Aldebaran Resources Inc. reported additional results from two holes at its ongoing drilling campaign at the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan Province, Argentina. Hole ALD-22-222 was drilled in an area with no previous drilling and was designed to test a favourable geophysical signature coincident with a strong, multi-element talus fines geochemical anomaly at surface. Drill hole ALD-22-222 was terminated at 1,226.00 m depth.

Hole ALD-22-223 represents a 500 m step out from previously drilled hole ALD-22-221 and was designed to test a geophysical anomaly in an area of favourable geological and geochemical information gleaned from nearby shallow drilling. Hole ALD-22-223 was terminated at 1,287.50 m depth. The Company notes that its CuEq formula has changed from previous press releases and that the updated CuEq formula incorporates estimated recoveries for all reported commodities.

Drillhole ALD-22-222 was collared in an unexplored zone called Altar South. Its final depth was 1,226.00 m, and the hole was drilled at -75 degrees inclination and 324 degrees azimuth. Drillhole ALD-22-222 intersected a very long run of rhyolite porphyry, which is a less-favourable host rock, from surface to 870 m depth, after which it cut several intercalations of andesitic volcanic rocks, which is a more-favourable host rock, with rhyolite until the bottom of the hole.

The top 720 m of the hole displays weak to moderate sericite alteration and mineralization, largely consisting of pyrite, chalcopyrite, with lesser galena, enargite and molybdenite observed. Alteration significantly increases from 720 m to the end of the hole, where sericite alteration is dominant and biotite-feldspar potassic alteration is observed and quartz veining increases substantially in this interval along with a significant increase in chalcopyrite and molybdenite. Drillhole ALD-22-223 was collared between the Altar East and Altar Central zones.

Its final depth was 1,287.50 m and the hole was drilled at -78 degrees inclination and 185 degrees azimuth. Drillhole ALD-22-223 intersected a diorite porphyry from surface until the very end of the hole before terminating in rhyolite. From surface to 27.5 m, the hole intersected leached (i.e., copper removed) and iron-oxide-stained porphyry rocks displaying strong quartz vein stockworks.

From 27.5 m to ~400 m depth, the hole encountered secondary copper enrichment minerals chalcocite ± covellite coating and replacing primary hypogene pyrite and chalcopyrite. The upper ~650 m of the hole exhibits strong hypogene alteration characterized by white sericite-pyrite-quartz-tourmaline assemblages overprinting earlier green sericite-chalcopyrite-pyrite-(bornite), with increasing potassic biotite-k-feldspar alteration with depth. Quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite veins can be seen to be increasing.

From approximately 650 m, the occurrence of chalcopyrite ± bornite progressively increases and is associated with the occurrence of hairline veinlets displaying centimeter-wide halos of green sericite ± chlorite-quartz-chalcopyrite-bornite overprinting potassic biotite-k-feldspar-magnetite alteration. The frequency of quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite veining increases considerably to the bottom of the hole. From ~800 m depth to the bottom of the hole, the occurrence of these green sericite halo veins increases considerably, accompanied by the occurrence of hypogene chalcocite along with chalcopyrite and bornite, which appear to be associated with areas of much higher-grade.