic Resources, now a significant multi-national development company in which Aurion holds a significant ownership stake. We will assess alternatives for this large portfolio of critical metal exploration opportunities and aim to repeat our success with Strategic.”

Property Package
The extensive Savu property is located in northeastern Finland in the municipalities of Savukoski and Salla (Figure 1). The property package includes recently staked areas (two reservations) totaling 1,404.7 km² and the Auermaa property comprised of 632.2 km² in a reservation and two exploration permit applications.

The property covers several geologic domains that are considered prospective for several commodities including gold, lithium, phosphate and rare earth elements (REE) (Figure 2).

The property is considered to be largely unexplored to underexplored yet has significant road access to allow for cost-effective exploration.

Gold – Auermavaara Prospect
The Auermaa property includes the Auermavaara Au prospect, which was initially discovered in 1985 by Lapin Malmi Oy, a company that was co-owned by Outokumpu Mining Oy and Rautaruukki Oy. This prospect has seen limited exploration, but surface sampling by Aurion has returned from nil to 10.4 g/t Au in grab samples. In addition, historic till sampling has returned anomalous gold values and five historic drill holes intersected anomalous gold values up to 0.4 g/t Au. Historic information based on data in reports “M06/4714/2002/1/10” by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), “001/4713,4714/OI/88” by Lapin Malmi Oy and report “080/4714/OI/90” by Lapin Malmi Oy. Aurion considers the data to be relevant and reliable.

The gold mineralization is hosted by Archean metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks and is interpreted to be associated with iron rich garnet bearing rocks that may represent metamorphosed silicate facies iron formation.

Lithium
The property package includes large areas that are considered prospective for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites. Historic geologic mapping data includes numerous observations of pegmatites in outcrops and in boulders, but the area has not been explored for lithium despite numerous anomalous lithium values in regional scale till sampling by the GTK.

Within the property bounds, a total of 493 regional scale till samples were collected between 1976 and 1988 (Regional till geochemistry data by the GTK, https://gtkdata.gtk.fi/MDaE/index.html). The sampling was widely spaced with one sample approximately every 4 km². Approximately 10% of the till samples returned values above 35 ppm Li, including 14 samples over 50 ppm Li to a maximum of 95.7 ppm Li and 35 samples ranging from 35 to 50 ppm Li. Cesium and tantalum were not included in the historic till analysis by the GTK.

The lithium in till values are comparable to the area in western Finland where a number of spodumene bearing pegmatites exist and a lithium mine and a processing facility to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide is under development by Keliber Oy (a subsidiary of the Sibanye-Stillwater Group).

The prospective area for LCT pegmatites is mainly within an Archean geologic domain that comprises various metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, mafic to felsic intrusions including pegmatitic rocks. A potential analogue for the Archean domain is the Yilgarn Craton in western Australia that hosts the world class Greenbushes spodumene pegmatite deposits.

Phosphate and REE – Kaulus Prospect
The Kaulus phosphate and REE prospect is located in the northeast corner of the property and covers part of the Sokli carbonatite complex. The Sokli carbonatite complex belongs to the Kola Alkaline Province that extends from Russia to Finland. The Kola Alkaline Province contains a number of carbonatites with significant phosphate, REE and/or iron deposits (for example Kovdor and Khibina) of which many are currently or have been in production.

The limited and periodic exploration activities at the Kaulus prospect by the GTK have included mapping, till sampling, geophysical surveys, trenching and diamond core drilling. Aurion has acquired the exploration data sets from the GTK and considers the data to be relevant and reliable. Partial information on the exploration activities have been included in reports by the GTK (For example, Sarapää et. al. 2013, Exploration potential of hi-tech metals in Finland, 161/2013, GTK).

Trenching and drilling by the GTK returned several significant phosphate and REE mineralized intervals (Figure 3). Intervals with elevated iron contents have also been intersected. The phosphate mineralized lithologies include carbonatite and sovite and mineralization has been encountered in both fresh and weathered bedrock. Phosphate and REE grades in the residuum of weathered bedrock are higher compared to fresh rocks due to the weathering related secondary enrichment processes.

Highlight intervals from previous exploration activities by the GTK in the Kaulus area include:

• Drill intercepts in residuum of weathered bedrock include:
  • 13.51% P₂O₅ and 5.03% *total rare earth oxides (TREO) over 12.00 m from 2.00 m (drill hole U5422014R30)
  • 8.53% P₂O₅ over 48.50 m from 23.10 m, including 14.79% P₂O₅ over 19.20 m from 23.10 m (drill hole U5422012R10)
  • 7.15% P₂O₅ over 57.90 m from 6.55 m, including 11.81% P₂O₅ and 18.30% Fe2O3 over 22.75 m from 6.55 m (drill hole U5422013R20)
  • 10.57% P₂O₅ over 22.90 m from 34.40 m (drill hole U5422016R44)
• Drill intercepts in fresh rock include:
  • 4.23% P₂O₅ over 125.00 m from 54.00 m (drill hole U5422012R3)
  • 3.33% P₂O₅ over 189.40 m from 31.00 m (drill hole U5422012R4)
• Trench result:
  • 10.42% P₂O₅ and 2.78% TREO over 39.10 m (trench U5422014R33)

* Total rare earth oxides (TREO) include La₂O₃, CeO₂, Pr₆O₁₁, Nd₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Eu₂O₂, Gd₂2O₃, Tb₄O₇, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, Yb₂O₃, Lu₂O₃ and Y₂O₃.  

The Kaulus prospect covers the southern part of the Sokli carbonatite complex. The main part of the Sokli carbonatite (“Sokli Project”) is held by Finnish Minerals Group, a special-purpose company wholly owned by the State of Finland. The mineral reserves for the lateritic part of the Sokli Project currently stand at 133.3 Mt @ 12.21% P₂O₅ and 18.34% FeO, and the indicated mineral resource at 151.6 Mt @ 11.97% P₂O₅ and 18.60% FeO (Information sourced from https://www.mineralsgroup.fi, 20.5.2023,). Elevated levels of REE, vermiculite and manganese have also been observed. The Finnish Minerals Group is currently advancing technical and economic studies on their Sokli Project.

Next steps
The Company intends to compile and review the historical data and plan a surface mapping and sampling program to further assess the property during the upcoming field season. The Company will also evaluate strategic options for the critical minerals opportunities.

This news release has been reviewed by Andrew Hussey, P.Geo., GIS Geologist and Database Manager for Aurion Resources, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. For more information on these projects please visit our website at www.aurionresources.com.

About Aurion Resources Ltd.
Aurion Resources Ltd. (Aurion) is a well-funded, Canadian exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: AU) and the OTCQX Best Market (OTCQX: AIRRF). Aurion’s strategy is to generate or acquire early-stage precious metals exploration opportunities and advance them through direct exploration by our experienced team or by business partnerships and joint venture arrangements. Aurion’s current focus is exploring on its Risti and Launi projects, as well as advancing its joint venture properties with B2Gold and Kinross in Finland.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Matti Talikka, CEO

For further information, please contact:
Mark Santarossa, Vice President, Corporate Development
Cell: +1 (416) 371-1325
Email: msantarossa@aurionresources.ca

Neither the 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.