Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (TSXV:HCH) (OTCQB: HHLKF) has released a major resource upgrade for its coastal range, Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile.

 Costa Fuego comprises the Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio deposits, all of which have updated Mineral Resource Estimates (MRE) and lie proximal to one another at low-altitude elevations (800m to 1,000m), 600km north of Santiago.

The resource upgrade follows 18 months of material investment, including completion of 52,000 metres of additional resource drilling at Cortadera, purchase of 100% of the Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery and execution of an offtake agreement with Glencore for future concentrate production (60% for the first eight years). The Cortadera MRE has delivered the majority of resource growth for Costa Fuego.

Cortadera is defined by over 92,000m of drilling and contains an Indicated resource of 471Mt grading 0.46% CuEq (previously 183Mt grading 0.49% CuEq) and an Inferred resource of 108Mt grading 0.35% CuEq (previously 267Mt grading 0.44% CuEq).

Cortadera’s Indicated resource has grown by 134% and is now able to be studied for conversion into ore reserves in the Company’s Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), forecast for Q3, 2022.

The Productora MRE has been re-estimated following review of the 2016 MRE, completion of underground mine development and exploration drilling in 2021.

The review and subsequent resource re-estimation has resulted in a material increase in high grade Indicated resources reported above 0.6% CuEq.

 High grade open pit resources from Productora are a key focus for the combined PFS and are expected to feature prominently in the early mine schedule for Costa Fuego.

A maiden San Antonio MRE has also been added to the Costa Fuego Hub. San Antonio was historically exploited by small-scale underground mining of high-grade copper. The maiden resource estimate utilised an underground drone survey (increasing the spatial confidence of historic mining activities) and 4,922 metres of drilling undertaken by Hot Chili in 2018.

Managing Director Christian Easterday said the company is encouraged by the initial Inferred resource of 4.2Mt grading 1.2% CuEq.

The high-grade, shallow nature of San Antonio provides an additional open pittable deposit for Costa Fuego’s potential early mine schedule. Further resource upgrade drilling is planned at San Antonio and the nearby Valentina high-grade deposit in the coming months.

 “I would like to thank our entire team who have delivered this very strong result on-time and within guidance – elevating Costa Fuego’s position amongst the largest undeveloped copper projects in the world,” Mr Easterday said:

“The world is hungry for advanced, low-risk, senior copper developments with near-term production potential.

“Copper prices are driving higher and new meaningful copper supply is fast becoming a mirage.

“Hot Chili is well positioned to deliver into this forecast supply gap and contribute to the decarbonisation super cycle, particularly due to Costa Fuego’s lower economic hurdle resulting from its low elevation location and proximity to existing infrastructure; including abundant grid power with high renewables contributions.

“We are fully funded for 18 months and on-track to deliver our next resource upgrade and PFS later this year as we transform Costa Fuego into one of the world’s next material copper mines.”

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Hot Chili Heating Up With Surge To Next Level Of Growth

Hot Chili has reinforced its Costa Fuego copper-gold hub’s position as a top tier development project after upgrading its higher confidence Indicated Resource by a massive 67%.

The upgraded Costa Fuego now features an Indicated Resource of 725 million tonnes grading 0.47% copper equivalent, or contained resources totalling 2.8Mt of copper, 2.6 million ounces of gold, 10.5Moz of silver and 67,000t of molybdenum.

This is more than 80% of its total resource and includes a higher grade Indicated Resource of 156Mt at 0.79% copper equivalent with contained resources of 1Mt of copper, 850,000oz of gold, 2.9Moz of silver and 24,000t of molybdenum – more than a third of the total contained resource.

The resource upgrade is another sign that Hot Chili’s (ASX:HCH) plans are coming together in a spectacular fashion, as it follows on the back of a key offtake agreement that will see Glencore buy 60% of the project’s copper concentrate production for an eight-year period at “arm’s-length commercially-competitive” terms.

Managing director Christian Easterday said the resource upgrade elevates Costa Fuego’s position amongst the largest undeveloped copper projects in the world.

