The El Tapau project plans to continue exploration in the Calingasta mountain range, in an area with a mining history dating back to the 1940s. Petra Gold Servicios Mineros S.R.L. and its partners reached an agreement with 62 Capital to continue the work carried out by Aurora Mining Corp.
Roberto Lara, from Petra Gold, explained that the project has been developed through agreements since 2009 and that it had been inactive due to a lack of investment. At the same time, the feasibility of exploiting the San Francisco de Los Andes mine is being assessed.
By Panorama Minero
The El Tapau project continues exploration activities in the Calingasta mountain range, in an area with a history of mining exploration and exploitation dating back to the 1940s. Petra Gold Servicios Mineros S.R.L. and its partners reached an agreement with Australian company 62 Capital to continue the exploration work previously carried out by Aurora Mining Corp. At the same time, Petra Gold and its partners are assessing the feasibility of exploiting the San Francisco de Los Andes mine.
The area covered by the agreement has a history of different mining activities. Compañía Minera Solitario Argentina carried out sampling programs in which it identified several gold and copper anomalies. These anomalies were subsequently drilled, yielding values of up to 0.4% copper at the end of the drill hole in the tourmaline breccia zone.
Later, Petra Gold identified an area of approximately 2,500 metres by 1,000 metres with gold mineralization in the Quebrada Seca area. Rock sampling carried out in this sector returned an average of 2.23 g/t gold. In addition, a drill hole was completed near this anomaly, intersecting a structure approximately one metre thick grading 9 g/t gold.
Aurora Mining subsequently carried out a drilling program aimed at identifying anomalies in the tourmaline breccias present in the area. This work took into account an estimate by Compañía Minera Aguilar, which had calculated a total of 160,000 tonnes at an average grade of 5 g/t gold. Drilling focused on the San Francisco de Los Andes breccia. According to information provided by Petra Gold, the program concluded with an estimate of 250,000 ounces in the oxide zone, while the mineralization reportedly remained open toward the primary sulphide zone.
According to Petra Gold, there are private investors interested in financing the exploitation of the San Francisco de Los Andes mine. This possibility is linked to the potential of other mineralized areas surrounding the mine.
Roberto Lara, from Petra Gold Servicios Mineros S.R.L., stated that the work has been carried out through different agreements since approximately 2009. According to Lara, the project went through a period of inactivity due to a lack of investment.
“But we were inactive for several years due to a lack of investment, from 2019 until 2021, when Aurora Mining took it over,” Lara said.
The exploitation area is considered small-scale, while the area designated for exploration covers approximately 3,600 hectares. The project’s stated objective is to continue demonstrating that mining investment can also be developed in smaller-scale projects.
The company stated that its objective is to demonstrate that mining investment can also be developed in smaller-scale projects, citing the case of Casposo as a reference.
