Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has announced its plans to revise exploration targeting at its Three Saints Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) Project in Chile after assays provided further clues about the concealed mineralised system.
The company says it will reprocess existing geophysical data using results from its first two holes, aiming to trace mineralised structures towards volcanic and sedimentary rocks it considers more favourable hosts.
Final assays from the second hole (L3SDD004) — which reached 611.10m — returned 4.30m @ 0.12% copper equivalent (CuEq) from 333m, including 1.42m @ 0.25% CuEq.
Another interval returned 14.82m @ 0.10% CuEq from 404.40m, including 1m @ 0.43% CuEq.
All intersections are downhole lengths, with true widths unknown.
The CuEq calculation includes copper, gold, molybdenum, and cobalt, assuming recoveries of 93%, 72%, 70%, and 50%, respectively. No metallurgical test work has been completed at Three Saints.
CEO and Executive Director Coraline Blaud says the results provide direction for further exploration.
“The first two drill holes confirmed copper-gold mineralisation and a strong alteration assemblage consistent with an IOCG system,” Blaud says.
“Importantly, the second hole intersected skarn alteration accompanied by cobalt mineralisation, providing an important geological vector towards potentially more favourable host rocks.”
A hydrothermal breccia between 568m and 570.26m returned individual sample values of up to 1,314 parts per million (ppm) copper and 404ppm cobalt.
Lodestar interprets the alteration in this zone as evidence of carbonate-bearing fluids that may indicate proximity to volcanic and sedimentary rocks beyond the tonalite intrusive host.
Elsewhere in the hole, copper-bearing sulphides occur alongside magnetite and actinolite-biotite alteration. The company says these relationships support its interpretation of an IOCG-style hydrothermal system.
The revised geophysical models will help prioritise targets for future drilling.
Separately, drilling at Lodestar’s Los Loros Project remains postponed after flooding damaged access roads. The company says government road repairs are underway, and drilling will recommence once access is restored.
The update follows Lodestar’s option agreement to acquire the Pacífico Copper-Molybdenum-Gold Porphyry Project in Chile’s Atacama region, as previously reported by Mining.com.au. The company notes it plans to review historical exploration data, undertake surface mapping and sampling, and target maiden drilling in the June quarter of 2027.
Lodestar Minerals explores for critical metals, gold, and base metals across Chile, Western Australia, and the US. Its Chilean portfolio comprises Three Saints, Los Loros, and the recently acquired Pacífico.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals
