Canadian financial groups eye Catamarca mining sector

The mining authorities in the northern Argentine province of Catamarca met with six Canadian groups who have expressed interest in investing in the local mining sector, Catamarca's mining director José Guillermo Sinner told BNamericas. "There was a particular interest from the groups in investing in Argentina, included Paradigm Capital, an investment society," he said. Interest was focused "mainly in the provinces of San Juan and Catamarca." CERRO ATAJO Representatives of Vancouver-based Cardero Resources (TSX-V: CDU), say they intend to invest US$100mn in Latin American projects, and want to allocate part of that to the Cerro Atajo copper-gold project in Catamarca. Last January Cardero entered into an agreement under which it can acquire 100% of Cerro Atajo rights. Cardero believes the property is "highly prospective" for both high-grade gold-copper-silver veins and bulk copper-gold porphyry mineralization. As part of the acquisition, Cardero has entered into two agreements involving Somicadem, a governmental corporation 51%-owned by Catamarca province and 49% by two private Argentine companies. The Canadian companies' interest is mainly because Catamarca is one of the provinces that already has mining projects in operation, compared to the other provinces that are just recently starting exploration, Sinner said.