Hot Chili has released a drilling update for its La Verde copper-gold discovery, situated around 30km south of the company’s planned central processing hub at the Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile’s coastal Atacama region.
The company reported that diamond drill-hole DKD032 recorded 529m, grading 0.41% copper and 0.21 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) from 41m to the end of the hole.
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This included a 148m interval grading 0.60% copper and 0.30g/t gold from 70m depth, and a further 66m grading 0.45% copper and 0.31g/t gold from 295m depth.
The mineralisation of copper and gold extended laterally as well as vertically, with the end of the hole indicating 14m grading 0.35% copper and 0.12 g/t gold.
Twin diamond drill-hole DKD032 substantially extends the earlier discovery reported from hole DKP002, which intersected 308m grading 0.5% copper and 0.3g/t gold from 46m depth to the end of the hole.
The new diamond drill-hole extends the mineralised intercept by a further 221m, bringing the total length to 570m.
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By GlobalDataHot Chili reports that all six diamond drill-holes completed so far have intersected broad widths of porphyry-style copper mineralisation, increasing the vertical extent of the system to roughly 600m and facilitating further lateral growth to the east and west.
Three of these holes were twins of earlier reverse circulation drill-holes that continued deeper, while the remaining three were drilled as diamond tails to further extend mineralisation at depth.
This programme aims to extend the initial +0.2% copper discovery footprint of 1,000m by 750m by 400m depth, and to grow the +0.3g/t gold distribution identified in phase one.
To date, 2,700m of drilling has been completed, with assays pending for five diamond drill-holes.
DKD032 was terminated early due to mechanical issues, but the company plans to re-enter the hole after the phase two programme concludes.
The final sample from DKD032 returned 0.53% copper and 0.20g/t gold, indicating the potential for additional mineralisation at depth.
Assays for the remaining drill-holes are pending, with turnaround times delayed by high seasonal laboratory volumes across Chile.
