VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 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 PersonThe 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: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 StatementsCertain 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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