What did I see at the Piuquenes Project - Pampa Metals.
My take as a Geologist after a site visit to San Juan, Argentina.
Lately, I'm doing my best to become familiar with everything mineral exploration in Argentina.
As an Australian geologist based in Buenos Aires, I can observe a variety of factors and opportunities arising from the changing political environment in Argentina.
Now, I've never worked on porphyry copper/gold exploration as a professional geologist, but I have a fair idea of when a drill hole is in mineralisation.
For spatial reference, the Piuquenes Project is in southwest San Juan Province, Argentina.
The closest town to the project is Barreal, which is seriously beautiful and has excellent views of Cordillera de los Andes, with some of the best produce I've eaten in Argentina (verdad).
On invitation from Pampa, I was lucky enough to visit the town and project for 3 days.
It’s a lot of traveling,
A flight from Buenos Aires to San Juan - 1.5 hours.
Drive to Barreal from San Juan Airport - 3.5 hours.
Drive to the project site (drilling site) from Barreal - 4-5 hours (one way).
I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit the Puiquenes drilling program.
It allowed me to see and familiarise myself with how an exploration drilling program operates in this part of the world.
It's a completely different setup from just rolling up the drill rig to an exploration site in Western Australia, which is what I’m used to.
Drilling at 3,800 meters altitude (12,000 feet) deep in the Andes isn't an easy feat nor is it cheap.
However, unlike the Vicuña district in northwest San Juan Province, where multi-billion dollar mining companies are drilling out programs at 5,000 meters (16,000 feet) altitude, many aspects are working in Pampa's favour at their Piquenes project.
After their market release today, here's a summary of my thoughts from my site visit.