Aldebaran Resources files Altar Project NI 43-101 report; JV option terminated
Aldebaran Resources Inc. [TSXV: ALDE; OTCQX: ADBRF] has filed on SEDAR+ an updated technical report and preliminary economic assessment (the Altar PEA) on the Altar copper-gold project located in San Juan province, Argentina, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 standards. The Altar PEA has an effective date of September 1, 2025, and was created by SRK Consulting Inc. as lead consultants with Knight Piesold as a subcontractor.
Additionally, the company announces that Nuton Holdings Ltd., a Rio Tinto venture (Nuton), has provided notice of termination of the option to joint venture agreement announced on November 7, 2024, under which Nuton had the right to acquire a 20% interest in the Altar project. Nuton’s decision comes as they are shifting priorities to focus on later-stage projects that could potentially deliver nearer-term production. Despite the termination, Nuton and Aldebaran could still enter a licensing agreement to deploy the Nuton technology, proprietary bio-leaching technology, at Altar.
John Black, CEO and director of Aldebaran, commented: “The PEA demonstrated that the base case concentrator scenario for Altar is a long-life project delivering significant copper, gold, and silver production at attractive cash costs while minimizing upfront capital. With an NPV (8%) of US$2 billion and an IRR of 20.5%, we believe that Altar is an attractive large-scale copper gold project and an important project for Argentina moving forward. We retain an 80% interest in the project and look forward to advancing it towards a prefeasibility study with our joint venture partner Sibanye-Stillwater.”
Aldebaran is a mineral exploration company that was spun out of Regulus Resources Inc. in 2018 and has the same core management team. Aldebaran holds an 80% interest in the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan province, Argentina. The Altar project hosts multiple porphyry copper-gold deposits with potential for additional discoveries.
Altar forms part of a cluster of world-class porphyry copper deposits which includes Los Pelambres (Antofagasta Minerals), El Pachon (Glencore) and Los Azules (McEwen Copper). In November, 2024, the company announced an updated mineral resource estimate for Altar, prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc. and based on the drilling completed up to and including the 2023 to 2024 field season.