Deep drill testing below the Cerro Casale deposit on the Aldebaran property in northern Chile is confirming the potential of a new discovery for partners Arizona Star Resources (AZS-V) and Bema Gold (BGO-T).
Diamond drill hole DD-19 returned a 1,805-ft. intersection (starting at 492 ft.) grading 0.69% copper and 0.067 oz. gold per ton. The intersection included a 794-ft. interval grading 1.13% copper and 0.125 oz. gold.
Mineralization is hosted in a breccia that grades into a potassicly altered porphyry.
The hole is the first in a $6-million, 40,000-ft. program designed to follow up deep reverse-circulation drilling, which returned a 138-ft. intersection from 787 to 925 ft. grading 0.52 oz. gold and 1.5% copper. The initial discovery prompted the companies to note similarities to Chile’s El Indio district.
The latest hole, DD-19, confirmed the presence of a gold-copper porphyry beneath the known Cerro Casale oxide gold deposit, and the program is proceeding with three rigs.
Bema and Arizona Star had planned to start a feasibility study on the Cerro Casale deposit but postponed it when infill drilling turned up oxide gold values below the deposit.
At the time, the deposit was estimated to host a minable reserve of 104 million tons grading 0.019 oz. gold.
Arizona Star holds a 51% interest in the Aldebaran property, while Bema owns the remaining 49%. Bema also controls Arizona Star through a 30% equity holding.
The Aldebaran property is adjacent to the newly commissioned Refugio gold mine owned by partners Bema and Amax Gold (AU-N). Refugio is an open-pit, heap-leach operation targeted to produce an average of 233,000 oz. gold annually.
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