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Lodestar Resources (ASX:LSR) has this week drawn up an option agreement to acquire the Los Loros Project in Chile, a standout South American opportunity mostly thanks to its outcropping copper-molybdenum porphyry system.
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The CY26 agreement, signed on January 30, gives Lodestar’s subsidiary Tesoro Andes sole access rights to eight mining concessions at the Los Loros site.
Lodestar has paid US$30,000 (split over four years) and will fork out another $2.6 million should the company exercise the pick-up. Should the explorer decide to buy Los Loros, the vendor also gets 1.5% net smelter royalties.
All up, a good buy for Lodestar, the company heralded today, especially because Los Loros boasts that “significant” Cu-Mo porphyry system. Notably, the system is overprinted by high-grade gold-bearing epithermal veins, too; main target “Aguila” hosts a long hydrothermal alteration footprint.
Historical drilling returned several big intercepts, including 20 metres at 3.67 grams per tonne gold from 132 metres, and 136 metres at 0.2% copper equivalent from 134 metres end of hole. The only knock on the data is that over the last 40 years, drilling has only really extended some 5,000 metres.
Equally, you could look at that as a “favourable” reason for Lodestar to buy – and the fact there’s potentially plenty more to discover is one of the reasons the explorer picked up the four-year option. That will run through to 2029.
“Exploring an outcropping porphyry system from surface in such a favourable environment is a significant opportunity for Lodestar,” chief Coraline Blaud explained.
“Combining it with a high-grade gold overprinting system, similar to the Carmen de Andacollo deposit, is incredibly exciting,” she added. “We’ve entered CY26 with significant momentum, in what is shaping up to be a transformational year for the company as we advance a diverse portfolio of assets.”
Lodestar has a breakneck working schedule laid out for CY26 already, The Market Link understands. The company is starting surface sampling and modern geophysical surveys this month, before April drilling.
The impending exploration will be paid for from Lodestar’s existing coffers.
Despite the pick-up, LSR is down -8.3% today.
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