“The world is hungry for advanced, low-risk, senior copper developments with near-term production potential. Copper prices are driving higher and new meaningful copper supply is fast becoming a mirage,” he noted.

“Hot Chili is well positioned to deliver into this forecast supply gap and contribute to the decarbonisation super cycle, particularly due to Costa Fuego’s lower economic hurdle resulting from its low elevation location and proximity to existing infrastructure; including abundant grid power with high renewables contributions.

“We are fully funded for 18 months and on-track to deliver our next resource upgrade and PFS later this year as we transform Costa Fuego into one of the world’s next material copper mines.”

Resource upgrade

The Costa Fuego upgrade is the culmination of 18 months of material investment, which included the completion of 52,000m of additional resource drilling at the Cortadera project – the main engine of growth for Costa Fuego.

Cortadera now has an Indicated resource of 471Mt grading 0.46% copper equivalent, a 134% increase over its previous estimate of 183Mt at 0.49% copper equivalent.

And there’s room for further growth with Costa Fuego hosting an Inferred Resource of 202Mt at 0.36% copper equivalent, or contained metals totalling 600,000t of copper, 400,000oz of gold, 2Moz of silver and 13,000t of molybdenum.

This includes a high-grade maiden resource of 4.2Mt at 1.2% copper equivalent at the San Antonio deposit, which represents an additional open pittable deposit for Costa Fuego’s potential early mine schedule.

Hot Chili is also planning to carry out further resource upgrade drilling at San Antonio and the nearby Valentina high grade deposit in the coming months.

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Hot Chili resource upgrade launches Costa Fuego copper-gold to new heights

Cortadera’s North Flank Delivers Wide Copper Hits

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (OTCQB: HHLKF) has unveiled that recent drill results from its Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile continue to demonstrate strong resource growth.

Hot Chili’s Resource Development Manager Kirsty Sheerin said the expansion of the main porphyry was very pleasing ahead of the company’s plans to up-grade the maiden 451Mt Cortadera resource. “The North Flank of the high-grade core to the main porphyry has continued to be a significant resource addition,” Sheerin said.

“We have added approximately 170m of width to Cuerpo 3 and hope to extend several other open flanks to the high-grade core by year-end. “We are also continuing to see positive shallow intersections in the current RC drilling program at Cuerpo 2.

“The next resource upgrade at Cortadera will provide a strong basis for the first combined open pit and block cave mining reserve estimate at our growing Costa Fuego copper-gold development.” Cuerpo 3 North Flank Confirmed as Extensive High-Grade Addition

Continued strong results have been reported from extensional resource drilling across the North Flank to the high-grade core of the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) at Cortadera.

CRP0134D returned an extensive intersection of 610m grading 0.5% CuEq (0.4% copper (Cu), 0.1g/t gold (Au)) from 216m depth down-hole, including 138m grading 0.8% CuEq (0.6% Cu, 0.1g/t Au) from 634m depth.

Importantly, the high-grade results in CRP0134D were recorded at approximately the same vertical depth and lateral to CRP0124D, which recorded 82m grading 1.0% CuEq (0.7% Cu and 0.3g/t Au) within a broader intersection of 362m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.5% Cu, 0.2g/t Au) from 634m depth.

This recent drilling has demonstrated strong continuity of high grade (+0.7% CuEq) mineralisation and extended the North Flank by approximately 170m. A follow-up hole (CRP0155D) is currently underway to extend the North Flank by a further 80m. CRP0155D is currently at 490m depth and is in mineralisation.

Expansion of Shallow Resources at Cortadera

Initial results have been returned for 5 shallow Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes at Cuerpo 2. The results have extended the boundary of the resource across the southern, eastern and north eastern flanks of Cuerpo 2.

In addition, CRP0139 was drilled in an up-dip position over the Cuerpo 2 resource and has recorded a 42m intersection grading 0.5% CuEq (0.4% Cu, 0.3g/t Au) from 180m depth to end-of-hole, within a broader 222m zone grading 0.3% CuEq (0.2% Cu, 0.1g/t Au) from surface.

The result of CRP0139 has shown an upgrade in both copper and gold from the maiden resource model in this area. Assay results are pending for a further five drill holes which have recorded wide zones of oxide and sulphide mineralisation from surface.

