With four Peruvian copper projects covering 66,100 hectares of one of the most prolific copper belts in the world, Solis Minerals Ltd (ASX:SLM, TSX-V:SLMN, OTCQB:SLMFF) executive director Mike Parkes had plenty to show off at the 2024 Red Cloud Mining Showcase in Toronto, Canada.
The company is rapidly developing its portfolio of copper assets, particularly along Peru’s southern coastal intrusive belt, in a race to meet rapidly growing copper demand.
The closure of the Cobre Panama mine removed 1.5% of global copper production from the market, driving prices to a record high above A$11,000 per tonne in May.
Analysts estimate 427 million tonnes of copper will be needed per year by 2050, as decarbonisation efforts ramp-up compared to just 22 million tonnes produced in 2023.
"Solís has a great series of drill targets and is optimistic to add more as we work through our prospective land package,” Parkes said.
“We will be focusing on target definition and permitting to start evaluating potential.”
Aggressive drilling strategy
Solis’ projects in Peru are advancing through various stages of development; the company is primarily targeting copper-gold porphyry systems, but several projects also hold iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential.
SLM has scheduled a busy timeline of drilling, induced polarisation (IP) surveys and ground mapping and sampling for its Peruvian copper projects:
2025 Project Timeline (subject to requisite permits).
A 2008 United States Geological Survey (USGS) study identified strong potential for sizeable copper deposits along the Peruvian copper belt, estimating discoveries could contain 2.5 million to 5 million tonnes of copper per deposit.
Read: Solis Minerals snaps up copper permits in fertile Peruvian coastal belt amidst heating metal market
With its large landholding and highly experienced team, Solis is well placed to investigate the true potential of the region, which offers the local advantages of an experienced mining labour force and strong infrastructure with sealed roads, major export port facilities and third-party smelting capacity already in place.