STOCKHEAD | Aug 18, 2022

Pic: Getty Images

Hot Chili has uncovered further evidence that it has shallow, high-grade material that can provide early feed to a development at its Costa Fuego copper hub in Chile.

Drilling at the Valentina satellite deposit returned a very rich 3m intersection grading 12.1% copper equivalent (11.8% copper and 52.6g/t silver) from a down-hole depth of just 29m within a broader 12m zone at 4.6% copper equivalent from 25m.

Adding further interest for Hot Chili (ASX:HCH), the mineralisation in VALMET0002 is dominantly sulphide and amenable to sulphide flotation, which contributes further to the deposit’s potential to contribute to early sulphide cash flow generation.

With the hole also confirming a 120m extension of high-grade, copper-silver mineralisation to the south of the historical Valentina underground mine, mineralisation at the deposit is now defined over about 300m in strike while remaining open at depth and along strike.

Along with the San Antonio deposit, Valentina is looking increasingly likely to provide high-grade ore which could have a positive material impact on the payback period and overall project economics.

Assays are pending for a further six drill holes at Valentina and 16 holes at San Antonio.

Drill results

Hot Chili has received assays for 11 of the 17 Phase 2 drill holes. Of these, four holes returned significant drill intersections while three intersected the mineralised structure (at 0.2% to 0.5% copper).

This drilling was focused on proving the continuity of the mineralised trend along strike and at depth below the historical shallow underground mine.

High-grade hits received to date – including VALMET0002 – are located on the southern extent of an area previously masked at-surface by a shallow horizon of Atacama gravels.

STOCKHEAD | Aug 18, 2022

Pic: Michael Duva/Stone via Getty Images

Hot Chili’s Costa Fuego copper project in Chile is already a monster, representing the lowest altitude development of a major copper deposit in the Americas.

Now it has been confirmed the mine will be able to operate on 100% renewable energy from day 1, with Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) receiving approval to connect to the Maitencillo sub-station 17km from the centre of the Costa Fuego development.

Chile’s Central Authority Electrical Regulator has approved the connection application, the company said today.

It opens access for Hot Chili to the national electricity grid, with the company able to negotiate with the multiple renewable energy providers in the South American nation.

A process to select one of more electrical providers is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The news adds another layer to the project’s environmental credentials to the Costa Fuego project, with Hot Chili able to operate off a mix of nearby solar, wind and hydroelectric generators.

The company is taking a low energy intensity development approach to Costa Fuego, including raw seawater processing without the need for a desalination plant. Hot Chili is fast approaching ‘infrastructure readiness’ with port access and services discussions advancing.

A PFS is due in the first quarter of 2023, making it one of the few copper mines ready to answer the call for material new sources of production as demand for the metal surges from the energy transition.

Resource growth drilling is still ongoing, with a resource upgrade expected in late 2022.

Costa Fuego boasts more than 3Mt of copper metal across the major Productora and Cortedera deposits, with measured indicated resources of 725Mt grading 0.47% CuEq, containing 2.75Mt Cu, 2.56Moz Au, 10.49Moz Ag, and 67.4kt Mo and an inferred resource of 202Mt grading 0.36% CuEq containing 731kt Cu, 605koz Au, 2.03Moz Ag and 13.4kt Mo.

Just last week Hot Chili announced a standout intercept of 8m at 5.9% copper equivalent from its high grade satellite Valentina deposit.

Colin Sandell-Hay | The Assay | April 29, 2022

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (TSXV: HCH) (OTCQX: HHLKF) has received another strong result from its Cortadera porphyry discovery, as well as first assay results from exploration drilling being undertaken across its coastal range, Costa Fuego copper-gold hub in Chile.

Development study drill holes at Cortadera continue to return impressive assay results, with high-grade intersections reported from all holes in the program so far.

CORMET003 returned a significant intersection of 552m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.4% copper (Cu), 0.2g/t gold (Au), 89ppm molybdenum (Mo)) from 276m depth down-hole, including 248m grading 0.8% CuEq (0.6% Cu, 0.2g/t Au, 179ppm Mo) from 574m depth.

