Tenke sets sights on Argentine target

Vancouver — Continuing to focus on the prolific Maricunga gold belt, Tenke Mining (TNK-T) has inked a letter of intent to earn a 75% stake in TNR Resources‘ (TRR-V) Batidero gold project in Argentina.

The junior can earn the interest by spending $1.5 million over four years. The Adolf Lundin-led company must also issue 25,000 shares annually until the earn-in obligation is met.

Lying in northern San Juan province, the 49-sq.-km property is considered prospective for both high- and low-sulphidation gold mineralization. The junior will carry out geochemical and geophysical surveys over the property this fall.

Tenke has several properties in Argentina. Last year, Rio Tinto (RTP-N) elected not to proceed with its option over the junior’s Vicuna gold project in the northwest. Tenke has drill-tested five targets on the 264-sq.-km property, which occupies the same belt as the Batidero project.

The best result came in hole 4, which cut 118 metres grading 0.51% copper, 81 grams silver and 0.38 gram gold per tonne at a down-hole depth of 162 metres. The interval included a higher-grade section running 0.55% copper, 192 grams silver and 0.39 gram gold at 202 metres down-hole. The hole terminated in mineralization, with the last 10 metres returning 0.92% copper, 5 grams silver and 0.67 gram gold.

In 1999, Tenke began exploring the Vicuna project, a package of ground between the Maricunga belt to the north and the El Indio belt to the south. The company subsequently augmented its position by optioning the Lirio property, adjacent to Vicuna, in return for exploration expenditures of US$1.5 million over five years.

Tenke also has a right of first refusal on several properties north of Vicuna. These are known collectively as Yamiri.

“There has never been a better time to explore in Argentina,” says Tenke director Lukas Lundin. “The country is rich in mineral resources and opportunities abound for the discovery of precious metal and base metal deposits.”