Aurania Seeking JV Partner for Ecuador Gold-Copper While Advancing French Nickel

• Keith Barron, CEO, President and chairman of Aurania Resources, discussed his company's exploration projects in Ecuador and France
• Aurania has a large land package in Ecuador with potential for gold, copper, and other metals; has spent over $60M exploring it
• The company hopes to partner with a major to advance its Ecuador projects after the country's elections conclude
• In France, Aurania is evaluating a potential nickel project extracting nickel-rich black sands from beaches in Corsica
• Samples from the Corsica beach sands have yielded 50% nickel content; Aurania sees potential to produce nickel for the EV battery market

Aurania Resources (TSXV:ARU), a Canadian exploration company, is advancing projects in Ecuador and France that could provide exposure to critical metals like copper, gold and nickel. The management has a track record of major discoveries with Keith Barron and his team having previously discovered the Fruta del Norte epithermal gold/silver deposit at Aurelian Resources Inc, which was eventually sold to Kinross Gold Corporation for ~CAD$1.2 Billion.

Ecuador: Exploring a Highly Prospective Region

Aurania's flagship project is located in southeastern Ecuador, in the same mineral belt as the Fruta del Norte gold deposit. CEO Keith Barron and his team are intimately familiar with the region, having worked there for many years.The current land package spans over 200,000 hectares, dwarfing the footprint of Fruta del Norte. Aurania has invested over $60 million to date in systematic exploration across this vast area. Barron commented,

We've been exploring it diligently since 2016. The only previous people who had been on this project exploring before had been the Spanish conquistadors back in the 1560s.

This comprehensive exploration program, initiated from first principles, has yielded a plethora of targets with potential for gold, copper, silver, lead and zinc mineralization. The company has identified:

• Sedimentary-hosted copper mineralization, a first for Ecuador, with similarities to deposits in the DRC
• High-grade epithermal gold targets with characteristics reminiscent of Fruta del Norte
• Zones of silver-rich lead-zinc mineralization hosted in limestones

To further refine these targets and prepare them for drilling, Aurania recently completed a $200,000 induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey over a key gold target. Results are pending, but the company believes its projects are drill-ready.

Interview with CEO Keith Barron

Attracting a Major Partner

With a portfolio of compelling targets and a substantial exploration database, Aurania has engaged with several major mining companies about potential partnerships to advance the projects.

According to Barron, the majors are currently in a holding pattern pending the results of Ecuador's national elections next month. The current pro-mining government is expected to retain power, but the political process is still a source of uncertainty.

If the elections proceed as anticipated, Aurania could be in a favourable position to ink a deal and secure funding for the next phase of exploration. Many major mining companies are eager for exposure to Ecuador, which offers an attractive alternative to other South American jurisdictions. The U.S. government recognizes Ecuador's strategic importance from a critical metals supply perspective. Barron elaborated,

I've spoken in the past to the U.S. State Department at the embassy here. They are watching very closely what happens in this country because they certainly do not want the commodities to go to China.

France: A Unique Nickel Opportunity

In addition to its Ecuador portfolio, Aurania is investigating an unconventional opportunity to produce nickel in France. On the island of Corsica, black sand beaches host significant accumulations of awaruite, a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy. These unusual deposits formed from the erosion of ultramafic rocks and were further enriched by the addition of mine waste from asbestos operations in the 1960s. Preliminary sampling of the beach sands has returned nickel grades as high as 50%, far exceeding the grade of any hard rock nickel mine.

Aurania is completing environmental studies and other preparations to extract the nickel-rich sands using a simple dredging operation. The company envisions producing nickel for the European EV battery supply chain, including initiatives in France.

We did this not that we're going to make batteries, but we wanted to show proof of concept so I can go out and see if I can get some off-take agreements with industry. We know that Elon Musk needs a lot of nickel for his cars, and we can provide it, and provide it fairly quickly. And it's clean nickel - that's the thing. It's not like it's coming from Indonesia where we're cutting down rainforest.

Barron hopes to put the Corsica nickel project into production by 2026, providing investors with a source of near-term cash flow. While still early-stage, the project benefits from low anticipated capital costs and a rapid development timeline compared to a traditional hard rock mining operation.

The Investment Thesis for Aurania Resources

• Exposure to a large land package (208,000 ha) in the highly prospective region of Ecuador
• $60M+ invested in systematic exploration from first principles, yielding drill-ready targets for gold, copper, and silver
• Potential for a major partner to fund the next phase of exploration following Ecuador's elections
• Unconventional nickel opportunity in France offers potential near-term production and cash flow with low capex
• Experienced management team who discovered Fruta del Norte - arguably the 2nd highest-grade gold deposit in the world currently.
• Leveraged to in-demand metals for the clean energy transition (copper, nickel, silver)
• Well-funded for near-term exploration with additional capital from a major partner or the Corsica nickel project
• Catalysts on the horizon: Ecuador elections, geophysics results, partnership discussions, Corsica nickel development

Macro Thematic Analysis

The global transition towards clean energy is creating unprecedented demand for certain critical metals including copper, nickel, and silver. Copper is essential for electrification, with renewable energy and electric vehicles requiring significantly more copper than conventional alternatives. Nickel is increasingly important as a key input for lithium-ion EV batteries, with high-nickel chemistries becoming the standard.

However, there is a scarcity of new projects to meet this growing demand, with many major discoveries already developed and declining grades at existing operations. Exploration and development activity slowed dramatically following the commodity downturn of the early 2010s, creating an impending supply gap.

Consequently, major mining companies are now competing for high-quality exploration and development projects, particularly in favourable jurisdictions. Ecuador has been opening up to responsible mining investment, with several major projects advancing, but the country remains underexplored compared to neighbours like Chile and Peru. According to Aurania CEO Keith Barron,

What we have is a cornucopia of targets, way beyond what we expected to find. 

If Aurania can attract a major partner to fund drilling of its project pipeline in Ecuador, it could result in the next major discovery in this highly prospective mineral belt.

While speculative, Aurania's unconventional nickel project in Corsica also aligns with a growing focus on diversifying battery metal supply chains outside of China, Indonesia and the Philippines. France and the broader EU are working to develop domestic sources of raw materials to support their growing EV industries. Aurania's Corsica nickel project is strategically positioned to contribute to these efforts.