21 February 2022 – Bromborough (UK): NewEra Metal Resources Ltd (the “Company” or “NewEra”) is pleased to announce application for six (6) cateos (exploration concessions) to cover four (4) new vanadium projects in the Malargue Department, Mendoza Province, west-central Argentina. The Company has also increased the surface area of its prospective Mercedes project by approximately 20% to cover a total area of approximately 9,600 ha., and has added another cateo application to its La Valenciana project.
The new projects which are named 1) La Victoria, 2) Alicia, 3) Cerro Panul and 4) Malargue west are situated north, south and west of Malargue town, and cover historically documented vanadium-bitumen occurrences in favourable geological settings. La Victoria is proximal to the Mina Aida bitumen mine permit where the main deposit consisted of three bitumen veins (maximum width of 1.25 m) hosted by lower-mid Cretaceous sediments.
The La Valenciana Mine was discovered in 1922 and it was mined during the 1940s. Located 34 km west of Malargue at an elevation of 1900 m, it was one of the largest bitumen mines in the region. The Company’s project includes the now abandoned mine workings where the principal vein in the form of a sill within a shallow syncline had a reported maximum thickness of 4 m and a length of greater than 1200 m. Exploitation was near surface, but drilling away from outcrops reports bitumen intersections at a depth of 450 m. At other old bitumen mines in the region, bitumen veins are known to occur at different stratigraphic horizons.
The Company will continue to review new vanadium opportunities in the under-explored Malargue district as it considers different finance options for its projects.