Additional RC drilling is continuing in this area to determine the potential for this shallow mineralisation to extend further.

 Momentum Building Ahead of Canadian TSXV Dual-Listing

Hot Chili is currently the only major copper-gold developer in the America’s that is not listed in Canada. The Company’s low-altitude Costa Fuego copper-gold development in Chile is expected to compare favourably to leading copper-gold developers in Canada, which currently trade at many multiples of Hot Chili’s market capitalisation.

The Company plans to continue building momentum with its activities and news flow ahead of its dual listing on the TSXV in Q4 this year, with several updates expected from ongoing drilling, exploration and development workstreams. Hot Chili is operating five shifts of drilling per day with three drill rigs at Cortadera.

In addition, a fourth drill rig is being sourced to commence drill testing several large-scale growth targets.

Following its dual listing in Canada, Hot Chili aims to release a major resource upgrade from Cortadera followed by the completion of a combined Pre-feasibility study.

These two major milestones will lay the foundation for the company’s transformation into a major copper-gold producer in the coming years.

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The Assay – Hot Chili Warming Up In Chile

Improved Moly Returns In Latest XRF Results

Hot Chili Limited (ASX:HCH) says evidence is building toward the potential for the Cortadera project to be part of larger regional copper porphyry cluster on the Chilean coastal range.

New soil results and mapping have confirmed a large copper porphyry footprint measuring over 4km in length and 2km in width at the Santiago Z landholding, located immediately south of Cortadera.

Santiago Z contains a large historical XRF soil molybdenum anomaly that is twice the size and four times the tenor of the soil molybdenum anomaly related to the Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery.

Soil assays confirm stronger molybdenum results than first outlined in earlier XRF molybdenum results as well as enrichment in copper, gold and silver (Cortadera metal signature).

Other element zonation patterns provide confidence in the presence of a potentially large copper porphyry system at depth.

Mapping by Hot Chili has recognised several areas of outcropping copper-bearing hydrothermal breccia at Santiago Z.

In addition, a review of detailed historical mapping at Santiago Z has highlighted the presence of a corridor of porphyries (91-96Ma) with similar age to Cortadera, recently dated by Hot Chili as a Late Cretaceous porphyry (92Ma +/- 2Ma).

Further detailed mapping will focus across the corridor of hydrothermal brecciation and porphyries which have intruded the shallowly dipping local volcano-sedimentary sequence, similar to the Cortadera porphyry deposit setting.

A review of historical geophysical datasets across Santiago Z is underway and the Company is planning a programme of extensional soil geochemistry and detailed mapping as its next steps in advance of first-pass drilling later this year.

Hot Chili is advancing well with its 40,000m drill programme at Cortadera with three rill rigs in operation.

New drill results are being compiled for release (including CRP0046D) and the company expects to provide an update on drilling activities next week.

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The Assay – Hot Chilli Confirms Second Large Copper Porphyry System At Cortadera

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) is confident that extensional drilling at the Cortadera copper-gold discovery is on-track to deliver a significant upgrade to the company’s combined Costa Fuego copper-gold resource in Chile.

Costa Fuego’s combined resource base sits at 724Mt grading 0.48% CuEq for 2.9Mt copper, 2.7Moz gold, 9.9Moz silver and 64kt molybdenum and is being expanded toward a Tier-1 copper resource (+5Mt copper).

New results for CRP0046D and confirmation of a further two wide visual intersections (assays pending for CRD0080 and CRP0047D) continue Cortadera’s run of strong resource extensions.

Hot Chili has now achieved eight significant extensional diamond drill intersections since Cortadera’s maiden resource was announced in October last year.

Two diamond drill rigs are operating on a 24-hr basis to complete a large resource expansion drill programme across Cortadera this year.

New results for drill hole CRP0046D have returned two significant intersections comprising 114m grading 0.5% copper and 0.2g/t gold from 248m depth and 185m grading 0.5% copper and 0.2g/t gold from 568m depth down-hole. The two higher grade intersections were contained within a broader drill result of 838m grading 0.3% copper and 0.1g/t gold from 140m depth

Managing Director, Christian Easterday, noted that importantly, the two higher grade intersections in CRP0046D were recorded in areas previously modelled as low grade within the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) of the Cortadera resource.

