Hot Chili’s best copper intercept highlights value of satellite drilling

Hot Chili has intersected its highest grade intersection at its Costa Fuego copper hub in Chile with the hole at the Valentina deposit returning 8m grading 5.9% copper equivalent.

The intercept of 8m at 5.7% copper and 24 grams per tonne (g/t) silver from a depth of 27m (VAP0009) also outlines the potential of Valentina to be the second high-grade satellite for Costa Fuego.

VAP0009 also extends high-grade mineralisation at the deposit by 120m to the south of the shallow historical mine development.

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) is now looking forward to assays from diamond hole VALMET0002, a twin of VAP0009 which recorded a stunning 17m visual intersection.

Assay results are pending for a further 17 drill holes at Valentina as well as 16 drill holes from the neighbouring San Antonio high grade copper resource.

Drilling at Valentina is aimed at defining a maiden resource estimate while San Antonio drilling is designed to upgrade resources from Inferred to the higher confidence Indicated category while testing for down-plunge mineralisation extensions.

Both high-grade satellites will be included in the next resource upgrade and subsequent Pre-Feasibility Study open pit mine scheduling which is expected in the first quarter of 2023.

They are expected to provide valuable front-end ore which could make a positive material impact on the payback period and overall project economics of the Costa Fuego copper-gold development.

First drilling is underway at the large-scale Santiago Z target, part of a potential regional porphyry cluster south of the company’s Cortadera porphyry copper-gold discovery.

Valentina and San Antonio satellite deposits

First phase drilling at Valentina is focused primarily on proving continuity of the mineralised trend along strike of the successful 2018 drill campaign.

Mineralisation is interpreted to be fault-hosted, dipping steeply towards the east within a sequence of volcanic sedimentary units, similar to the deposit setting of the neighbouring San Antonio resource.

At San Antonio, the 13 reverse circulation holes have infilled and extended the mineralised trend along interpreted high-grade plunging shoots, with most of the drill holes supporting the current interpretation of structure and mineralisation at San Antonio.

Three diamond holes were also drilled to provide material for metallurgical testwork, which is essential for including the resource in the Costa Fuego PFS.

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.