Importantly, the high-grade core of the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) at Cortadera continues to demonstrate further growth potential following the recently announced resource upgrade for Costa Fuego comprising Indicated resources of 725Mt grading 0.47% CuEq for 2.8Mt Cu, 2.6Moz Au, 10.5Moz Ag and67kt Mo with high grade Indicated resources (+0.6% CuEq) standing at 156Mt grading 0.79% CuEq for 1.0Mt Cu, 0.85Moz Au, 2.9Moz Ag & 24kt Mo.

CORMET001 was drilled into Cuerpo 1 and also returned a strong result of 70m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.5% Cu, 0.1g/t Au and 11ppm Mo) from 86m depth down-hole. CORMET001 also ended in 6m grading 0.6% copper and supplied critical hydrological and geotechnical data that will be used to inform the Costa Fuego Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) due Q3 2022.

CORMET003 (775m depth down-hole) – 0.8% copper, 0.1g/t gold, 1.7g/t silver and 510ppm molybdenum. Planar and continuous, chalcopyrite-pyrite-molybdenite-bearing, B-type quartz vein hosted in sericite-chlorite-(biotite) altered early-mineralization tonalite porphyry.

 Hot Chili has also provided an exploration update on drilling and access clearing activities across several large-scale and high grade, satellite targets being tested this year.

Assay results returned for the first eleven drill holes completed at the Productora Central target this year have provided encouragement and further drilling is planned. In addition, clearing activities are well advanced across Valentina, San Antonio and Santiago Z.

 Drilling is planned to commence at Valentina and then San Antonio in the coming weeks, and Santiago Z in the coming month.

 Further development study drill results from Cortadera are expected in the coming weeks.

Colin Sandell-Hay | The Assay | 28 Nov, 2022

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) has executed an Option Agreement with Chilean copper major Antofagasta Minerals S.A. (AMSA) enabling Hot Chili to acquire a 100% interest in AMSA’s mining rights adjoining the western margin of Hot Chili’s Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery, the centre-piece of the company’s Costa Fuego senior copper development in Chile.

This strategic option agreement consolidates the highly prospective AMSA mining rights, containing near- surface drill intersections of copper-gold porphyry mineralisation, with Hot Chili’s contiguous Cortadera project.

Cortadera has been the growth engine for Hot Chili since the company executed a transaction to acquire the project in 2019.

Cortadera’s current Indicated resource of 471Mt grading 0.46% CuEq for 1.7Mt copper and 1.8Moz gold and Inferred resource of 108Mt grading 0.35% CuEq for an additional 0.3Mt copper and 0.3Moz gold is contained within three porphyry centres, trending NW-SE, over a strike extent of 2.3km.

The option enables the consolidation of Cortadera and near doubles the prospective strike length of the discovery, increasing the near term, material resource growth potential for Hot Chili.

AMSA’s five mining rights cover 517 hectares and contain a large outcropping mineralised porphyry (Cuerpo 4 – 700m in strike length by 300m in width) with similar dimensions to Cortadera’s main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) as well as other identified porphyry targets, trending N-S, over a prospective strike extent of approximately 1.8km.

In 2005, AMSA intersected significant copper-gold-molybdenum mineralisation at Cuerpo 4, with five shallow Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes totalling 1,056m (Drilling data and associated drilling intersections not previously publicly reported, AMSA internal report.

Four of AMSA’s five drill holes recorded wide intersections of mineralisation, including COR-03 which recorded 128m grading 0.5% CuEq (0.4% Cu & 0.1g/t Au) from 28m downhole depth, including 16m grading 1.3% CuEq (1% Cu & 0.5g/t Au) from 28m.

The historical drilling across Cuerpo 4 clearly demonstrates open pit resource growth potential, given the shallow nature of copper-gold-molybdenum mineralisation, and near-surface, copper-gold enrichment.

