Hot Chili Ltd (ASX:HCH, TSX-V:HCH, OTCQX:HHLKF) has the diamond drill bit spinning with the next phase of a 30,000-metre resource growth-focused drill program underway at the Costa Fuego Copper-Gold Project in the coastal range of the Atacama Region, Chile.
This represents a strong start to 2024 at the low-altitude project with double-shift diamond drilling operations kicking off on January 12.
Seven large-scale copper targets adjacent to the Cortadera and Productora mineral resources have been prepared for the diamond drill testing with pre-collars completed and 10 diamond drill tails planned for around 5,000 metres.
Follow-up to RC campaign
This phase follows the completion of first-pass reverse circulation (RC) drilling across three new satellite targets - Marsellesa, Cordillera and Corroteo - which comprised 47 drill holes for 11,500 metres.
It focused on resource extensional potential at Cortadera and first-pass drilling across new satellite targets.
Location of new project options in relation to Costa Fuego.
Results from Marsellesa included:
- 25 metres at 0.4% copper from surface including 10 metres at 0.8% from 7 metres;
- 16 metres at 0.5% from 197 metres depth downhole including 6 metres at 1.1% from 198 metres; and
- 19 metres at 0.5% from 195 metres depth downhole including 2 metres at 2.2% from 195 metres.
There were also encouraging results from Cordillera:
- 93 metres at 0.3% copper from surface including 14 metres at 0.4% from surface;
- 53 metres at 0.3% from 19 metres including 10 metres at 0.4% from 44 metres; and
- 184 metres at 0.2% from surface including 14 metres at 0.3% from 42 metres.
Marsellesa and Cordillera are about 10 kilometres southwest of Costa Fuego’s planned central processing hub at Productora and Corroteo is around 5 kilometres southeast of Cortadera.
Eight RC drill holes for 2,324 metres were completed across the greenfield Corroteo exploration target but no significant intersections were recorded.
Pre-collars drilled
Several RC pre-collars were also drilled in preparation for the second phase of diamond drill testing in 2024 adjacent to the company’s two principal mineral resources - Cortadera and Productora.
Drilling aims to test multiple resource growth opportunities, which may allow Hot Chili to consider an up-lift in the pre-feasibility study (PFS) scale for Costa Fuego.
Hot Chili’s exploration team is assessing the new drill results on each satellite exploration target in preparation for potential follow-up drilling and exploration work programs.
Hot Chili’s exploration target pipeline in relation to regional infrastructure, landholdings and mineral resources of Costa Fuego.
Diamond campaign
The initial diamond drill (DD) program comprises:
- Five DD holes planned to test four large-scale targets at Cortadera. The first DD hole is currently testing a large co-incident conductivity and chargeability geophysical anomaly located north of Cortadera.
- A further five DD holes are planned to test three large-scale targets adjacent to Productora.
Workstreams for the PFS and a water concept study are advancing with Hot Chili expecting to deliver updates during the current quarter.
Resource upgrade
The company is also planning to release a Costa Fuego resource upgrade this quarter based on all drilling completed since February 2022.
Costa Fuego has a total measured and indicated resource of 725 million tonnes at 0.47% copper equivalent for 3.408 million tonnes of contained copper equivalent metal. This includes 2.755 million tonnes of copper, 2.564 million ounces of gold, 10.489 million ounces of silver and 67,400 tonnes of molybdenum.
The inferred resource is 202 million tonnes at 0.36% copper equivalent for 731,000 copper equivalent tonnes of metal.