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Overview
Aldebaran is advancing the Altar copper-gold project – one of the largest undeveloped copper assets held by a junior. Altar is located in the mining-friendly province of San Juan, Argentina, ranked the number one jurisdiction for mining investment attractiveness by the Fraser Institute in 2023. 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 Pachón (Glencore), and Los Azules (McEwen Copper) in Argentina.
In August 2023, Aldebaran earned a 60% interest in the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan Province, Argentina from Sibanye-Stillwater. The Company notified Sibanye-Stillwater that it intends to spend US$25 million to acquire an additional 20% interest in the Altar project. Altar hosts a cluster of large porphyry copper-gold systems with mineralization currently defined in six distinct zones (Altar North, Altar Central, Altar East, Altar United, QDM, Radio) along 7 km of strike.
Aldebaran’s primary focus is the advancing the Altar project to an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) in Q4 2024, and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2025. The Company is also expanding the mineralised footprint of the project via drilling, and has had significant success, leading to the discovery of the Altar United zone in 2023. In January 2024, Aldebaran signed a collaborative agreement with Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto, to evaluate the use of Nuton’s proprietary primary sulphide leaching technologies on the Altar copper-gold project. Furthermore, the Company continues to de-risk the project for future development through measures such as environmental studies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in the San Juan-Calingasta region.
A total of 255 drill holes (119,052 m) were completed at Altar between 2003 and 2020. In March 2021, an updated NI 43-101 MRE was prepared for Altar by Independent Mining Consultants Inc., based on the drilling completed up to 2020. The 2021 MRE revealed M&I Resources of 11.4 billion lbs copper and 3.4 million oz gold; and Inferred Resources of 1.7 billion lbs copper and 0.4 million oz gold. This report is available on Aldebaran’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.