Among the highlights, Aurion intersected 1.4m at 110.9g/t gold within 4m at 42.28g/t from 40m.

In a separate drill hole 56m to the east, the company reported 4.75m at 24.5g/t from 48.8m.

The Aamurusko boulder field is about 1.2km wide and the company said it had successfully targeted and discovered high-grade, near-surface gold mineralisation over a strike of 56m by a depth of 110m.

"With short 20-25m step outs, we may be defining a coherent zone of mineralization," president and CEO Mike Basha said.

"Results to date suggest potential for additional similar zones of gold mineralisation along strike to the east and west."

He said gold mineralisation intersected in a 500m step out to the west, of 2.2m at 2.33g/t from 48.8m, supported this premise.

Aurion shares shot up more than 27.5% on the news to close at C$1.25 yesterday, capitalising it near $87 million.

Its shares had spent much of 2018 below the $1 mark but soared as high as $2.15 in September after hitting 2.9m at 789g/t at Aamurusko.

Basha said the company was well-funded to advance the Aamurusko discovery and Risti project "into the foreseeable future".

Aurion had reported cash of C$3.45 million (US$2.6 million) at the end of September, with then-current liabilities of $1.1 million (US$0.8 million).