Astra Exploration has released results from the latest 18 of 30 drill holes completed at the Pampa Paciencia gold-silver project in northern Chile, which defined a second gold zone along a 1.4 km vein structure. The flagship 3,840 hectare, road-accessible, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project is located within an active mining district less than 15 kilometers from two major mines, Sierra Gorda and Spence, and 5 kilometers from the Faride mine, in the Antofagasta Region in northern Chile. Astra has completed property wide mapping and sampling, geophysical surveys, and localized trenching and in doing so, has defined a vein boulder field over approximately 75% of the project area.

The veins do not outcrop as the majority of the project area is covered by a thin layer of gravels and caliche but the vein float can be used to identify areas of high prospectivity. A total of 2,981 metres of RC drilling were completed in thirty holes between February and March 2022. Most drilling focused on the 1.4 km long Paciencia Vein system located in the North Zone, which is comprised of Paciencia Oeste, Paciencia, and Paciencia Este.

These mostly concentrated on defining the strike and depth continuity of the Paciencia Vein System in the North Zone with three holes were drilled to test veins at depth in the Central Zone and two holes tested geophysical targets in the North Zone. Drilling at Geophysical targets 1 and 2 resulted in the discovery of two blind veins. Two mineralized shoots are being defined at Paciencia and Paciencia Oeste, where quartz texturing and geochemistry indicate these two shoots could be higher elevations of the mineralized precious metals horizon.

Both shoots are open along strike and at depth. Hole PPRC-22-36 from the Paciencia Vein further extended one mineralized shoot to the east while a second shoot is being defined by shallow drilling at Paciencia Oeste. Drill holes at Paciencia Oeste and Paciencia Este intercepted thick (10 - 20 metres true thickness) vein structures, which occurred in shallow drill holes approximately 15 to 25 metres below surface, with one hole reaching 75 metres below surface in Paciencia Oeste.