TSX-V-listed Aton Resources has assured shareholders that the company will continue to show resilience this year, after what had been a challenging 2020.

Aton owns the Abu Marawat concession in the Arabian-Nubian Shield, in Egypt.

CEO and president Mark Campbell notes that, despite last year having been uneventful for the company and the country in which it operates, Egypt nonetheless hosted its first Mining Day at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention, where a new gold bid round was announced.

He adds that bids were attracted from mining heavyweights including Barrick Gold, B2Gold and Centamin, as well as junior miners.

The company awaits the final results of the bid and the formal award of exploration ground.

Campbell states that Aton enters the new year with optimism, purpose and a determination to succeed.

“We intend to develop Egypt’s second operating gold mine at Hamama, and in addition to Rodruin and Hamama, we believe that our Abu Marawat concession has district scale potential and contains many exciting gold exploration targets.

“We have developed an ambitious exploration drilling and development programme planned to start as soon as we can in 2021. There are still potential bumps in the road owing to Covid-19 but we will work to overcome these. Our plan is to bring in two rigs for our drilling at Rodruin, Hamama and other exploration targets,” he explains.

Given the steep topography at Rodruin, Aton plans to bring in a man portable diamond drill rig, which offers greater flexibility, as well as a smaller footprint. The company also plans on using it at Hamama, where it intends to drill additional oxide resource potential at Hamama East.

Further, Aton will bring in a reverse circulation rig for further resource delineation drilling at Hamama West, as well as drill testing some of its highly prospective exploration targets, including Abu Gaharish, Sir Bakis, Bohlog, West Garida and Zeno, as Aton looks to building the overall value of the Abu Marawat concession.

Campbell says Aton will continue to work closely with the Egyptian authorities to encourage new exploration investment into the country.