Aldebaran receives $8.4 million strategic investment from South32
Aldebaran Resources (TSXV: ALDE) has completed a private placement of common shares priced at $0.78 each to raise total proceeds of C$14.43 million ($11.3m). This included a strategic investment from Australia’s South32 totalling C$10.69 million ($8.4m), plus C$3.74 million from the exercise of participation rights by Route One Investment Company, Aldebaran’s largest shareholder.
Aldebaran plans to use the funds to advance the Altar copper-gold project located in San Juan, Argentina. The property hosts a cluster of porphyry deposits including Altar East and Altar Central, which have a combined measured and indicated resource of 1.2 billion tonnes grading 0.43% copper, 0.09 g/t gold and 1.00 g/t silver. The inferred resource totals 189.2 million tonnes at 0.42% copper, 0.06 g/t gold and 0.80 g/t silver.
Altar forms part of a cluster of world-class porphyry copper deposits that includes Los Pelambres (Antofagasta Minerals), El Pachón (Glencore), and Los Azules (McEwen Copper). The project is currently under a joint venture with Sibanye-Stillwater, which has an option to earn up to an 80% interest.
Aldebaran — which spun out of Regulus Resources in 2018 — is also exploring the Rio Grande project, a large porphyry copper-gold prospect located in Argentina’s Salta province, and the Aguas Calientes gold-silver project in Jujuy province.
Shares of Aldebaran Resources rose 2.5% by 12:00 ET on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of C$99.5 million ($77.8m).