Hot Chili adds another mine to Costa Fuego copper hub

Hot Chili acquires historical La Verde copper mine 30kms from Costa Fuego
Costa Fuego is the company’s planned central processing hub in Chile
First pass drilling is already underway at La Verde

Special Report: Hot Chili has added to its Costa Fuego coastal copper hub in Chile with the acquisition of the historical La Verde copper mine.

La Verde is in the core of the historical Domeyko mining district and covers 800m strike length of open pit workings of shallow porphyry copper-style oxide mineralisation.

Historical drilling was limited to the surrounding leases, with little to no drilling undertaken across the mine area.

Importantly, La Verde sits in the centre of the company’s recently consolidated and larger Domeyko landholding, secured in an option agreement back in April 2024.

Along with the Domeyko agreement, this marks the first time the area has been consolidated, and provides Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) access to a much larger potential porphyry copper deposit footprint measuring around 1.4km by 1.2km.

Exploration already underway

HCH has undertaken several exploration programs, including soil geochemistry, mapping and magnetics surveys across the Domeyko region since April of this year.

These programs were extended over the La Verde copper mine area as part of the company’s due diligence process.

So far, geological mapping of outcrop within the open pit has identified copper oxide mineralisation associated with porphyry-style quartz veins, fractures and faults, as well as several porphyry intrusive phases of similar age and style to the company’s Cortadera porphyry copper deposit 30km to the north.

Hot Chili has now commenced a first-pass drill program at La Verde, comprising eleven RC drill holes for approximately 4000m, confirming wide intersections of porphyry-style copper mineralisation in two holes – with assay results pending.

HCH Pic — View looking north across the La Verde porphyry copper mine within the historic Domeyko mining area, Chile. Pic: HCH

Consolidating ground around Costa Fuego

This latest project acquisition is an important step in Hot Chili’s ongoing consolidation and growth strategy for Costa Fuego.

The company continues to evaluate opportunities to secure additional advanced prospects within economic distance of planned central processing facilities – which may provide additional bulk tonnage and/or high-grade copper-gold mineral resource additions for the hub.

All Costa Fuego Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) workstreams are on track for completion by late 2024, laying the groundwork for integrating results into both the Costa Fuego and Huasco Water PFSs in Q1 2025.

This article was developed in collaboration with Hot Chili, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.