PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper developer Hot Chili has been granted a maritime concession to extract sea water some 60 km from its planned Costa Fuego copper/gold development, in Chile.

The company is now one of the few copper developers in the country controlling a maritime concession for water, adding significantly to the critical infrastructure access requirements already secured, including surface rights and water and electricity easements, Hot Chili said on Monday.

The company told shareholders that the water rights represented a major step forward in establishing an infrastructure-ready major coastal copper development, which could leverage from a central processing and combined infrastructure approach.

The Costa Fuego development includes the Cortadera, Productora and El Fuego assets, and is estimated to host some 2.9-million tonnes of copper, 2.7-million ounces of gold, 9.9-million ounces of silver and 64 000 t of molybdenum.

Hot Chili’s previous prefeasibility work on the development of the Productora project modelled the extraction of seawater through a 62-km buried water pipeline from the coast to the Productora project, with the company saying on Monday that all metallurgical testwork results to date from Costa Fuego had achieved strong metal recoveries using sea water processing.

The sea water pipeline design is now planned to be increased and extended to the Cortadera project, as the new operating center for the combined Costa Fuego development.

The company earlier this month raised A$25.6-million in an institutional placement to fund payment of the Cortadera copper/gold discovery and to accelerate drilling work.

Funds from the placement will primarily be used to pay the second installment of $10-million for the acquisition of the Cortadera copper/gold discovery, in Chile, and to fund a 40 000 m Phase 4 drilling programme set to start early next year.