ATEX’s flagship property is the Valeriano copper gold project located 125km east of Vallenar city, within the Link Belt, in north-central Chile. The Company is focused on delineating and growing the copper-gold porphyry resource underlying a surface oxide gold deposit. Drill results to date confirm the presence of a major copper-gold porphyry system that is open in all directions.
Valeriano is adjacent to the El Encierro deposit, a joint venture between Antofagasta (51%) and Barrick Gold (49%). The project is within a 120-km long zone – internally referred as the Link Belt – connecting the Maricunga gold porphyry belt to the El Indio high-sulphidation gold-epithermal belt that hosts significant copper-gold deposits. Other companies active in this area include Filo Mining, Teck Resources,Newmont Mining as well as Lundin Mining.
ATEX is supported by shareholders with a long-standing track record of successful resource investment. Pierre Lassonde, co-founder of Franco-Nevada is the company’s single largest shareholder, followed by a resource-focused mutual fund.
Elsewhere in northern Chile, ATEX has initiated a low cost generative exploration program exploring for high sulphidation precious metals deposits and has staked a number of properties for review.