Aldebaran Announces Commencement of 2021-2022 Exploration Program at Altar
VANCOUVER, Sept. 30, 2021 - Aldebaran Resources Inc. ("Aldebaran" or the "Company") (TSX-V: ALDE, OTCQX: ADBRF) is pleased to announce the commencement of 2021-2022 exploration activities at the Altar copper-gold project in Argentina and to provide an update on plans for the upcoming field season.
The Company has been able to re-commence exploration at Altar much earlier in the field season than in previous years due to the recent opening of a new low elevation access road. Aldebaran employees are currently opening the camp and expanding its capacity for personnel to facilitate a substantially larger drill program. The Company has secured four drill rigs from Boart Longyear; these will be mobilized to site shortly, with drilling anticipated to begin in early November.
Radio Porphyry
The primary goal of the 2021-2022 drill program is to complete a significant amount of drilling at the Radio Porphyry target, to follow up on the high-grade intercepts reported in hole QDM-21-42 earlier this year. As previously disclosed, QDM-21-42 returned 111 m of 1.4% CuEq, within 333.1 m of 0.86% CuEq, also within 629 m of 0.61% CuEq (see July 13, 2021 press release). The Company will look to produce a preliminary resource estimate for this target after drilling has been completed.
Additional Drill Targets
The Company also intends to drill extensions of high-grade mineralization at Altar Central and Altar East, which remain open to expansion in several directions. These holes are designed to test areas within the current resource pit where there are not yet resource blocks defined or reported. Several promising greenfield exploration targets, which have had limited or no drilling and which are located away from the current resource, have been identified through the Company's previous geological mapping, geophysical, and geochemical programs. This field season, time will be spent working up these greenfield targets to be ready for drill testing, likely towards the end of the 2021-2022 field campaign.
Further Field Work Plans
The Company will also be expanding its talus fines geochemical survey, which was completed during the 2020-2021 field season over and immediately surrounding the principal areas of mineralization, to cover the entire remaining claims for the project. The talus fines geochemical data has proved to be a very useful exploration tool in identifying favourable areas for further follow-up exploration. In addition, the 3D IP-MT geophysical survey that was started earlier this year as part of the 2020-2021 campaign but was terminated due to unfavourable climate conditions, is expected to be a top priority to complete in the early part of the upcoming field season. This data will be available for drill targeting in the latter half of the field season.
John E. Black, Chief Executive Officer of Aldebaran, commented: "The new low elevation road allows us to increase our field season by at least two to three months and potentially longer. With four drill rigs secured and a longer field season, this upcoming drill campaign is going to be significantly larger in scale than previous years. In our last drill campaign, we were able to confirm the Radio Porphyry target can host significant intercepts of >1% CuEq. One of our goals this upcoming drill campaign is to finish enough drilling at Radio Porphyry to be able to complete a preliminary resource estimate at the end of the field season. Altar already has a very large resource; however, we view Radio Porphyry as a potential game changer due to its higher-grade mineralization. In addition, we have several exciting targets at Altar Central and Altar East which require drilling, as well as some interesting greenfield targets which we plan to test by the end of the field season."
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Kevin B. Heather, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc, Ph.D, FGS, FAusIMM, Chief Geological Officer (CGO) and director of Aldebaran, who serves as the qualified person (QP) under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE ALDEBARAN BOARD
"John Black"
John Black
Chief Executive Officer and Director
For further information, please consult our website at www.aldebaranresources.com or contact:
Laura Brangwin
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +1 646 583-1404
Email: laura.brangwin@aldebaranresources.com
About Aldebaran Resources Inc.
Aldebaran is a mineral exploration company that was spun out of Regulus Resources Inc. in 2018 and has the same core management team. Aldebaran acquired the Rio Grande copper-gold project located in Salta Province, Argentina from Regulus along with several other early-stage projects in Argentina. Aldebaran also has the right to earn up to an 80% interest in the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan Province, Argentina from Sibanye-Stillwater. Altar hosts a cluster of large porphyry copper-gold systems with mineralization currently defined in four distinct zones. The Altar project forms part of a larger cluster of world-class porphyry copper deposits, which includes Los Pelambres in Chile (Antofagasta Minerals), along with El Pach?n (Glencore), and Los Azules (McEwen Copper) in Argentina. A total of 266 drill holes (123,968 m) have been completed at Altar between 1995 and 2021. In mid-2018 an updated NI 43-101 resource was prepared for Altar by Independent Mining Consultants Inc. based on the drilling completed up to 2017. The updated Altar NI 43-101 report is available on Aldebaran's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Aldebaran's primary focus is the Altar project with a view to discovering new zones with higher-grade mineralization.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements regarding Aldebaran, including management's assessment of future plans and operations, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond Aldebaran's control. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified using words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Specifically, and without limitation, all statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Aldebaran expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including the proposed exploration and development of the Altar project described herein, and management's assessment of future plans and operations and statements with respect to the completion of the anticipated exploration and development programs, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond Aldebaran's control. These risks may cause actual financial and operating results, performance, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Although Aldebaran believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Aldebaran does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities law.
