Noticias

La Verde is heating up as a cornerstone asset for Hot Chil

• New drilling expands shallow and deeper mineralisation
• Maiden resource remains on track for later this year
• Assay turnaround improves with second laboratory

Special Report: Hot Chili’s La Verde porphyry discovery is shaping as a cornerstone asset at the broader Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile after another strong round of drill results.

Recent shallow reverse circulation continued to delineate the near-surface enrichment zone while step-out diamond drilling extended the discovery footprint ahead of a planned maiden resource estimate.

Notable assays are:

• 250m grading 0.5% copper equivalent (0.39% copper and 0.14g/t gold) from a down-hole depth of 64m including 36m at 0.72% CuEq (0.59% Cu and 0.18g/t Au) from 82m in DKP053;
• 124m at 0.46% CuEq (0.4% Cu and 0.07g/t Au) from 42m including 26m at 0.71% CuEq (0.63% Cu and 0.1g/t Au) from 58m in DKP054;
• 213m at 0.44% CuEq (0.38% Cu and 0.07g/t Ag) from 504m including 57.3m at 0.6% CuEq (0.51% Cu and 0.1g/t Au) from 535.8m in DKD049; and
• 258.9m at 0.42% CuEq (0.33% Cu and 0.09g/t Au) from 358m including 27.4m at 0.76% CuEq (0.63% Cu and 0.16g/t Au) from 499.5m in DKP028D.

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) said the results continued to strengthen the scale and continuity of a significant, near-surface enrichment zone that is capable of delivering a higher-grade starter pit.

Assays for the step-out diamond holes DKD049 and DKP028D also confirmed additional bulk tonnage extensions and delivered further expansion of La Verde’s high-grade core.

DKD049, which was designed as a 175m step-out from DKD039 that had returned the highest-grade and widest drilling intersection to date at La Verde, also confirmed a significant expansion of La Verde’s eastern flank at depth.

Maiden resource in sight

La Verde is about 30km south of Costa Fuego’s planned central processing hub in Chile’s coastal Atacama region.

It adds to the existing Productora, Cortadera and San Antonio deposits which all sit within a 10km radius.

Assays are still pending for 21 holes, comprising three diamond holes, three diamond tails and 15 RC holes.

The company adds that hydrogeological, geotechnical, metallurgical, mine engineering and environmental workstreams are all advancing well towards integrating La Verde into the Costa Fuego development, which is expected to boost its financial metrics and global standing.

A maiden mineral resource estimate for La Verde is expected later this year, followed by a revised pre-feasibility study for Costa Fuego and the planned submission of an environmental impact assessment in the second quarter of 2027.

Current copper and gold prices are significantly higher than the indicative prices used in the previous PFS, which could deliver significant improvements to the already robust economics.