Aben Provides Final Results from 2018 Drill Program at the Forrest Kerr Gold Project in BC and Provides Update on the Justin Gold Project, Yukon

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ABN) (OTCQB: ABNAF) (Frankfurt: E2L2) ("Aben” or "the Company”) reports analytical results from the remaining holes of the 2018 drill program at the Company’s 100%-controlled 23,000-hectare Forrest Kerr Gold Project. This series of holes (FK18-37à45) focussed on areas immediately adjacent to known high-grade gold horizons and sought to test for an extension of the mineralized area identified at the North Boundary Zone. Results show broad horizons of low-grade gold mineralization punctuated by intermittent intercepts of moderate to high-grade gold-silver-copper-zinc values (see table summary below). Drilling to date has shown that mineralization extends several meters outboard of high-grade precious metal intercepts in subordinate shear structures and vein arrays within a main mineralized core that measures 100m x 200m and remains open at depth.

View Forrest Kerr Drill Hole Cross Sections:
https://www.abenresources.com/projects/photo-gallery/

The greater mineralized area at the Boundary Zone measures 1.5 km x 4.0 km as defined by gold-silver-copper-zinc values in soil, rock and drill core. The area features extensive talus and vegetative cover which serve to conceal prospective precious metal bearing structures with coincident gold in soil and outcrop anomalies. Only a fraction of the prospective targets at the Boundary Zone have been drill-tested to date. Oriented core tooling was utilized for the final phase of the 2018 drill program in order to collect structural data that will help determine the orientation of both the main and subsidiary mineralized structures. The oriented core data, combined with the surface mapping data and a growing subsurface database at the Boundary Zone will assist greatly in planning future targeted drill programs.

Aben Resources completed 9900 meters of NQ drilling in 2018 on a low cost per meter basis. The number of available drill locations was constrained due to a permitting delay by the British Columbia Provincial Government in response to extreme forest fire activity in the area. As a result the last phase of targeted drilling was completed from only 3 pad locations with fan arrays from each set-up. Subsequent to completion of the summer drill program Aben received the much anticipated 5 year Multi-Year Area Based (MYAB) permit, which will allow for more extensive drill programs going forward. The Company maintains a healthy treasury which will allow for an aggressive 2019 exploration program at Forrest Kerr without significant dilution.

Mineralization at Boundary North is structurally controlled and hosted in a package of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks from the Jurassic Hazelton Group. Several generations of quartz and quartz-carbonate veining are important hosts to mineralization, as are subordinate breccia zones with strong chlorite, hematite and carbonate alteration. The Boundary Zone lies between the Forrest Kerr Fault to the west, a major deep-seated crustal feature, and the unconformable contact between the Jurassic Hazelton Group and the Triassic Stuhini Group to the East. The rock reflects a prolonged history of strong hydrothermal activity combined with brittle deformation. The host package Hazelton is known to be a prolific host to several deposits throughout the region.

Assay Results for Holes FK18-37à45:

*Intervals are drilled intercepts and not true widths
  NSR=no significant results

Golden Triangle, B.C., claims map:
https://www.abenresources.com/site/assets/files/4287/fk-003.jpg

President and CEO Jim Pettit states, "This has been a significant season for us in the Golden Triangle.  We had success early and managed to raise funds and we managed to increase our 2018 drill program to almost 10,000 meters. Granted, we did this with the understanding we would have our Multi Year Area Based Permit in hand, but, because of the extreme fires this summer, that was not to be. We did, however, manage to get a lot of good work done this year and have a tremendous amount of data to analyze to help get ready for next year. As mentioned above, only a fraction of the prospective targets at the Boundary Zone have been drill-tested to date. We also look forward to trenching and channel sampling analytic results coming from the Justin Property in the Yukon any time now and an initial winter drilling program on the Chico Property in Saskatchewan possibly commencing the end of February”.

Analytical and QA/QC Description:

All 1 or 2 meter drill core samples were delivered to ALS Global prep facility in Terrace, British Columbia where they were crushed until 70% passed a 2mm sieve, then a 250g split was pulverized until better than 85% passed a 75 micron screen. Gold was tested via fire assay method Au-ICP21 with all ore-grade samples (>10 g/t) undergoing fire assay with gravimetric finish. ALS performed multi-element ICP-AES package ME-ICP41 in their Vancouver facility to test for 35 other elements. In addition to the quality assurance and quality control program performed by ALS, Aben personnel insert lab certified standards, field blanks and duplicates into the sample stream at the rate of one QA/QC sample in every 10 samples.

Update on the Justin Gold Project, Yukon Territory

Aben Resources has now received all of the finalized analytical data from the field program completed in September 2018 on their 100% owned Justin Gold Property in the Yukon Territory.  The geologic team reported visible gold in trenches and channel samples from quartz stockwork veining in bedrock at the Lost Ace Zone, a gold-bearing zone discovered in 2017. The new mineralization style is interpreted to be orogenic-style quartz-gold veins that bear a strong resemblance to and share similar geologic setting with Golden Predator’s adjacent 3-Aces Property. Previous exploration at Justin has successfully discovered Intrusion related sheeted veins & vein breccias along with gold bearing skarn mineralization. The new discovery at Lost Ace highlights the existence of a multi-phase hydrothermal system with the potential for overprinting mineralizing systems.   

Channel sampling at Lost Ace in 2017 returned 1.44 g/t Au over 5m including 4.77 g/t Au over 1.0 m in addition to a bulk soil sample that contained 1135 visible gold grains, the majority of which were termed ‘pristine’ indicating a proximal bedrock source for the gold. Historic drill results from the POW Zone, located 1.5 km southeast of the Lost Ace discovery, indicate a potential for bulk tonnage gold with 46.6 meters grading 1.49 g/t gold in JN12011 and 60.0 meters grading 1.19 g/t gold in JN11009.  

Cornell McDowell, P.Geo., V.P. of Exploration of Aben Resources, has reviewed and approved the technical aspects of this news release and is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Aben Resources:

Aben Resources is a Canadian gold exploration company developing projects in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, the Yukon, and Saskatchewan.

For further information on Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ABN), visit our Company’s web site at www.abenresources.com.

Aben Resources has approx. $5.6 million in its treasury and no debt.

ABEN RESOURCES LTD.

"Jim Pettit”
 ____________________________
JAMES G. PETTIT
President & CEO

For further information contact myself or:
Aben Resources Ltd.
Director, Corporate Communications
Telephone: 604-687-3376
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@abenresources.com

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This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.