Since the early 1980’s, the Valeriano Project has been the focus of a number of exploration programs by senior mining companies, including Exxon Minerals, Phelps Dodge and Newmont. Between 1996 and 1999, Barrick Gold was engaged in an exploration project on the Property which included 12,600 metres of drilling. The combined results from the previous exploration campaigns are sufficient to warrant further exploration.

The target of the previous exploration programs was a series of alteration systems cutting Palaeozoic to Triassic volcanics and Tertiary volcanics and intrusives which underlie the Valeriano Property. Two types of alteration have been reported: epithermal high sulphidation systems with enargite and tennantite; and, mesothermal-type alteration with quartz-sericite-pyrite ± tourmaline. A number of geochemical anomalies associated with alteration systems, possibly related to Maricunga-style gold porphyry systems, remain untested and will be the initial focus of Andina’s exploration activities at Valeriano.