Perth based South American focussed porphyry copper-gold hunter, Hot Chili, is on a roll in Chile with yet another exceptionally long copper-gold drill hit – this one 264m long.
The encouraging new intersection is from the company’s Cortadera discovery in central Chile.
The 264 metre wide zone grading 0.4% copper and 0.2g/t gold from just 52m down-hole, was discovered at the rapidly developing Cuerpo 3 porphyry centre within the company’s Cortadera project.
The same drill hole returned 150m @ 0.6% copper and 0.3g/t gold from 484m down-hole, including a higher-grade 82 metre section going 0.8% copper and 0.4g/t gold from 496m.
Management said the near-surface result demonstrates the continuity of the mineralisation across the entire ore zone and opens up the potential for open-pit extraction, based on the shallow nature of the intersection.
In addition, a new hole, about 250m southwest of the first has recorded a thick intercept within a strongly mineralised porphyry system from the surface to at least 313m down-hole.
Hot Chili said that this mineralisation is situated in a shallow, up-dip location at the Cuerpo 3 deposit.
These areas have never been previously targeted and the mineralised occurrences should significantly de-risk any future, higher-grade, underground mining development options at Cortadera.
Two further holes targeted Cuerpo 3, with drilling assays still pending for the first completed drill hole, the company said.
Double shift drilling is scheduled to continue at Cortadera, with expansion drilling set to commence across both Cuerpo 2 and Cuerpo 3 in the coming weeks.
This work will initially focus on northern and southern extensions to the main Cuerpo 3 porphyry ore system, Hot Chili said.
Regionally, exploration work has been advancing on several fronts at Cortadera, including surface geochemical programs, geological mapping, rock petrographic sampling, geophysical reviews and modelling and environmental studies related to regulatory applications for upcoming drill permitting.
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By Matt Birney
