Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper explorer Hot Chili has declared a maiden resource of 50.5-million tonnes, grading 0.4% copper and 0.2 g/t gold at its Frontera project, in Chile.
The project was estimated to host some 187 000 t of copper and 356 000 oz of gold, with some 33% of the resource classified as indicated and the remaining 67% as inferred.
Including Hot Chili’s flagship Productora project, the company now had a total coastal copper resource inventory of 215.7-million tonnes, grading 0.5% copper and 0.1 g/t gold for 1.1-million tonnes of copper metal and 936 000 oz of gold.
“The addition of Frontera into our coastal copper resource base is part of our strategy to build a multi-project copper production hub centred on Productora,” said Hot Chili chairperson Murray Black.
“We now look forward to establishing our first reserve at Productora, which will be at the heart of our planned production hub.”
The current Frontera mineralisation is open at depth and further drilling could extend the resource beyond the company’s land position, Black said. Efforts to expand Hot Chili’s land-holding were being pursued through discussions with surrounding land-holders, he added.
The junior was also advancing discussions with its joint venture partner Compania Minera de Pacifico SA on establishing a joint infrastructure agreement for the development of the Productora copper project.