Next Steps

A first-pass drilling programme comprising 16 holes for 6,000m is expected to start as soon as possible.

Drilling will test Cuerpo 4 and two other targets within AMSA’s landholding using RC and Diamond (DD) drilling. Hot Chili and AMSA have agreed on the detail and staging of the planned drilling programme after a collaborative and detailed geological review by both companies’ technical teams.

Drilling is also planned across Hot Chili’s Cortadera North target, where earlier exploration drilling targeting a large surface molybdenum anomaly in 2020 intersected wide zones of silver mineralisation. This work vectored towards a sizeable copper-gold porphyry target (Cuerpo 4) on AMSA’s adjacent mining right.

Hot Chili then ceased all exploration activities at Cortadera North until an agreement could be entered into with AMSA to enable Hot Chili to acquire the adjacent landholding.

Revision to Costa Fuego Growth and Development Timetable

The transaction provides the next step in Hot Chili’s long term growth strategy. The AMSA mining rights provide relatively low cost and highly accretive resource growth potential due to their proximity to the Company’s Cortadera open pit resource base.

Hot Chili’s next resource update, which was proposed to be delivered in late 2022, is now expected to be finalised in H2 2023 to include the proposed drilling on the AMSA mining rights.

The combined Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) for Costa Fuego, studying targeted annual production rates of up to 100kt Cu and up to 70koz Au for a +20 year life of mine, will be paused until the Company can assess the impact of resource growth potential at Cortadera. The Company’s decision to pivot the PFS ensures that future expenditure relating to the PFS can be optimised for infrastructure location and a potentially larger scale copper operation.

Only critical PFS workstreams will be continued to secure long-lead time items (environmental and social) and key value additions (metallurgical) to ensure Costa Fuego remains on-track to potentially be delivered into production in 2028.

A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the combined Costa Fuego project at the current 20Mtpa sulphide concentrator study scale is now planned to be delivered in H1 2023.

Colin Sandell-Hay | The Assay | April 14, 2022

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (TSXV:HCH) (OTCQX: HHLKF) continues to obtain strong results from its Cortadera porphyry discovery, the centrepiece of the company’s low-altitude, Costa Fuego senior copper development in Chile.

 Five development study Diamond Drill (DD) holes, of a six-hole programme, have been completed at Cortadera this year in preparation of the Costa Fuego PFS, forecast for completion in Q3 2022.

 Assay results returned from the first (CORMET006) of these five diamond drill holes have delivered an outstanding intersection of 876m grading 0.5% CuEq (0.4% copper (Cu), 0.1g/t gold (Au)) from 246m depth down-hole, including 206m grading 0.9% CuEq (0.7% Cu, 0.3g/t Au) from 414m depth (excluding 18m unsampled and excluding 4m unsampled due to geotechnical test work).

This latest significant drilling intersection from the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) at Cortadera provides further confidence in the recently announced resource upgrade for Costa Fuego.

 Costa Fuego’s High Grade (+0.6% CuEq) Indicated resources have grown by 53% and now account for over one third of contained copper and gold (previously 20%).

High Grade Indicated resources stand at 156Mt grading 0.79% CuEq for 1.0Mt Cu, 0.85Moz Au, 2.9Moz Ag and 24kt Mo.

A significant component of the recently announced resource upgrade was driven by the definition of a large high-grade core extending over one km vertically at Cuerpo 3.

Results from CORMET006 have confirmed the estimation of the Cuerpo 3 high grade core is robust, while also providing critical hydrological and geotechnical testwork for mining studies.

Two DD rigs are in operation (development drilling) and one Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rig is undertaking exploration drilling at Productora, located 14km from Cortadera.

Assay results being returned from exploration drilling at Productora are also expected to be released shortly.

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Colin Sandell-Hay | The Assay | April 29, 2022

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (TSXV: HCH) (OTCQX: HHLKF) has received another strong result from its Cortadera porphyry discovery, as well as first assay results from exploration drilling being undertaken across its coastal range, Costa Fuego copper-gold hub in Chile.

