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Aldebaran Resources Inc. (" Aldebaran " or the " Company ") (TSX-V: ALDE, OTCQX: ADBRF) is pleased to announce the official launch of Centauri Minerals Inc. (" Centauri "), the previously announced new Aldebaran spin-out company formed to initially focus on exploration in Northern Argentina (see Company news release dated September 5, 2025). In addition, Aldebaran and Centauri are pleased to report that a private seed financing round of C$5.7 million has been completed to execute exploration programs and administrative preparations for an initial public offering or go-public transaction in 2026.
Sam Leung, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Centauri, commented: " I am honoured and excited to lead the new Centauri Minerals with the support of the Aldebaran team. The outstanding investor interest for this venture has reinforced our plans to conduct modern exploration programs on this unique portfolio of dormant projects in a mining region of increasing global interest. The completion of this oversubscribed private seed financing round allows us to get to work immediately, commencing exploration programs to evaluate and select new drill targets at Rio Grande and Aguas Calientes, solidifying our management team, and commercial preparations to become a public company in 2026. On behalf of our team, I want to thank the Centauri seed round investors for their trust and participation as co-founders in this new venture, many of whom are longtime investors and colleagues in companies we have advanced together. I am also pleased to welcome Altius Minerals as an investor in Centauri, a renowned investment group with a +25-year record of supporting successful new exploration ventures. "
Centauri Project Highlights
Centauri is initially focusing on copper, gold, and silver exploration in Argentina with a portfolio of six exploration projects spanning over 43,000 hectares located in Salta, Jujuy, and Catamarca provinces.
- Rio Grande: The most advanced project with near-surface, open-pitable resources totaling 71 million tonnes of 0.30% Cu, 0.36 g/t Au and 3.2 g/t Ag in the indicated category and 41 million tonnes of 0.23% Cu, 0.28 g/t Au and 2.8 g/t Ag in the inferred category. In addition, well-mineralized porphyry dykes have been intercepted beneath the current resource, with the best intercepts returning 257.2 m of 0.53% Cu and 1.20 g/t Au. Rio Grande is located in Salta Province, approximately 9 km from the Lindero gold-copper mine owned by Fortuna Mining Corp. The project also owns valuable support infrastructure, including an active airfield located between the project and the Lindero mine, which is currently being utilized by the mine. Drilling at the project was last completed in 2012 with a NI 43-101 Technical Report completed by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (now SLR Consulting Limited) in 2018, under much lower metal price assumptions and years before the nearby Lindero mine began operations in 2020. Several priority drill targets remain untested and more sophisticated modern geophysical and geochemical techniques have yet to be utilized at the project.
- Aguas Calientes: The project contains abundant and well-mineralized surface boulders with high concentrations of gold and silver along a 6 km strike length. Aguas Calientes is located in Jujuy Province and is approximately 35 km from the town of San Antonio de los Cobres, a major mining industry service hub in Salta. Limited drilling was completed in 2019, which intersected some mineralization, but more importantly, confirmed epithermal structures that are expected to assist in future targeting and drilling programs. The source of the high-grade boulders has yet to be found, and drill permits are still active.
- Earlier stage projects: The remaining portfolio contains four green-field exploration projects with limited historical work completed but with prospectivity for copper, gold and/or silver, including: El Camino (Salta), Oscara (Salta), La Frontera (Catamarca), and Catua (Jujuy). These projects have not been worked or re-evaluated for many years, but the mineral concessions have been held in good standing through Aldebaran and predecessor companies.
Value to Aldebaran Shareholders
Aldebaran intends to distribute its shares of Centauri to Aldebaran shareholders upon a go-public event for Centauri. Aldebaran may elect to distribute the Centauri shares all at once or in stages and may retain a minority interest in Centauri. The formation of Centauri will allow Aldebaran shareholders to maintain their exposure to the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan, Argentina, while also receiving additional value through shares in Centauri.
Formation of Centauri Minerals Inc. and Seed Financing
Centauri is currently a Canadian subsidiary of Aldebaran. Aldebaran and Centauri have executed a definitive transfer agreement, pursuant to which Centauri will acquire all of the shares of Aldebaran Argentina S.A. and Minera El Toro S.A., the subsidiaries owned by Aldebaran that hold the portfolio of Argentina projects. In exchange, Aldebaran will receive 40,000,000 common shares (78.1%) of Centauri, and the balance will be owned by the seed round investors. The transfer is subject to certain conditions and closing is expected to occur in Q4-2025. Pursuant to the non-brokered seed round financing, Centauri has issued 11,380,000 shares at C$0.50 per share to new investors for a total capital raise of C$5,690,000.
