Copper explorer Hot Chili Ltd (ASX:HCH) has had lots to be excited by since December 2024, when it discovered significant porphyry-type mineralisation close to its Costa Fuego project in Chile.
The discovery – dubbed “La Verde” – was noted for its lengthy intersections, found close to the surface, and with solid grades of both copper and gold, with only 12 holes drilled so far.
Speaking at the RIU Explorer’s Conference in Fremantle, managing director Christian Easterday said that given the work already done to develop Costa Fuego – with prefeasibility due in the first quarter of 2025 – La Verde was just the icing on the cake.
“We’re adding this on top of a billion tonnes, we’re adding this on top of all that permitting done, and our near-term time frames to production,” he said.
“So, we’re not starting this race at year zero, we’re starting this at year 14. And this is a bolt-on asset that is showing some extremely encouraging drill results: Long, consistent mineralization, and I might add, from surface.”
Building towards a shallow, high-grade porphyry find
Hot Chili’s journey to the La Verde discovery was a curious one, he added, involving years of strategic consolidation ultimately resulting in full control of this key territory, 30 kilometres south of the Cortadera resource.
“This was a land holding that had all the same characteristics as Cordadera, but no one had their hands on all of it,” Mr Easterday said.
“Hud Bay (Minerals Inc) – one of the world’s mid-tier copper plays – had this territory for 10 years; they walked away, we moved in.
“We took all that information that they had and had drilled, then we consolidated ownership. This was the second drill hole: 400 metres north of a privately owned oxide open pit. Three hundred metres at half a percent copper and 0.3 grams per tonne gold.”
The latter, he added, was twice to three times the average grade of gold found at Cortadera.
Mr Easterday was happy to confirm news from an ongoing program at La Verde, which he said had not only confirmed but expanded the mineralisation.
“We made the first announcement a few days before Christmas on two drill holes,” he said. “Last week, we announced the results of a further 10 drill holes, we have 10 assays coming, we have a rig that is starting to push out, and now this morning, we are showing you the next 4 drill holes as we start to double that strike length and we’ve done that within nine days.
“What we’re now seeing is just underneath a very shallow gravel cover, a very wide, large-scale porphyry is emerging.
“We just have RC drilling, which means every drill hole so far has hit porphyry mineralisation, and nearly all of those have ended in mineralization to the end of the hole.”
A unique addition to Costa Fuego
The quality of copper and gold here meant La Verde would be suitable for not only additional scale but also for the provision of high-grade additional front-end open pit feed.
This was particularly likely, Hot Chilli’s MD added, “when you’re getting near surface 100-metre intersections at 0.7% copper, 0.3g/t gold.”
Crucially, he told listeners that Hot Chili aimed to move in a different direction from other exploration companies when it came to developing this asset.
“Juniors have a habit of comparing their deposits early against some of the world’s biggest deposits, often owned by the majors,” he said. “We’re not going to do that, we’re going to compare it to our monster to the north – Cortadera – that added 700 million tonnes to our resource base.
He continued: “At the moment you can see a very similar footprint. What’s really key is to look at the remnant areas of magma type that relate to the porphyry sectors. At Cortadera there were three of them, and there’s a much larger remnant magnetic response.”
Hot Chili shares have been trading at 74.5cps.
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