Development study drill holes at Cortadera continue to return impressive assay results, with high-grade intersections reported from all holes in the program so far.

CORMET003 returned a significant intersection of 552m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.4% copper (Cu), 0.2g/t gold (Au), 89ppm molybdenum (Mo)) from 276m depth down-hole, including 248m grading 0.8% CuEq (0.6% Cu, 0.2g/t Au, 179ppm Mo) from 574m depth.

Importantly, the high-grade core of the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) at Cortadera continues to demonstrate further growth potential following the recently announced resource upgrade for Costa Fuego comprising Indicated resources of 725Mt grading 0.47% CuEq for 2.8Mt Cu, 2.6Moz Au, 10.5Moz Ag and67kt Mo with high grade Indicated resources (+0.6% CuEq) standing at 156Mt grading 0.79% CuEq for 1.0Mt Cu, 0.85Moz Au, 2.9Moz Ag & 24kt Mo.

CORMET001 was drilled into Cuerpo 1 and also returned a strong result of 70m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.5% Cu, 0.1g/t Au and 11ppm Mo) from 86m depth down-hole. CORMET001 also ended in 6m grading 0.6% copper and supplied critical hydrological and geotechnical data that will be used to inform the Costa Fuego Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) due Q3 2022.

CORMET003 (775m depth down-hole) – 0.8% copper, 0.1g/t gold, 1.7g/t silver and 510ppm molybdenum. Planar and continuous, chalcopyrite-pyrite-molybdenite-bearing, B-type quartz vein hosted in sericite-chlorite-(biotite) altered early-mineralization tonalite porphyry.

 Hot Chili has also provided an exploration update on drilling and access clearing activities across several large-scale and high grade, satellite targets being tested this year.

Assay results returned for the first eleven drill holes completed at the Productora Central target this year have provided encouragement and further drilling is planned. In addition, clearing activities are well advanced across Valentina, San Antonio and Santiago Z.

 Drilling is planned to commence at Valentina and then San Antonio in the coming weeks, and Santiago Z in the coming month.

 Further development study drill results from Cortadera are expected in the coming weeks.

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The West Australian | Matt Birney | 18 August 2022

Hot Chili says its pre-feasibility study will establish Costa Fuego as one of a few new material copper mines in the world set for near-term production. Credit: File

WA-based copper developer Hot Chili has dropped another piece of its Costa Fuego jigsaw into place after Chile’s Central Authority Electrical Regulator approved the company’s application for connection to the Maitencillo sub-electrical power station, 17km from the promising copper project.

Hot Chili says the approval is as a key step forward for the development of Costa Fuego because it will provide access not only to Chile’s national energy grid but also to multiple renewable energy providers.

Discussions have begun with electrical market advisers and providers and several non-binding quotations have been received for long-term power supply.

The selection process for a power provider or providers is expected to begin in the last quarter of this year.

Hot Chili controls 100 per cent of Sociedad Minera La Frontera, the operating company that owns Costa Fuego.

It regards Costa Fuego as one of the few global copper projects with low economic hurdles to clear and without infrastructure or permitting hurdles that might prevent its timely production.

Costa Fuego is at low altitude, about 600km north of the country’s capital, Santiago and only about 55km from the coast and the Las Losas port.

The company is aiming to tick as many “green” boxes as possible for the project and is taking a low-energy intensity development approach.

Water licences have already been granted to use sea water, without the need for desalination, for processing and existing infrastructure.

The company aims to operate the project on a 100 per cent renewable power mix of nearby solar generators, wind turbines and hydroelectric power to add to the project’s environmental credentials.

Hot Chili has been drilling the project’s Cortadera, Productora and Sant Antonio ore bodies to build its planned prefeasibility study, or “PFS” — expected in the first quarter of 2023.

The company says the PFS will establish the project as one of few new material copper mines in the world set for production in the near-term.

Earlier this year, good assay results helped boost Costa Fuego’s mineral resource estimate by more than two-thirds.

