New copper porphyry
Sable Resources Ltd. announced plans to acquire 100% of the “La Esquina” property in Argentina’s San Juan province. The acquisition includes four concessions adjacent to two properties previously held by Sable. The newly consolidated land package totals 5,236 hectares and will now be called the Zorro Project.
Rubén Padilla, Sable’s chairman and CEO, said, “The consolidation of the Zorro land will allow us to explore a high-potential project along a world-class mineral belt with chances of discovering porphyry, epithermal or intrusion related mineralization. Adding Zorro to our project pipeline shows our commitment to exploration in San Juan, one of the most attractive jurisdictions in the world.”
During an initial reconnaissance of the Zorro Project, Sable collected 98 rock samples, currently being analyzed by ALS Minerals. The project is accessible by road, about 23 kilometers from the nearest town, and sits at an elevation of 2,600 meters above sea level—a relatively low altitude that allows year-round fieldwork, significantly reducing overall exploration costs.
Zorro is located in San Juan’s Frontal Cordillera, directly north of two well-known polymetallic and copper deposits:
- Minsud/South32 Chita Valley Project, which includes the Chinchillones deposit with indicated resources of 188 million tons (Mt) at 0.41% CuEq (0.25% Cu, 0.11 g/t Au, 10.6 g/t Ag, 36 ppm Mo, 0.16% Zn) and inferred resources of 573 Mt at 0.36% CuEq (0.22% Cu, 0.09 g/t Au, 9.0 g/t Ag, 93 ppm Mo, 0.11% Zn). It also includes the Chita Sur porphyry deposit with indicated resources of 33.1 Mt at 0.43% Cu and inferred resources of 8.6 Mt at 0.40% Cu.
- Don Julio Project, also owned by Sable, which includes four active porphyry targets (Gringa, Morro, Punta Cana, and Tocota), located 21 km west of Zorro.
The Zorro Project’s mineral potential was identified through Sable’s regional target-generation work. The project contains several historic mineral occurrences and workings surrounding a large magnetic anomaly roughly 7 by 4 km in size.
The anomaly appears to be caused by a diorite stock intruding Carboniferous sediments and Permian-Triassic granites. A preliminary field review identified three distinct mineralization styles:
- Intrusion-related copper mineralization, located just 7.7 km from Chita Sur and 9.8 km from the large Chinchillones deposit. Hosted in Permian-Triassic granite near the diorite stock contact, the system displays coarse chalcopyrite within veins and laminar quartz-magnetite-specularite veins, predominantly oriented north-northwest. Veining extends over approximately 650 by 500 meters. Sable plans detailed mapping, sampling, trenching, and geophysical surveys in preparation for a drill program scheduled for the second half of 2026.
- Magmatic-hydrothermal breccias outcropping over roughly 180 by 100 meters, with quartz, sericite, carbonate, and pyrite cement, and primarily sedimentary clasts. These breccias trend north-northeast and their geometry and textures suggest proximity to the breccia’s dome zone, with predictable zoning of copper mineralization at depth.
- Discrete epithermal veins at the edge of the magnetic anomaly. Historically mined artisanal operations exploited these veins, which display varying orientations and thicknesses, hosted both in sedimentary rocks and the diorite stock. Observed minerals include galena, sphalerite, and, to a lesser extent, arsenopyrite. Geochemistry and structural analysis will be conducted to assess exploration potential.