Astra Exploration Inc. announced the results of the Phase II drilling program at its Pampa Paciencia gold-silver project located in Northern Chile. The Phase II drill program consisted of 3,976 metres of RC drilling in 15 holes, all placed in the North Zone target with the focus of testing the Paciencia Vein system continuity and some magnetic targets. The drill program defined the extension of the two previously discovered mineralized shoots and discovered a third shoot of mineralization at depth in the Paciencia Oeste vein segment with nine metres averaging 4.5 g/t AuEq, including a high-grade zone with a three-metre interval of 12.7 g/t AuEq in hole PPRC-22-45.

True widths are estimated to be 75-80% of the interval lengths in PPRC-22-45. Three mineralized shoots have been discovered to date. The Paciencia/Paciencia Este shoot is currently the largest, at approximately 400 metres along strike and approximately 170 metres vertical extension.

The second shoot is defined in the Paciencia Oeste vein, with a defined  200 metres of strike (open to the east) and 130 metres vertical extension. A third shoot, discovered in this Phase II program, remains open in all directions with mineralization starting at a depth of 200 metres below surface. Estimated true width of each shoot is 10-15 metres.

Drill results from the Paciencia vein system are thought to be analogous with the Faride LSE mine, located eight kilometres south of the Paciencia vein system, and in proximity with the Cerro Dominador regional fault. Similarities between Faride and Pampa Paciencia based on results from this program confirm that the Paciencia vein system has the potential for multiple shoots of high-grade mineralization in a similar structural setting to Faride. The Faride mineralized system is hosted within several NW to E-W veins covering an area of eight square kilometres.

Mineralization is hosted within a total of eight mineralized shoots separated by NE-striking faults within a 2.2-kilometre-long NW-striking structure. Historical reserves of 234,000 gold ounces at Faride were cited following re-mapping of the project by Coeur in the 1990s. The magnetic targets that were drilled (Figure 3) intersected veins with low or no precious metal grades.

Anomalous mineralization was intersected in the Tormenta vein (a splay of the Paciencia vein system to the west, with at least 300 metres of strike length) with 11 metres at 0.22 g/t AuEq at the intersection with Paciencia Oeste vein. These newly discovered veins are thick structures (estimated true thickness of 20 metres in PPRC-22-46 and 5 metres in PPRC-22-55) with potential to host additional mineralized shoots. To date, Astra's drilling has focused on a small area of the project (Figure 4) and has demonstrated that linear magnetic low features, particularly those oriented NW-SE to E-W have a high correlation with concealed vein structures.

There is minimal vein outcrop in the project area, however there is widespread epithermal mineralization in surface float samples across the entire project. Company geologists continue to refine additional drill targets by integrating in-house detailed geology with the application of various geophysical techniques. This is complemented with the integrated study of hydrothermal alteration and the precipitation conditions (temperature and salinity) of the different pulses of mineralization at different depth levels of the veins.

Data increasingly suggests the potential for a large-scale epithermal system with several kilometres of vein structure concealed by shallow cover.