The total now stands at 725 million tonnes grading at 0.47 per cent copper equivalent for 2.8 million tonnes of contained copper and 2.6 million ounces of gold.

However, with exploration and resource growth drilling continuing, the company plans on a resource upgrade later this year.

With Hot Chili flagging more announcements across multiple work streams at the project, the rest of this year looks like being an especially busy period for the copper player.

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The West Australian | Matt Birney | 28 November 2022

Hot Chili has added scale to its South American copper hunt after completing a deal to pick five proximal mining rights. Credit: File

South American copper explorer Hot Chili has executed an option agreement with Antofagasta Minerals S.A. to procure a 100 per cent stake in five mining tenements that straddle the western extension of its Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile. The company is now gearing up to launch an initial 6000m drilling program to test its new ground and bolster its current resource.

Cortadera forms part of Hot Chili’s larger Costa Fuego project that boasts a mammoth 725 million tonne resource base going 0.47 per cent copper equivalent. The figure is derived from inventories embedded across two key deposits which sit 14 kilometres apart: Cortadera and Productura.

Productora offers a 253 million tonnes measured and inferred resource at 0.49 per cent copper equivalent.

At Cortadera Hot Chili has carved out a 471 million tonne resource grading 0.46 per cent copper equivalent in the indicated and inferred categories. The deposit houses more than 1.7 million tonnes of copper, about 1.8 million ounces of gold and 32,000 tonnes of molybdenum.

Importantly, the company says its latest acquisition virtually doubles the prospective strike length of Cortadera’s existing discovery from 2.3km to 4.1km.

Management believes its new ground is vastly prospective and houses a large-scale outcropping mineralised porphyry. At 700m in strike length and 300m in width the company argues the ore body is of similar stature to Cortadera’s main porphyry – Cuerpo 3.

A 2005 drilling campaign across a porphyry coined “Cuerpo 4” inside one of Hot Chili’s new mining rights returned several near surface intercepts including 16m grading 1.3 per cent copper equivalent from 28m inside a broader 128m parcel at 0.5 per cent copper equivalent from 28m.

The company says the nature of the strikes at Cuerpo 4 suggests it could establish an open pit resource at the site – a play that could allow it to vector in on the ground’s shallow copper, gold and molybdenum mineralisation.

Hot Chili now plans to drill test a pair of targets within Cuerpo 4 using a cocktail of RC and diamond-lead programs.

To claim a 100 per cent stake in the mining rights Hot Chili is obliged to complete 6000m of drilling and finalise the payment of a US$1.5 million option exercise price.

After the option has been exercised, Antofagasta Minerals S.A. has the opportunity to re-establish a 55 per cent interest in the mining rights by paying 55 per cent of the option’s exercise price and five times the option period’s exploration costs.

Management says the deal represents a strategic consolidation of the Cortadera porphyry deposit region and has the potential to provide the Costa Fuego copper hub with an economic and organic pathway to resource expansion.

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The West Australian | Matt Birney | 30 Nov 2022

Core logging at a Hot Chili copper project in South America. Credit: File

Hot Chili has completed another land grab in South America, picking up seven new tenements for 757 hectares that have extended the boundaries of its Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile.

The purchase is hot on the heels of an adjacent acquisition yesterday that landed it a five-piece package of prospective copper ground that flanks the western rim of Cortadera.

The newly acquired tenements were obtained at a total cost of just US$110,000 through a government-run open auction.

The company says three of the tenements coined “Falla Maipo 2”, “Falla Maipo 3” and “Falla Maipo 4” bore the entirety of the financial burden whilst the remaining four were granted following forfeiture of overlapping third-party mining rights.

The Falla Maipo tenements adjoin the company’s existing copper ground at Cortadera and extend its potential strike length to 5.2 km.

Hot Chili says the acquisition of the seven new tenements are significant as they house four substantial copper porphyries that could expand the scope of its overall Costa Fuego copper-gold development.

