San Juan Province (epithermal gold-silver-base metals)

The Castaño gold project was initiated in 2019 when the Company bought two small mining concessions, called Mina, by paying the real estate taxes due on them and making two exclusive exploration rights applications (cateos) in the historic Castaño gold mining district, located at moderate elevation on the east front of the Andes Mountains. There are no known production records.

There is intense revitalized industry interest in the old gold mining district as it is now jam packed with mining claims of various and sometimes legal questionable status. The Company is currently engaged in efforts to consolidate a larger land position. Iconic’s land agents closely monitor ongoing developments of the province’s Cadastral Registry (legal mining claims map) watching for acquisition or consolidation opportunities, taking intervention activities as justified and talking with other claim owners about potential partnerships in unify mining claims positions into one large claim block. Iconic anticipates the provincial mining department will soon award to it two contested mining concessions, adding to the two it already has. Also, the Company applied for a highly prospective cateo as simultaneously did a competitor. The Company understands the successful applicant will be determined by lottery in the San Jun Department of Mines, a drawing date for which remains to be set. 

The Company currently controls 2,739 hectares of mining rights in the Castano gold mining district as 54 hectares of Mina plus 2,685 hectares as a cateo, with potential additions of 586 hectares as 60 hectares of Mina plus 526 hectares as the cateo which depends on the outcomes of the drawing. If successful in its endeavors, the Company would end up with 108 hectares of mining concessions and 3,271 hectares of exclusive prospecting rights. 

A major international mining company conducted exploration operations some 10 years ago in the zone of these claims. Their work defined an attractively prospective zone for gold deposits about 10 kilometers long, but that company subsequently abandoned their claims when a corporate decision was made to cease business operations in Argentina. A reconnaissance field examination by Iconic’s geological staff confirmed this prospective zone to be part of a northeast trending complex of hydrothermally altered intrusives (quartz-monzonite porphyries) and associated hydrothermal breccias containing geochemically anomalous gold and copper. Proximal to the porphyry and breccia complex are several Mina of lead-zinc-silver and copper-gold veins with minor production histories.

During 2021, the Company continued its efforts to collect and analyze historical technical data generated by numerous previous workers in the Castano gold mining district. No records of modern day exploration drilling have been found. Iconic’s geologists are examining various years past episodes of geologic mapping in conjunction with a variety of antiquated geochemical and geophysical survey results. Once a better assembly of mine rights is accomplished and some follow-up due diligence field work on recommended drill targets is completed, a drilling campaign will be initiated, pending funding. The Company has already identified a hydrothermally altered gold bearing igneous breccia pipe to be a good quality drilling target. However, it lies within the cateo the ownership of which is to be settled by the aforementioned drawing in the mines department. At some point after that, the Company will likely seek a funding joint venture partner.

As mentioned above, a contracted geological field crew was sent to the property in December of 2021. Their field work of geological mapping and geochemical sampling was completed by February of 2022. The results of that work with recommendations are pending.