Minera Andes to drill Celestina this month

2009-05-07 17:04 ET - News Release

Mr. Allen Ambrose reports

MINERA ANDES ANNOUNCES 2009 EXPLORATION PROGRAM ON 100 %-OWNED PROPERTIES

Minera Andes Inc. is releasing details on its 2009 exploration program on its 100-per-cent-owned Celestina and Martes 13 exploration projects in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina. Drilling is scheduled to start in the second week of May at the Celestina project and geophysical surveys were recently completed to further identify drill targets at the Martes 13 project.

Since commencing exploration in Argentina in the 1990s Minera Andes has had a successful record with two discoveries to its credit, the now-producing San Jose mine (a joint venture between the corporation and Hochschild Mining PLC, in which the corporation has a 49-per-cent interest) in the San Cruz province and the Los Azules porphyry copper project in the San Juan province, Argentina. As a result, Minera Andes has extensive expertise and knowledge in the exploration for minerals in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina, in particular, an important emerging gold/silver producing province with four producing epithermal vein mines, three of which have been developed in the last 10 years.

Celestina project

A 1,500-metre core drilling program is about to commence on the Celestina project. The Celestina project is located 40 kilometres southwest of AngloGold Ashanti's producing Cerro Vanguardia mine in the Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Drilling at Celestina will explore an area with 10 epithermal veins currently identified that outcrop in an area of two kilometres by 2.5 kilometres. Surface geology, rock chip sampling, a ground magnetic survey and gradient array induced polarization/resistivity were used to plan the individual drill holes.

Martes 13 project

The Martes 13 project is located northwest of the Cerro Vanguardia mine in the northeastern portion of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Recently completed geophysical surveys completed by Quantec Geoscience Argentina SA, on behalf of Minera Andes, included 44 line kilometres of gradient array IP/resistivity and 86 line kilometres of ground magnetic survey. A 1,500-metre to 2,000-metre diamond drilling program is planned for later this year and will be based on targets defined from the recent surface geologic mapping, rock chip geochemistry and geophysics.

In addition to the Celestina and Martes 13 projects, Minera Andes has several other prospects in the Santa Cruz province including the Telken prospect, located west of and contiguous to the Andean Resources Eureka high-grade gold/silver discovery. Exploration is also planned for these areas.

Information of a scientific or technical nature in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Allen V. Ambrose, president of Minera Andes, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 standards of disclosure for mineral projects.