Additionally, the acquisition consolidates Cortadera’s western extension and permits the company to get boots on the ground to explore a potentially much larger porphyry cluster.

Porphyry copper deposits are ore bodies formed when hydrothermal fluids deposit minerals from magma chambers and are major sources of the metal. The deposits are commonly found in regions of volcanic activity and a suite of them are currently being worked across Canada, Peru, Chile and Mexico.

Notably, the four new porphyries located within Hot Chili’s new tenements add a significant prospective strike length to a pair of mineralised trends.

The company’s Las Canas trend which hosts 4 porphyry targets has been extended by 1.8km whilst the Cortadera trend has been stretched by an additional 1.1km.

The Cortadera trend hosts a large porphyry target along strike from the Cortadera deposit and also takes in a mineralised fault corridor that connects the company’s Cortadera and Productora copper-gold deposits.

Cortadera is a fragment of Hot Chili’s larger Costa Fuego project that houses a gargantuan 725 million tonne resource base going 0.47 per cent copper equivalent. The number is drawn from two key assets located about 14 kilometres apart: Cortadera and Productora.

The Cortadera deposit hosts a 471 million tonne indicated and inferred resource going 0.46 per cent copper equivalent. The deposit takes in more than 1.7 million tonnes of copper, 1.8 million ounces of gold and 32,000 tonnes of molybdenum.

Productora hosts a 253 million tonnes measured and inferred resource grading 0.49 per cent copper equivalent.

In what could serve as a shot in the arm for Hot Chili a recent report by the Mineral Council of Australia suggests global demand for copper is tipped to rise from about 23.5 million tonnes in 2019 to 31.1 million tonnes in 2030.

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Investing News Network | 13 Jan 2022

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (TSXV:HCH) (OTCQX: HHLKF) (“Hot Chili” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced across the recently secured western extension to the Cortadera copper-gold discovery, the centrepiece of the Company’s low-altitude, Costa Fuego senior copper development in Chile.

One diamond drill rig (operating on a double-shift basis) and one reverse circulation drill rig (operating on a single-shift basis) are in operation, testing the potential for Cortadera to host a much larger copper porphyry cluster than currently defined.

The initial programme, comprising approximately 10,000m of drilling, will test four porphyry targets (including three targets on the recently optioned AMSA landholding) added to Cortadera through successful consolidation efforts announced in late November 2022.

Importantly, Hot Chili has more than doubled the prospective strike length of the discovery from 2.3km to 5.2km (as outlined in figure 3), increasing the near term, material resource growth potential for Hot Chili.

Cortadera’s current Indicated resource of 471Mt grading 0.46% CuEq for 1.7Mt copper and 1.8Moz gold and Inferred resource of 108Mt grading 0.35% CuEq for an additional 0.3Mt copper and 0.3Moz gold (ASX announcement dated 31^st March 2022) is contained within three porphyry centres.

Both drill rigs are currently drilling Cortadera’s potential fourth porphyry (Cuerpo 4), where previous historical drilling had intersected encouraging shallow copper-gold porphyry mineralisation, including COR-03 which recorded 128m grading 0.5% CuEq (0.4% Cu & 0.1g/t Au) from 28m downhole depth, including 16m grading 1.3% CuEq (1% Cu & 0.5g/t Au) from 28m (as announced to ASX and TSXV on 28^th November 2022).

The Company is well funded to complete its planned drilling and deliver its next set of key growth and development milestones for Costa Fuego this year, including: a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in H1; and a resource upgrade in H2.

This next growth phase provides an opportunity to optimise and potentially up-scale Costa Fuego’s future annual metal production rates, currently being studied at up to 100kt Cu and up to 70koz Au for a +20-year life of mine.

The Company plans to deliver Costa Fuego’s Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) in H1 2024 and remains on-track as one of only a few near-term production projects in the world capable of producing +100 ktpa Cu in the next five years, while also boasting low capital intensity and strong ESG credentials.

The Directors look forward to an exciting period of news flow and results from drilling activities at Cortadera this year.

Click here for the full News Release