Results are pending for two wide visual intersections of porphyry mineralisationrecorded in CRD0080 (between 550m and 1,100m depth) and CRP0047D (between 720m and 920m depth) across extensions to the high-grade core at Cortadera’s main porphyry.

Both zones of mineralised porphyry comprise visual estimates of 0.5% – 2.5% chalcopyrite contained as fine dissemination and in association with 2% to 8% B-vein abundance. Visual estimates of sulphide minerals are not an accurate representation of expected assay value and are provided for indicative purposes only.

Mr Easterday said these latest results add to the high-grade zone recently recorded in CRP0061D (318m grading 0.6% copper and 0.2g/t gold) and continue to confirm growth of higher grade, bulk tonnage, resources at Cortadera.

Meanwhile, first diamond drill testing by Hot Chili below Cuerpo 1 has commenced and diamond drilling is continuing across Cuerpo 3.

The company is also successfully its Reverse Circulation (RC) drill programme at Cortadera and Cortadera North.

A total of eight first-pass RC drill holes are complete across the large Cortadera North target, located 2km north of Cortadera. An additional three RC drill holes remain to be drilled and the Company expects to report results once all assays have been received and compiled.

Multielement pathfinder results will be key to determining potential areas for second-pass diamond drill hole tails and RC follow-up drilling at Cortadera North.

In addition, several shallow significant intersections have been recorded from preliminary RC drill holes across Cuerpo 1 at Cortadera, including 36m grading 0.4% copper and 0.1g/t gold from surface (including 10m grading 0.7% copper and 0.2g/t gold from 24m) and 22m grading 0.5% copper and 0.1g/t gold from surface.

Further RC drilling is planned to extend areas of shallow higher-grade copper and gold at Cuerpo 1.

The company looks forward to providing further drill results and operational updates from its rapidly advancing Costa Fuego copper development in Chile.

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The Assay – Hot Chili Warming Up In Chile

Company Seeking Greenfield Discoveries At Cape Ray

Matador Mining Limited (ASX: MZZ) has appointed Warren Potma as its new full-time Exploration Manager as it looks top grow its Cape Ray Gold Project in Newfoundland, Canada.

Mr Potma is a highly experienced exploration manager, with a successful career spanning over 25 years. He was most recently Principal Geologist for CSA Global, where he provided specialist consulting services to exploration and mining companies across four continents, contributing to significant mineral resource growth and exploration success through maximising the value of, and integration of, large complex geological datasets.

Prior to his time at CSA Global, Mr Potma was Exploration Manager for Hot Chili Limited, an ASX listed company with a portfolio of projects in Chile. During his tenure with Hot Chili, the exploration team delivered a 250% increase in the Productora project’s global Mineral Resource (Cu-Au-Mo), made the maiden porphyry copper discovery for the project (Alice Deposit) and delineated an eight km long porphyry alteration system.

While at Hot Chili, the team also defined a maiden Ore Reserve and provided the geological and geometallurgical inputs required for the Productora Pre- Feasibility Study. Prior to this, Warren held the position of Exploration Manager for Silver Swan Group/Caravel Minerals, which followed eight years with the CSIRO where he led the Mineral Systems and Targeting applied research stream that focused on developing and applying exploration technologies and methodologies across the Australian exploration and mining sector.

He holds a Master’s in structural geology from Monash University, and is a member of both the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

“Whilst the Cape Ray Project is host to an existing high-grade mineral resource with excellent potential for expansion along strike, it is the opportunity for significant greenfield discoveries along the under explored Cape Ray Shear Zone that attracted me to Matador,” Mr Potma said.

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The Assay – Matador Appoints Highly Experienced Exploration Manager

Another Record Step-Out Drilling Result In Chile

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) has announced another record drill result and another large boost to the scale of its rapidly emerging Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery in Chile.

