ASX-listed Culpeo Minerals has increased its interest in the Las Petacas copper project, in Chile, to 66%, following the satisfaction of certain conditions of an earn-in agreement.
In June 2021, Culpeo paid over $50 000 and had to carry out research through an induced polarisation survey and gradient array induced polarisation grid in a minimum area of 2 km2 to earn an additional 8% stake in the project, taking its ownership level to 58%.
At the end of December, the company had to pay $100 000 and complete either 2.74 km of drilling or spend $1-million on the project to further increase its stake by 8%.
Recent drilling at the project intersected broad zones of copper mineralisation over a strike length of 500 m, within an overall copper mineralised trend exceeding 6 km in strike length.
Culpeo Minerals MD Max Tuesley says the increase in Culpeo’s ownership underpins the company’s belief in the potential of Las Petacas to host copper mineralisation.
“Drilling at Las Petacas is continuing [this year], aiming to delineate additional copper/gold mineralisation within this extensive and highly prospective tenement package.”
Going forward, to increase its ownership by a further 9%, Culpeo has to pay $350 000 and complete 3.25 km of additional drilling by the end of 2023; while it also has to pay over $500 000 and complete 5 km of drilling or spend $1.5-million of the project to take its ownership to 85% at the end of 2024.