Aldebaran Provides Update on Site Activities in Response to COVID-19
March 26 2020 - 7:00AM
Aldebaran Resources Inc. ("Aldebaran" or the
"Company", ALDE TSX.V) is providing an update on
site activities at its Altar copper-gold project in Argentina and
the Company’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Company’s current priority in the face of
the COVID-19 pandemic is to ensure that all employees and their
families are safe and minimize any potential risks to them or
others in the communities where we live and work. On March 19,
2020, the Argentinian government declared mandatory quarantine
until the end of March and the Company immediately arranged for the
field-camp to be closed and all its employees and contractors to
return home. Aldebaran employees in Argentina will now remain at
home until the government mandated quarantine concludes. This
measure has required exploration operations at the Altar project,
including the re-logging program being completed at the Aldebaran
warehouse in San Juan, to be placed on hold for this period. The
Company is monitoring the situation very closely and after the
quarantine period has concluded, will evaluate the situation based
on official government recommendations. Aldebaran’s corporate
management team will work from home and any near-term international
travel has been postponed.
The implementation of the quarantine has
resulted in the closure of the Altar field camp about one month
earlier than originally planned, however the majority of the field
work scheduled for this season is already complete. Prior to the
quarantine, the Company had just completed a comprehensive ground
magnetics survey of the Altar project area, the purpose of which is
to understand the structural framework and identify the location of
potential faults which management believes have important controls
on the distribution of the mineralization. The Company has also
completed the majority of a mapping initiative that generated the
first systematic surface geological map since discovery of the
deposit in the early to mid 1990's. The mapping program has
uncovered various new geological relationships which aid in better
understanding the deposit and has identified several unexplored
areas exhibiting favourable geology and alteration which warrant
future follow-up work. In addition, a talus-fine geochemical survey
consisting of approximately 1,500 samples collected to-date has
been completed over the main project area at Altar. Geological
mapping and talus fine sampling in the more peripheral portions of
the project area will be rescheduled for completion early in the
next field season. To compliment these field activities, the
Company has recently acquired regional-scale ASTER and
district/deposit-scale Worldview-3 satellite imagery and
hyperspectral data that will add valuable data related to the
distribution of the hydrothermal alteration associated with the
Cu-Au mineralization, as well as provide insights into new target
areas. A detailed structural analysis of this imagery is also in
progress and will augment the geological mapping study.
These 2020 field programs have been conducted
alongside the on-going re-logging program of approximately 120,000
m of drill core. The re-logging program is temporarily suspended
for the duration of the quarantine period but will be re-initiated
as soon as safely possible. The data collected from these
initiatives will be used to generate a new geological model for the
deposit and re-cast the existing resource, using geological
constraints with a focus on generating a higher-grade,
lower-tonnage resource. In addition, results from these field
programs will contribute to the delineation of future drill targets
at the Altar project. Whilst the Company had originally planned to
publish a new mineral resource estimate at the Altar project before
the end of 2020, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may cause
delays that currently cannot be quantified.
John Black, Chief Executive Officer of
Aldebaran, commented as follows: “Our top priority is
the safety of our employees and their families. All employees and
contractors are now at home following government mandated
quarantine. We were lucky to have finished most of our planned
field exploration programs at Altar when the quarantine was
declared. Our team will now be working to analyze the data gathered
during these programs and produce a new geological model and
delineate future drill targets. Results so far have been
encouraging and have helped us gain a better understanding of the
high-grade zones at the Altar copper-gold project, as well as
identify numerous new target areas that will require additional
work and possible drill testing next 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, FAusIMM, Chief Geological
Officer (CGO) and director of Aldebaran, who serves as the
qualified person (QP) under the definitions of National Instrument
43-101.
For further information, please
contact:
Aldebaran Resources Inc. |
|
John E. Black |
CEO / Director |
Phone: |
+1 303
618-7797 mobile |
|
+1 720 514-9036 office |
Email: |
john.black@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 large porphyry copper-gold
system with mineralization currently defined in three distinct
zones. The Altar project forms part of a cluster of world-class
porphyry copper deposits which includes Los Pelambres (Antofagasta
Minerals), El Pachon (Glencore), and Los Azules (McEwen Mining). A
total of 259 drill holes (124,701 m) have been completed at Altar
between 1995 – 2019. In mid-2018 an updated NI 43-101 resource was
prepared for Altar by Independent Mining Consultants Inc (IMC)
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 on the Altar project
with a view to discovering new zones with higher-grade
mineralization.
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 by the use of 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.
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.
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