Taura Gold Inc. and Ensign Minerals Inc. Enter into Definitive Agreement to Complete Reverse Take-Over

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release publication, distribution or dissemination, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 23, 2023 / Taura Gold Inc. (TSXV:TORA) (the “Company” or “Taura“) and Ensign Minerals Inc. (“Ensign“) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement dated October 23, 2023 (the “Definitive Agreement“), whereby Taura will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Ensign by way of a statutory three-cornered amalgamation under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). Upon completion of the proposed business combination (the “Proposed Transaction“), Taura (as it exists upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, the “Resulting Issuer“), will be a Tier 2 mining issuer listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV“) and will continue to further advance the Mercur Gold Project located in Utah, United States and its exploration property located in Ontario, Canada. Taura and Ensign are arm’s length parties, and there are no current non-arm’s length parties of Taura who are insiders of Ensign, or presently hold any direct or indirect beneficial interest in either Ensign or any of its assets.

John Dorward, President and Chief Executive Officer of Taura, stated, “We are very excited by the acquisition of the Mercur Gold Project with an Inferred Resource of ~1.7 million ounces, and what we believe to have favourable exploration potential in a major underexplored Carlin-type gold system. The strategically positioned land package is in a Tier 1 jurisdiction with a clear permitting process to navigate. The Mercur Gold Project is only 57km from Salt Lake City, has access to excellent infrastructure including paved access roads, grid power and potential access to historic water wells. Our initial path forward will be to initiate further metallurgical test work, including column testing, to complement the large database compiled by Barrick and Ensign over previous years. In addition, Taura plans to update baseline studies and mineral resource optimization ahead of completing a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) which is currently scheduled for early 2025.”

Transaction and Mercur Gold Project Highlights

1. Gold project is located only 57km from Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountains in Utah, a highly mineralized mountain range, with historic production of 2.6 million ounces of gold at the Mercur mine.
2. A regionally significant private land package consolidated over five years, with a majority of the current mineral resource estimate on private land in a mining-friendly jurisdiction with a clear permitting process to navigate.
3. Inferred resource estimate of 92 million tonnes, containing ~1.7 million ounces Au @ 0.56 g/t Au, prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
4. Highly prospective property with exploration upside potential in a major underexplored Carlin-type gold system.
5. Excellent infrastructure, including paved access roads, grid power and potential access to historic water sources.
6. Highly experienced board and management team with a successful track record in exploration, development, operations, project financing and capital markets.

Ensign Minerals Inc.

Ensign is a private company existing under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) and focused on exploring for precious metals within the Mercur district – a mining-friendly region in Utah, USA. Ensign controls approximately 6,200 hectares in the Mercur district on primarily privately held patented claims and its properties include Mercur, West Mercur, South Mercur and North Mercur.

Ensign entered into an Option Agreement with Barrick Gold Exploration Inc. (“Barrick“) in May 2021, as subsequently amended. The option, which has an expiry of January 2, 2026, enables Ensign to acquire the Mercur Project for C$20 million in cash or shares along with the granting of a 2% Net Smelter Return (“NSR“) over the Main Mercur Gold Project area along with a 1% Area of Interest (“AOI“) NSR over certain other Barrick claims within the Mercur district (the “Barrick Option“).

Mercur Project

1. Location and History

The Mercur Gold Project is located 57 kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountains in Utah, a highly mineralized mountain range which is also host to Bingham Canyon, one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. Historically, 2.6 million ounces of gold was mined from the Mercur Mine, including approximately 1.5Moz produced by Getty Oil Company and later Barrick during the period of 1983 to 1998.

The Mercur Property includes interests in 463 patented mining claims, 426 fee land tax parcels, 395 unpatented lode mining claims, three unpatented mill site claims, and six Utah state metalliferous minerals leases that cover approximately 6,200 net hectares (15,300 net acres) of mineral rights. Barrick operated the Mercur Gold Mine until 1998 when it was closed due to low prevailing gold prices. In recent years, Barrick has substantially completed the rehabilitation of the Mercur mine site.

2. Mineral Resource and Geology

The Mercur Property has inferred resource estimate of 92 million tonnes, containing ~1.7 million ounces Au @ 0.56 g/t Au, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101.

* Gold ounces have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand and totals may not add due to rounding.

This mineral resource estimate was prepared with an effective date of September 1, 2023, under the direction of Susan Lomas, P.Geo, of Lions Gate Geological Consulting, Inc. (LGGC), with the assistance of Bruce Davis, FAusIMM. Based on education, work experience relevant to this style of mineralization and deposit type, and membership in a recognized professional organization, Ms. Lomas and Mr. Davis are both independent qualified persons (QPs) within the meaning of NI 43-101 for the purpose of the mineral resource estimate disclosed in this news release.

The mineral resource has been estimated in conformity with generally accepted guidelines outlined in CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practices Guidelines (November 29, 2019) and is reported in accordance with NI 43-101.

Estimations are made from 3D block models based on geostatistical applications using commercial mine planning software (MinePlan). The project limits are based on a local mine grid system. Separate block models were set up for Main Mercur and South Mercur with a nominal block size of 50 x 50 x 30 ft. Sample data are derived from a combination of surface diamond and reverse circulation drill holes. The pierce points of the drill holes into the mineralized zone vary but can be approximately 25 to 50 ft spacing in the areas of historic mining.

There is a total of 2,970 drillholes in the area of the block models. Of these, 2,861 holes are historical holes that were primarily drilled by Barrick and Getty, and 109 holes were drilled by Ensign. Comparisons show that the Ensign drill hole and Barrick drill hole sample results agree well over all areas being investigated. The mineral resource estimate has been generated from drill hole sample assay results and the interpretation of a geologic model which relates to the spatial distribution of gold and silver. Interpolation characteristics were defined based on the geology, drill hole spacing, and geostatistical analysis of the data. The mineral resources were classified according to their proximity to sample data locations and are reported, as required by NI 43-101, according to the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (May 2014).

A technical report prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 in support of the mineral resource estimates discussed herein will be filed within 45 days of this news release under Taura’s SEDAR+ profile (www.sedarplus.ca). Readers are encouraged to read the technical report in its entirety, including all qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that relate to the mineral resource estimate. The technical report is intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context.

3. Exploration Upside Potential

Taura believes that the Mercur Property is considered to host potential for additional discoveries with future exploration efforts focused on three key areas:

1. extension of existing resources along strike and down dip;
2. structural interpretation and modelling with a specific focus on the Lower Great Blue stratigraphic unit; and
3. regional exploration on early-stage generative targets as well as areas of historic mining outside of the areas targeted by Barrick.

Targets for expanding existing inferred resources include the Marion Hill-Rover areas where the northernmost drilling by Ensign at Rover, completed in August 2022, returned encouraging drillhole results ranging from negligible amounts to:

• 7.6m @ 0.48g/t Au from 76.2m downhole and 18.3m @ 1.17g/t Au from 99.1m in drill hole EN064;
• 13.7m @ 2.00g/t Au from 45.7m in drill hole EN055; and
• 33.5m @ 0.80g/t Au from 39.3m in drill hole EN056.

In addition, the relatively lightly explored South Mercur is considered to hold potential for near-term resource expansion with several results returned in December 2020 along the eastern flank of the deposit, with such results ranging…