Antares And Pachamama Proving Continuity At Rio Grande

VANCOUVER — With the final drill holes in from the Rio Grande copper- gold-silver property, 450 km west of Salta, Argentina, Antares Minerals (ANM-V, ANMFF-O) says the next step is to conduct metallurgical tests and calculate an initial resource estimate.

Antares says it and Pachamama Resources (PMA-V, PAREF-O), which both hold 50% interests in Rio Grande, will soon form a joint venture to map out the project’s future. Antares will remain Rio Grande’s operator.

The latest 12 drill holes come from Antares’ 2008 drilling campaign and confirm continuity of mineralization in two zones within a ring-shaped fracture zone 2 km in diameter. The two zones, North and Discovery, are respectively in the north and southeast areas of the ring.

Most holes drilled in the North zone hit multiple mineralized intercepts between about 100 metres and 500 metres below surface. In the Discovery zone, multiple intercepts occurred from near surface to a depth of about 200 metres.

In the North zone, hole 66 hit as much as 111 metres grading 0.39% copper, 0.39 gram gold per tonne and 5.4 grams silver starting 275 metres down-hole. In the Discovery zone, hole 77 returned 69 metres grading 0.43% copper, 0.57 gram gold and 4.2 grams silver.

The latest holes bring to 77 the total number of holes Antares has drilled at Rio Grande.

The other main zones in the 2-km ring at Rio Grande are: Sofia in the east, No. 7 in the west and the logically named Southwest.

Mansfield Minerals (MDR-V, MFMNF-O) discovered Rio Grande in 1999. Antares earned a 50% interest in exchange for spending US$3 million on exploration, paying US$600,000 and issuing 900,000 shares to Mansfield.

Mansfield spun off many of its exploration properties, Rio Grande included, into Pachamama in 2008.

Antares gained 4¢ to close at $1.14 on news of the drill results. It has 52.7 million shares outstanding.