Golden Arrow starts San Pietro copper-gold-cobalt project

Golden Arrow Resources Corporation has started the first exploration program at its new 100% held San Pietro Copper-Gold-Cobalt project in Chile.

Golden Arrow has retained two Chilean project geologists with extensive experience in geologic systems like those in and around San Pietro. The program has commenced with detailed surface mapping and sampling and is expected to include trenching and an updated geophysical program in the next six months. 

At the same time, the crew is engaged in re-logging much of the 34,000m of historic drill core.  This work will modernise and build the database for the main prospects to refine the targets for a subsequent resource delineation drill program. 

Brian McEwen, VP Exploration and Development for Golden Arrow, was pleased to have boots on the ground so quickly at this "new and exciting project".

"Our new geologists are supported by local field technicians and project management staff to ensure smooth operations as we ramp up our activities at San Pietro. We anticipate a busy and productive second half of the year as we refine targets for drilling and building resources," he said. 

Golden Arrow's San Pietro copper-gold-cobalt project

Golden Arrow acquired San Pietro in March. It encompasses 18,448 hectares of exploration and exploitation concessions in the Atacama region of Chile, approximately 100km north of Copiapo in an active mining district that is home to all the major Iron-oxide copper-gold deposits in Chile.

There is excellent mining infrastructure in the area, and the property is situated between and adjacent to Capstone Copper's Santo Domingo IOCG mine development project and Mantoverde IOCG mine property. 

Prior to 2013, the Project saw approximately $15mn in historic exploration work, including over 34,000m of drilling, over 1,000 surface samples and multiple geophysical surveys. The Rincones target was the primary focus of the historic work, with multiple drill holes returning significant copper, gold and cobalt assays, including 28m averaging 1.14% Cu, 0.12g/t Au, and 335ppm Co, in RA-12-DH-003.

Golden Arrow's due diligence review confirmed the considerable potential of the known targets and identified areas where new interpretations and additional work are expected to improve the prospects for resources.

In May, Golden Arrow Resources received the final assays from its recent diamond drilling program at the Tierra Dorada Gold Project in Paraguay. 

The Phase II program included 46 drill holes totaling 1791.80m testing the Alvaro and Itayuru prospects.

Eight holes returned intervals of gold above 0.5g/t with a best interval of 2.6 metres averaging 5.17g/t gold. Following a review of the results acquired to date, management decided to discontinue funding and terminate its option agreement for the project.

However it has optioned its Mogote Copper-Gold Project, in San Juan Province, Argentina, to Australian-based Syndicate Minerals. This is the third property option completed by the company since early 2021, as part of its strategy to build a secondary value stream through joint-venture advancement of non-core exploration projects from its 180,000-hectare-plus property portfolio in the south American country.