Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. announced that it has signed the definitive agreement with a North American timber company (the Lessor) which grants Aston Bay an exclusive option to lease the mineral rights to 10,985 acres (4,445 hectares) of land located in Central Virginia, USA. This agreement formalizes the Letter of Intent signed between both parties earlier this year. Aston Bay believes these lands are highly prospective for gold and base metals mineralization. Approximately 4,873 acres (1,972 hectares) of the lands included in the agreement surround the Buckingham Gold Property where recent drilling by Aston Bay has intersected significant gold mineralization, including 35.61 g/t Au over 2.03m and 24.73 g/t Au over 3.57m core length. The Buckingham Property and the 4,873 acres of newly acquired land lie within a significant regional gold-in-stream anomaly that is approximately 9.5 miles (15 kilometres) in length defined by placer gold in pan concentrates from 75 stream samples. Only a portion of this trend has received any known modern exploration. Where a third of the anomaly (2.8 miles or 4.5 kilometres in strike length) has been covered with 13 recent soil geochemistry lines, each line yielded one or multiple Au anomalies. Technical Advisor for the project Don Taylor said, "The successful completion of this agreement will allow thorough testing for the extents of a very significant gold occurrence at Buckingham Gold as well as provide access to other previously identified gold and base metal occurrences in the immediate vicinity." Under the terms of the agreement, Aston Bay will make annual lease payments and commit to minimum annual expenditures for exploring the lands over the three-year term of the agreement. The agreement also contains provisions outlining the terms for Aston Bay to enter into mineral lease agreements on lands it intends to develop. The Company will release more details of the anticipated exploration plan for the expanded Buckingham Gold Property in the coming days. The Buckingham Gold Property hosts sub-cropping quartz veins containing visible gold that have yielded up to 701 g/t Au (20.4 ounces Au per short ton) in surface grab samples. Recent drilling by Aston Bay intersected significant gold mineralization in quartz veins, including 35.61 g/t Au over 2.03m core length in hole BUCK19-001, 20.44 g/t Au over 3.30m and 34.25 g/t Au over 0.5m core length in hole BUCK19-003, and 24.73 g/t Au over 3.57m including 62.51 g/t Au over 1.39m core length in hole BUCK19-004. Broad zones of gold mineralization associated with sericite-quartz-pyrite alteration were intersected as well: 2.16 g/t Au over 18.07m including 17.45 g/t Au over 1.57m core length and 1.90 g/t Au over 22.22m including 19.30 g/t Au over 1.5m core length in BUCK19-005. Based upon multiple vein intersections, the estimated true width is 80% of the core interval. The gold-bearing system is hosted within a package of interpreted Cambrian-age sediments, including greywackes with minor quartz-arenites (phyllite, schist and quartzites), within the Appalachian orogenic belt. This region is the site of the historically prolific Pyrite Belt which hosted a reported 250 gold mines that were in production prior to the California gold rush of 1849 but has seen little recent mineral exploration. Small scale and significant gold production has occurred historically throughout North and South Carolina as well as Virginia. A notable example of a rejuvenated historic producer in the region is Oceana Gold's Haile Mine located in South Carolina where commercial production began in 2017 and is scheduled to produce up to 150,000 ounces of gold per year.