The new result from Diamond (DD) drill hole CRP0040D recorded a 542m intersection grading 0.5% copper and 0.2g/t gold from 422m depth down-hole, which included a wide higher-grade zone of 218m grading 0.7% copper and 0.2g/t gold.

It is Hot Chili’s sixth record drill result delivered at Cortadera since July last year, and importantly, it has significantly extended the strike length of the largest porphyry discovered to date – Cuerpo 3 – by a further 100m.

Managing Director Christian Easterday said the bulk tonnage high grade core discovered at Cuerpo 3 is continuing to expand in size and importance as a key value driver in the development potential of Cortadera.

Mr Easterday also reported that owing to restrictions on travel and the company’s own duty of care to its personnel, Hot Chili have temporarily suspended all drilling, clearing and exploration operational activities in Chile.

He said the company will utilise this time as an opportunity to accelerate its preparations towards the estimation of a significant first resource for the Cortadera discovery.

Prior to operational shutdown, the company had drilled its next expansion DD hole to a depth of 616m down-hole. The 250m step-out hole is designed to test the southern extension of Cuerpo 3 at depth. The hole was temporarily suspended in mineralised porphyry, having intersected mineralised skarn and mineralised porphyry dykes from a depth of approximately 480m down-hole.

The hole is planned to be completed to a depth of 1,200m upon re-commencement of drilling. In addition, Hot Chili have completed two deep Reverse Circulation (RC) pre-collars across the Cuerpo 3 North target, located 500m north of the main porphyry.

Both holes intersected wide zones of skarn alteration in association with strong pyrite mineralisation above the position of a large coincident chargeability and conductivity geophysical anomaly. Diamond drill tails are planned to extend both holes at depth and further four deep RC holes are also planned.

Results are expected to be received in the coming weeks, subject to reduced turn-around time from laboratories.

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The Assay – Hot Chili Feeling Spicy In South America

High Grade Core Continues To Expand Copper Discovery

Hot Chili Limited (ASX:HCH) has commenced a 40,000m drilling programme at the Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery, part of the company’s Costa Fuego coastal range copper development in Chile.

The company’s fully funded 2021 work programme aims to continue building Costa Fuego toward a tier one copper project (+5Mt copper) from its current contained metal resource base of 2.9Mt copper and 2.7Moz gold.

Drilling has been significantly accelerated from last year with two drill rigs currently in operation and a third rig expected to commence shortly in February.

New results from drilling designed to expand the main high-grade core at Cortadera have returned another set of strong intersections.

A primary focus for the company in 2021 is to expand the high grade core (defined as >0.6% CuEq), currently sitting at 104Mt at 0.74% CuEq, within Cortadera’s 451Mt Mineral Resource.

Diamond drill hole CRP0052D returned a higher-grade intersection of 80m grading 0.6% copper and 0.2g/t gold within a broader zone of 382m grading 0.4% copper and 0.1g/t gold from 524m down-hole depth along the south-eastern extent of the high-grade core to the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3).

In addition, the company has recorded an exceptionally wide 750m interval of porphyry mineralisation from a down-hole depth of 250m in diamond drill hole CRP0046D. The hole is currently at 1,000m in porphyry mineralisation and is planned to extend to 1,200m at this stage.

Importantly, within the wide 750m visual interval of mineralisation, two zones of strongly mineralised porphyry have been recorded:

• 100m wide zone between 250m and 350m depth down-hole, and
• 170m wide zone between 550m and 720m depth down-hole

Both zones of strongly mineralised porphyry comprise visual estimates of 1.0% – 2.5% chalcopyrite contained as fine dissemination and in association with 2% to 15% B-vein abundance. Visual estimates of sulphide minerals are not an accurate representation of expected assay value and are provided for indicative purposes only.

Importantly, the results provide confidence for further growth in predictive extensional areas where the high-grade core is absent from Cortadera’s maiden resource owing to low or no drilling density.

The company commenced a major drilling campaign at Cortadera recently, initially utilising two drill rigs with a third drill rig set to arrive in February.

Each drill rig will focus on key growth areas within the Cortadera discovery window as well as other large satellite growth opportunities.

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The Assay – Hot Chili On Fire At Cortadera