Major companies are giving Argentina’s mineral potential a closer look now that a capitalist revolution has taken root in the South American country. But the first foreign company to begin a major mine development program since the current democratic government was elected to power in 1989 is Vancouver-based junior International Musto Explorations (VSE).
Through negotiations with a quasi-government mining company, Musto was able to secure the right to exploit Bajo de la Alumbrera, an advanced copper-gold porphyry deposit in northwestern Argentina.
More recently, the company announced results of a preliminary reserve analysis of the deposit completed by Mintec. The results indicate proven (over 90%) and probable minable reserves of 337 million tonnes grading 0.53% copper and 0.70 grams (0.02 oz.) gold per tonne at a 0.2% copper cutoff. The project also has an additional 68 million tonnes at 0.3% copper and 0.38 grams (0.01 oz.) gold per tonne classified as possible. The initial strip ratio of waste-to-ore is about 0.3-to-1, and the life-of-mine strip ratio is 1-to-1. (Preproduction stripping is almost nil.)
Musto recently started a 8,000-metre drilling program which has a number of objectives, including drilling three large diameter metallurgical cores, and increasing minable reserves to the range of 500 million tonnes.
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