Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) has announced that its current drill hole at the Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery in Chile is on-track to deliver another stand-out result.
The company reported that double-shift diamond drilling across the Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile is advancing well with first expansion drilling set to commence shortly.
HCH said that at Cuerpo 3, hole CRP0020D has recorded an exceptional 860m width of mineralised and strongly mineralised porphyry from surface to its current depth down-hole at the main porphyry at Cortadera.
Hot Chili said that regulatory application has been submitted for clearing and access to expand the size of the discovery drilling footprint of Cortadera as well as facilitate initial drilling across Cortadera North and Cuerpo 3 North.
The company said that a second drill rig is expected to commence testing these new growth targets once regulatory approval has been received.
Cortadera discovery
Hot Chili’s 100%-owned Cortadera is a major copper-gold porphyry discovery located along the Chilean coastal range. It lies 14km directly southeast of HCH’s large-scale Productora copper development and adjacent to the high grade El Fuego satellite copper projects.
The Cortadera discovery remains largely open and has demonstrated potential to host a large copper-gold deposit that the Company considers may be amenable to open pit mining.
There are four porphyries discovered to date at Cortadera. They are, Cuerpo 1, Cuerpo 2, Cuerpo 3, and Cuerpo 4. Among them, Cuerpo 3 is the largest of the four.
In April 2019, the Company had commenced a confirmation drilling programme comprising 17 holes. The program confirmed and extended areas of surface enrichment and wide, higher-grade, copper-gold sulphide mineralisation at depth, which had not previously been closed off by 23,000m of historical diamond drilling.
Drilling at Cuerpo 3
The company has now reported the drilling update regarding drill holes CRP0019D and CRP0020D across the main porphyry, Cuerpo 3.
Hole CRP0019D
The company said that DD hole CRP0019D has been completed and the results for this recently completed hole are due to be released within the coming week.
Hole CRP0020D
HCH reported that the hole CRP0020D is being drilled and is currently at a depth of approximately 860m down-hole. The company said that the DD hole has recorded mineralised and strongly mineralised porphyry from surface to its current depth.
Hot Chili announced that CRP0020D is planned be drilled to 1,000m, however this will be reviewed in consideration of the geology and mineralisation over the coming days.
The company said that the results for CRP0020D are expected to be released in the weeks following.
It may be noted that the results for CRP0019D and CRP0020D will conclude the Company’s initial definition of a high grade core to Cuerpo 3.
Phase 2 drill programme
Hot Chili announced that it is now preparing to commence an expansion phase of drilling, given the Cortadera discovery remains largely open. The company said that the expansion drilling is expected to commence once CRP0020D is complete.
The Company said that its phase 2 drill programme will focus on determining the order of magnitude of the Cortadera discovery and if the discovery is capable of growing toward a Tier-1 copper deposit.
Drill targets identified
The company announced that the new results from a surface geochemistry programme and recent detailed mapping have provided strong encouragement to bring-forward first drilling across two large growth targets identified close to Cortadera.
The company announced that the drilling will initially test the northern and southern extension of Cuerpo 3; Cortadera North, and Cuerpo 3 North.
HCH said that drilling will focus on expanding the size of the largest porphyries at Cortadera (Cuerpo 2 and Cuerpo 3), in addition to determining the extent of high grade copper-gold distribution and whether these porphyries join at depth.
Regulatory applications submitted
Hot Chili announced that it has now submitted regulatory applications for clearing and access to expand the area of drilling around the existing four porphyries discovered to date.
Included in the regulatory application is a programme of first-pass drilling which will be directed towards the two large growth targets, Cortadera North and Cuerpo 3 North. It may be noted that these targets have never previously been drill tested.
Second rig to be utilised
The company announced that a second drill rig will be utilised to drill test the large Cortadera North and Cuerpo 3 North targets once regulatory approvals have been received.
Next steps
The company announced that potential work across the Cortadera project may include further verification drilling, sampling, assaying, and QA/QC.
HCH said that other further work may also include mapping, surface sampling, ground or airborne geophysics as well as in-fill or exploratory drilling.
