VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 15, 2024 / Aldebaran Resources Inc. ("Aldebaran" or the "Company") (TSXV:ALDE),(OTCQX:ADBRF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto Venture ("Nuton") to evaluate the use of Nuton's proprietary primary sulphide leaching technologies on the Altar copper-gold project, located in San Juan, Argentina.
Under the terms of the agreement, Aldebaran will deliver samples representing various styles of mineralization from the Altar project to Nuton. Nuton will then complete detailed mineralogical analyses of each sample before placing the material into columns. Samples will be placed in columns with a height of 1 m, each under different controlled Nuton operating conditions. It is expected that the full results will be available approximately one year after the columns are loaded. Test work is currently anticipated to commence in H1 2024.
As part of the agreement, Aldebaran has granted exclusivity to Nuton in the area of novel, patented or trade secret leaching technologies, for a period of one year starting on the agreement date of January 9, 2024. The parties will share the cost of the test program with Aldebaran covering the cost of preparation and shipping of the samples to Nuton, and Nuton paying for the costs of metallurgical test work.
John E. Black, Chief Executive Officer of Aldebaran, commented: "We're happy to collaborate with Nuton to evaluate the potential use of their sulphide leaching technology at the Altar project. While sulphide leaching isn't necessary to move the Altar project forward, it could positively impact the project's economics, if successful."
Adam Burley, Chief Executive Officer of Nuton, commented "We are pleased to announce this collaboration agreement with Aldebaran. Nuton has a wide range of potential use cases. At Altar we are encouraged by the potential of Nuton to unlock copper resources in a project with substantial scale potential and in a way that is more environmentally efficient than conventional processes"
ON BEHALF OF THE ALDEBARAN BOARD
"John Black"
John Black
Chief Executive Officer and Director
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About Nuton
Nuton is an innovative venture that aims to help grow Rio Tinto's copper business. At the core of Nuton is a portfolio of proprietary copper leach related technologies and capability - a product of almost 30 years of research and development. Nuton offers the potential to economically unlock copper from primary sulfide resources worldwide through leaching, achieving market-leading recovery rates, contributing to an increase in copper production from copper bearing waste and tailings, and achieving higher copper recoveries on oxide and transitional material. One of the key differentiators of Nuton is the potential to produce the world's lowest impact copper while having at least one Net Positive impact at each of our deployment sites, across our five pillars: water, energy, land, materials and society.
About Aldebaran Resources Inc.
Aldebaran is a mineral exploration company that was spun out of Regulus Resources Inc. in 2018 and has the same core management team. Aldebaran holds a 60% interest in the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan Province, Argentina and can earn an additional 20% interest in the project by completing a further US$25 million in expenditures at Altar over the next three years. The Altar project hosts multiple porphyry copper-gold deposits with potential for additional discoveries. Altar forms part of a cluster of world-class porphyry copper deposits which includes Los Pelambres (Antofagasta Minerals), El Pachón (Glencore), and Los Azules (McEwen Copper). In March 2021 the Company announced an updated mineral resource estimate for Altar, prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc. and based on the drilling completed up to and including 2020 (independent technical report prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc., Tucson, Arizona, titled "Technical Report, Estimated Mineral Resources, Altar Project, San Juan Province, Argentina", dated March 22, 2021 - see news release dated March 22, 2021).
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements regarding Aldebaran, including management's assessment of future-plans and operations, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond Aldebaran's control. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Specifically, and without limitation, all statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Aldebaran expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including the proposed exploration and development of the Altar project described herein, and management's assessment of future plans and operations and statements with respect to the completion of the anticipated exploration and development programs, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond Aldebaran's control. These risks may cause actual financial and operating results, performance, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Although Aldebaran believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Aldebaran does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Aldebaran Resources Inc.