Centauri is currently governed by a three-member board of directors, which includes Mr. Mark Wayne (CFO and Director of Aldebaran), Mr. Javier Robeto (Vice President and Argentina Country Manager of Aldebaran), and Sam Leung (CEO of Centauri). An exploration advisory committee has been formed to assist in the development of new exploration programs as well as to ensure project continuity from historical work; the first two members of this committee are Dr. Kevin B. Heather (Chief Geological Officer and Director of Aldebaran) and Mr. John Black (CEO and Director of Aldebaran).
Centauri is in active discussions with candidate additions to the board of directors, exploration advisory committee, and the management team. Announcements are expected as the company progresses towards its go-public goal in 2026.
Next Steps and Priorities
The completion of the seed financing round allows Centauri to immediately activate its exploration and commercial programs in parallel. Key initiatives and priorities include:
- Technical Report update – already in discussions with independent consultants to complete update of NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Rio Grande Project in preparation for go-public requirements.
- Human Resources – led by Sam Leung, Centauri will build out a management and exploration team with a strong emphasis on in-region technical and cultural experience to advance the exploration portfolio.
- Geophysical and geochemical field programs – the Centauri team is actively considering and will select several state-of-the-art geophysical and geochemical technologies that could be advantageously applied to Rio Grande and Aguas Calientes to increase the probability of future drilling success. Members of the Centauri team have extensive experience with these modern tools within Argentina and across the Americas, including a network of reputable service providers.
- Administration in Argentina – completion of subsidiary and project portfolio transfers and filings with regulators, as well as renewal of drill permit for the Rio Grande project, expected in 2026.
- Go-public plan – Centauri has begun work on its plan to become a public company in 2026, with a focus on commercial and legal requirements as well as investor and social media strategy.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Kevin B. Heather, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc, Ph.D, FAusIMM, FGS, Chief Geological Officer and director of Aldebaran, who serves as the qualified person (QP) under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101.
For further information or to subscribe to the Centauri news list, please contact:
Sam Leung
CEO and Director
Centauri Minerals Inc.
Phone: +1 416 206 4187
Email: sam.leung@centauriminerals.com
Ben Cherrington
Manager, Investor Relations
Aldebaran Resources Inc.
Phone: +1 347 394-2728 or +44 7538 244 208
Email: ben.cherrington@aldebaranresources.com
About Aldebaran Resources Inc.
Aldebaran is a mineral exploration company that was spun out of Regulus Resources Inc. in 2018 and has the same core management team. Aldebaran holds an 80% interest in the Altar copper-gold project in San Juan Province, Argentina. The Altar project hosts multiple porphyry copper-gold deposits with potential for additional discoveries. Altar forms part of a cluster of world-class porphyry copper deposits which includes Los Pelambres (Antofagasta Minerals), El Pachón (Glencore), and Los Azules (McEwen Copper). In November 2024 the Company announced an updated mineral resource estimate for Altar, prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc. and based on the drilling completed up to and including the 2023-24 field season (independent technical report prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc., Tucson, Arizona, titled "Technical Report, Estimated Mineral Resources, Altar Project, San Juan Province, Argentina", dated December 31, 2024 - see news release dated November 25, 2024).
About Altius Minerals Corporation
Altius's strategy is to create per share growth through a diversified portfolio of royalty assets that relate to long life, high margin operations. This strategy further provides shareholders with exposures that are well aligned with sustainability-related global growth trends including the electricity generation transition from fossil fuel to renewables, transportation electrification, reduced emissions from steelmaking and increasing agricultural yield requirements. These macro-trends each hold the potential to cause increased demand for many of Altius's commodity exposures including copper, renewable based electricity, several key battery metals (lithium, nickel and cobalt), clean iron ore, and potash. In addition, Altius has also built a portfolio of directly and indirectly held junior resource investments that have been generated from founding and earn in option related payments through its joint venture strategy to advance projects as well as selective investing in other top-quality juniors employing a project generation and joint venture business model. Altius is listed on Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange and is included in each of the S&P/TSX Small Cap, the S&P/TSX Global Mining, and the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats indices.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements regarding Aldebaran, including management's assessment of future-plans and operations, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond Aldebaran's control. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Specifically, and without limitation, all statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Aldebaran expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including the proposed spinout of properties into a newly formed company described herein, the financing plans of Centauri, the expected structure of the proposed transactions, the intent to have Centauri shares listed on an exchange, and management's assessment of future plans and operations and statements with respect to the completion of the anticipated exploration and development programs, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond Aldebaran's control, such as the inability to obtain satisfactory financing for Centauri, and inability to obtain the necessary approvals for the proposed transactions. These risks may cause actual financial and operating results, performance, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Although Aldebaran believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Aldebaran does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities law.
