Hot Chili drilling confirms Chilean copper-gold porphyry find

Hot Chili has unveiled a series of stunning drill intervals including 320 metres grading 0.3 per cent copper and 0.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 34m and ending in mineralisation, at its La Verde porphyry discovery in South America.

La Verde is part of the company’s Domeyko project, sitting at low elevation in Chile’s Atacama coastal region.

The company says the latest drill results confirm a major copper-gold porphyry discovery, with the potential to become its third seriously big play in a nation known for being the global leader in copper production.

Results from an additional 10 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes delivered a series of wide intervals, with multiple hits greater than 100m. Every hole intersected porphyry-style copper-gold mineralisation.

Broad intersections of consistent mineralisation extend for more than 300m vertically and begin from shallow depths.

A succession of thick hits included 200m going 0.4pc copper and 0.1g/t gold from 48m to end of hole, with a 38m section coming in at a higher-grade 0.5pc copper and 0.2g/t gold from 68m.

The next widest hole saw 172m at 0.4pc copper and 0.2g/t gold from 48m, which included a 20m slice running at 0.5pc copper and 0.2g/t gold from a depth of 62m, and a higher-grade 32m going 0.6pc copper and 0.2g/t gold from 232m.

Notably, assays from eight of the 12 holes plunged into its ground ended in mineralisation at the depth capability of the drill rig.

Hot Chili has now commenced a step-out drilling program to test for mineralised intercepts outside the known porphyry area, which has the potential to substantially increase the footprint of the current 550m-by-400m area.

It says the area remains open in all directions and a gravel cover may be masking a much bigger porphyry system.

This discovery has all the signs of becoming our third bulk-tonnage, copper-gold deposit and is open in all directions and growing fast. We’re also preparing to deploy AI-powered exploration to fast-track our nearby exploration growth pipeline, leveraging 16 years of expertise in Chile.

The latest results add to previous head-turning assays of a 308m stretch grading 0.5pc copper and 0.3g/t gold from 46m, including a higher-grade component of 100m at 0.7pc copper and 0.3g/t gold.

Drilling has hammered 19 holes thus far for 5700m, with assays for a further seven holes pending. Geological logging has confirmed the presence of porphyry host rock featuring porphyry-style veining in each pending hole.

Management is planning a deeper diamond drill program to test the potential for greater than a 1km vertical depth. This is similar to recent porphyry discoveries, such as its Costa Fuego project’s Cortadera find and BHP/Lundin Mining’s Filo del Sol discovery, which has a strike length of more than 4.5km and extends to a depth of almost 1.5km.

The company is also yet to test below the historical copper oxide open pit, providing a significant target beneath the historic workings.

La Verde sits about 30km south of Costa Fuego’s planned central processing hub, so it is ideally positioned to potentially add further feed to the proposed mill should it develop into a mining operation.

In the near term, Hot Chili is feverishly pushing ahead to complete a pre-feasibility study for both its Costa Fuego and Huasco Water projects.

Costa Fuego comprises the Cortadera, Productora, Alice and San Antonio deposits and is regarded as one of the better undeveloped copper resources globally. It has a mammoth combined resource of 798 million tonnes grading 0.45 per cent copper equivalent for 2.9 million tonnes of copper, 2.6 million ounces of gold, 12.9m ounces of silver and 68,000t of molybdenum.

The Huasco Water project has the potential to provide a long-term, regional multi-user seawater and desalination water supply network for the Huasco valley area in the southern Atacama region.

It is part of a joint-venture agreement with Compañía Minera del Pacífico, with Hot Chili holding 80pc of the project. It lies about 600km north of the Santiago capital.

The plan is to target the region’s critical water needs through a multi-staged approach involving seawater intake and desalination.

The company appears to be in an enviable financial position, with cash at the end of last year sitting at a solid $19 million.

Hot Chili appears to be on the verge of boosting its massive copper-gold resource to another level at a time when market pundits are predicting a copper shortage in coming years and gold is experiencing a price boom.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au