Special Report: Hot Chili is spinning the drill bit again at its Cortadera copper-gold project in Chile with the re-entry of a hole that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The diamond hole, which was suspended in mineralisation at a depth of 616m in March, has been re-entered and is currently at a depth of 880m.

It has remained in mineralised porphyry for over 300m down-hole extent so far as it is drilled towards a depth of 1,300m.

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) plans to drill an initial seven holes that will focus on expanding the extent of high-grade copper and gold at Cortadera.

The project’s high-grade core has returned wide intersections with average grades of between 0.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent copper as well as 0.2 grams per tonne (g/t) to 0.5g/t gold.

Work is also underway to deliver a maiden resource for Cortadera and then San Antonio from drilling undertaken prior to March this year.

Hot Chili recently raised $5m through a private placement of shares priced at 1.5c each and is looking to raise up to $3.9m through a rights issue that closes this week.

Separately, the company says it is assisting Chilean government agency Empresa Nacional de Mineria (ENAMI) with its preparations to start lease mining and processing of high-grade ore from its Productora copper project.

A review of high-grade reserve areas located close to the existing underground mines at Productora has outlined the Habanero Lode as the likely target for lease mining.

Previous drilling by Hot Chili returned results of up to 71m grading 1.6 per cent copper and 0.4g/t gold.

Mining of Habanero is expected to start later this year and could generate between $1.2m to $1.5m in annual revenue for the company.

>> Now watch: RockTalk: How COVID-19 might have made copper look more attractive sooner

 

This story was developed in collaboration with Hot Chili, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.