Hot Chili is back in the field at its giant Cortadera copper-gold project in Chile with the Perth company poised to extend an extraordinarily long drill intersection that has already unearthed over 300m of mineralised porphyry. The drill rig fired back up recently following a COVID-19 shutdown and Hot Chili looks to be primed and ready to again test its drilling prowess.
The company said that prior to the drill rig’s suspension, the current diamond hole was at 616m depth and it is now at around 880m below the surface. Company Geologists have described the drill core as “mineralised” over a current length of 300m - and the porphyry is still going.
The current drill hole is planned to a depth of about 1.3km.
Seven diamond drill holes are planned as part of the current program, which will target the high-grade core of the Cupero 3 deposit that is still wide open at present.
Hot Chili’s Cortadera deposits have an average recorded high-grade zone to date ranging 0.7 to 0.9 per cent copper and 0.2g/t to 0.5g/t gold and the company has been consistently building bulk at the deposit since July 2019.
The Perth based company is on track to deliver a maiden resource at Cortadera, which is shaping up as not only a company maker for Hot Chili, but as possibly one of the world’s leading copper-gold developments, according to management.
Cortadera lies 14km south east of Hot Chili’s Productora copper-gold project where the company is close to finalising a deal with the Chilean Government agency, Empresa Nacional de Mineria, or “ENAMI” to commence lease mining and processing of the high grade ore.
The Habanero lode is only 80m from the existing underground development at Productora and has been identified as the likely candidate where ENAMI will kick off lease mining. It features intercepts such as 71m grading 1.6 per cent copper and 0.4g/t gold from 91m down hole.
ENAMI aims to mine Productora with a view to pulling out around 120,000 tonnes of copper-gold ore at a targeted grade of 1 per cent to 1.2 per cent copper over two years.
Hot Chili said that Habanero has the potential to generate annual revenue in excess of AUD$1.2m to AUD$1.5m for the company with mining slated to commence in late 2020.
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