Astra Exploration Drills 1.4m Grading 35.3g/t Gold and 8,356 g/t Silver At La Manchuria Project, Santa Cruz, Argentina

Highlights

• LM-108A: 4.4m grading 11.8g/t gold and 2,781g/t silver (39.6g/t AuEq), including

  • 1.4m grading 35.3g/t gold and 8,356g/t silver (118.9g/t AuEq)

• LM-109: 2.5m grading 5.52g/t gold and 25g/t silver (5.77g/t AuEq)

• LM-105: 2.0m grading 6.56g/t gold and 489g/t silver (11.74g/t AuEq)

• Confirmed extension of key mineralized structures

• Results are open to depth and along strike

• Additional assay results expected to be received this month

• Estimated true widths are 85% of widths reported in this news release

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2025) - Astra Exploration Inc. (TSXV: ASTR) (OTCQB: ATEPF) (FSE: S3I) ("Astra Exploration" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the initial results of the Company's maiden drill program at the La Manchuria Project, located in the prolific Deseado Massif of Santa Cruz, Argentina.

Astra's CEO, Brian Miller, commented: "These first results are an impressive start to Astra's drilling at La Manchuria. Our drilling to date has been successful in intersecting new quartz vein structures outside the limits of past drilling, thus confirming our geologic model and interpretation.

"When we optioned the project last year, a shallow resource was already defined. Our team of experts interpreted the high-grade veins to have potential for extension along strike and at depth; further, that there are more veins in a larger vein field than has been drilled previously.

"The initial results have proved both to be true, with bonanza grade gold and silver intercepts that are open to depth in LMD-108A and hole LMD-105 hitting three new veins approximately 150m to the southwest of previous drilling. More results from further step-outs in June are pending, notably including overlimit assays from hole 107A which confirmed continuity of important southeast striking structures underneath the post-mineral breccia unit. We have adequate funds and are already planning for an additional round of drilling to follow up these results."

Drilling Program

Astra's Phase I drill program at La Manchuria consists of 11 diamond drill holes (DDH), totaling 2,468 m, designed to test four different zones of the Manchuria hill (see May 21, 2025 news release). Today's results are from the initial deeper drilling in the main zone and step-out vein targets to the southwest as seen in Figure 1 below. Assays for four holes are reported in today's release (Table 1) and the remaining seven holes have assay results pending.

Drilling by previous operators has focused on shallow drilling and defined a small historic open pit resource¹. A detailed review of these veins by Astra Exploration geologists suggested these had the potential to be open at depth, along strike and for the broader vein field to be larger than the current drilled footprint.

Figure 1: Plan map of initial Phase I drill results on four holes (105, 106, 108A, & 109) at La Manchuria. Gold and silver results are in grams per tonne (g/t).

Drilling Results and DiscussionTable 1: Assays from four holes at La Manchuria. Ag:Au ratio (AuEq) is 100:1. 

Drilling by Astra at La Manchuria commenced at hole number LMD-105 to follow the naming convention used by previous operators.

Drill hole LMD-105 was designed to explore for new veins southwest of the Main Zone. The hole successfully intersected a group of three previously unknown veins, all of which returned shallow, high-grade mineralized intervals. These zones remain open at depth, indicating strong potential for further exploration:

• 2 m with 11.74 grams per tonne (g/t) AuEq (Gold Equivalent) at 6.4 m depth in a blind vein that was not mapped previously

• 0.5 m with 16.36 g/t AuEq at 44 m depth, vein represented at surface with anomalous silver channel samples on quartz veinlets

• 0.5 m with 8.48 g/t AuEq at 105.5 m depth, vein represented at surface with a historical trench reporting 3.2 g/t Au and 88 g/t Ag in a 10 m interval

Drill holes LMD-106 intersected veining but returned no significant results.

Drill holes LMD-108A and LMD-109 were designed to test a portion of the Main Zone at depth. In addition to successfully intersecting the targeted zone, both holes also encountered new, parallel vein systems located to the east. Notably, all identified veins remain open at depth and at the right lithology (rhyolitic tuffs), highlighting strong potential for further mineralization.

Drill hole LMD-108A (Figure 2) returned one of the highest-grade intercepts to date on the project, with 4.4 m grading 44.6 g/t AuEq at a downhole depth of 124.6 m. This high-grade interval includes a 1.4 m wide quartz-sulfide vein containing bonanza grades of 35.3 g/t Au and 8,356 g/t Ag (118.9 g/t AuEq). This vein is located just 100 m below surface and has been named the Argentum vein. Importantly, this hole shows that the Argentum vein is not isolated-another quartz-sulfide vein, 1 m thick and grading 10.28 g/t AuEq, was intercepted at 167 m downhole depth, and several smaller veins and veinlets reported anomalous precious metals.

Figure 2: Schematic cross section through the Main zone at La Manchuria showing hole LMD-108A drill results.

Drill hole LMD-109 extended mineralization east of the Main Zone, identifying a series of new, parallel veins and veinlets. At least four distinct mineralized structures were defined in this area, with two high-grade intervals standing out:

• 4 m with 4.55g/t AuEq at 154 m downhole depth

• 2.5 m with 5.77g/t AuEq at 161.5 m downhole depth

Table 2: Coordinates (Gauss Krugger: belt 2) for 11 DDH holes and downhole depth. Coordinates and depth are in metres.

Next Steps

Assay results remain outstanding for seven holes from the Phase I program. They target an extension to the southeast of the Main Zone beneath post mineral cover and step-outs to the northwest and southeast of the Main Zone.

The Company is currently making plans to quickly follow up with a Phase II drill program. Astra has approximately $2 million in its treasury and is funded to restart drilling at La Manchuria.

Figure 3: Location map of the La Manchuria project in the Deseado Massif of Santa Cruz, Argentina.

About the Company

Astra Exploration Inc. is a precious metals exploration company based out of Vancouver, BC that is actively building a portfolio of high-quality projects in some of the most important mining jurisdictions in Latin America.

The La Manchuria gold-silver project in Santa Cruz, Argentina, over which Astra has an option to acquire 90% interest, is a high-grade gold and silver low sulphidation epithermal (LSE) deposit located in the prolific Deseado Massif which hosts multiple world-class LSE precious metals deposits including Cerro Vanguardia and Cerro Negro, Santa Cruz, Argentina.

The 100% owned Pampa Paciencia gold and silver project in northern Chile is located in the Paleocene mineral province in proximity to such major operating mines as Spence and Sierra Gorda. The project shares several important geological similarities to other Paleocene LSE gold-silver deposits including Faride and El Peñón.

The 100% owned Cerro Bayo project in northern Chile is located in the Maricunga belt approximately 20 km from the Refugio Mine. The project hosts a high sulphidation epithermal (HSE) +/- porphyry gold system with similarities to the Salares Norte deposit to the north in the same belt. The Maricunga belt is one of the most endowed regions in the world for gold and copper deposits.

Qualified Person

The technical data and information as disclosed in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Darcy Marud, who is an Independent Director of Astra. Mr. Marud is a Practicing Member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario and is a qualified person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

For further information, please contact:

References:

¹ Source: Stubens, T. and Gowans, R., September 27, 2019.
Updated Technical Report on the Mineral Resources of the La Manchuria Project Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
https://www.sedarplus.ca/csa-party/records/document.html?id=6bc2df299100dda4b4142a8fc3458ea9e378a7ef5b24922fa490ce964833e1b0

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