Aldebaran drills porphyry at Argentina gold-copper project
Aldebaran Resources Inc. [ALDE-TSXV] on Thursday said drilling has commenced at its Altar copper-gold project in Argentina for the 2021 to 2022 field season. The company said it will have three rigs turning in November and a fourth rig will be added in early December.
“We look forward to drilling out the exciting high-grade Radio porphyry deposit so that we can bring that into an interim resource,” said Alebaran CEO John E. Black. “With four drill rigs soon to be on site and a longer field season, this will be the largest drill program at the Altar project completed by Aldebaran.”
On November 3, 2021, Aldebaran shares closed at 62 cents and trade in a 52-week range of 74 cents and 32.5 cents.
Aldebaran Resources is a recently formed Canadian exploration company led by former management of Antares Minerals Inc. and current management of Regulus Resources Inc. [REG-TSXV]. Aldebaran was spun out of Regulus in 2018. The management team has a proven track record with Antares, drilling out the giant Haquira-copper-molybdenum-gold deposit in Peru, which they sold to First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM-TSX) in 2010 for approximately $650 million.
Aldebaran has acquired Rio Grande copper-gold project in Salta Province, Argentina from Regulus, along with several other early-stage projects in Argentina. Aldebaran is also party to a joint venture and option agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater [SBSW-NYSE, SSW-JSE] whereby Aldebaran can earn up to an 80% interest in the Altar copper gold project in San Juan Province. Aldebaran has previously said its major shareholder, Route One Investment Co. LP, has invested $30 million to meet Aldebaran’s financing obligations.
The Altar project hosts a large copper-gold discovery which Aldebaran has identified as an opportunity to re-explore and later deliver to a rising copper market. A total of 266 drill holes (123,968 metres) have been completed at Altar between 1995 and 2021. In March, 2021, the company announced an updated mineral resource estimate for Altar.
The resource estimate was defined by three distinct deposits, Altar Central, Altar East and QDM Gold. The QDM Gold deposit is categorized as a separate resource as it is located approximately 3.0 kilometres west from Altar Central and is primarily a gold-silver deposit.
Measured and indicated resources at Altar Central and Altar East stand 1,198.2 million tonnes, grading 0.43% copper, 0.09 g/t gold and 1.00 g/t silver. On top of that is an inferred resource of 189.2 million tonnes of grade 0.42% copper, 0.06 g/t gold and 0.80 g/t silver.
QDM gold contains a measured and indicated resource of 20 million tonnes, grading 0.78 g/t gold, 3.62 g/t silver and 0.06% copper. On top of that is an inferred resource of 1.2 million tonnes, grading 0.58 g/t gold, 5.34 g/t silver and 0.03% copper.
On Thursday, Aldebaran said the drill program will focus on extending the high-grade mineralization at the Radio porphyry deposit and then bringing Radio into an interim NI 43-101-compliant resource. The drill program will also aim to expand the in-pit resources at Altar Central and Altar East and drill several untested greenfield targets, some of which are partially within or immediately adjacent to the current resource pit shell.