News

Hot Chili turns up the heat at La Verde with red-hot near-surface copper-gold hit

• Broad drilling result returns 391.1m at 0.51% copper equivalent from surface
• Result supports shallow, high-grade La Verde starter pit strategy
• Assays pending for 22 drill holes, with three rigs still turning on-site

Special Report: Hot Chili has returned another broad copper-gold intercept from its La Verde porphyry discovery in Chile, with one diamond hole hitting 391.1 metres at 0.51% copper equivalent from surface.

The result, which included 0.42% copper and 0.11 grams per tonne gold, came in well above visual expectations. This showed “strong continuity of shallow, higher-grade copper-gold mineralisation”.

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) says the result underpins its plans for a high-grade starter pit for the wider Costa Fuego copper-gold project.

The La Verde discovery is around 30 kilometres south of Costa Fuego’s planned central processing hub, in Chile’s coastal Atacama region.

Shallow, higher-grade copper-gold

Hot Chili drilled hole DKD044 on the western side of La Verde’s high-grade core, to test continuity of mineralisation reported in previous drilling.

The 391.1 metre result from surface included 17.8m at 0.68% copper equivalent, 40.7m at 0.60% from 103.3m and 85.4m at 0.61% from 160m.

It also included a higher-grade interval of 19.7m at 0.70% copper equivalent from 276.1m.

Assays from DKD044 have been returned to a 493.7m depth so far, with results to the end of hole at 711.4m still pending.

The hole is also about 150m west of step-out diamond hole DKD049, which visually logged a 180m zone of strong chalcopyrite-rich porphyry-style copper mineralisation from 536.7m.

Hot Chili said that drilling indicates potential for the high-grade core to widen between DKD044 and DKD049, with assays for DKD049 also expected in coming weeks.

Watch: Hot Chili expands La Verde copper-gold discovery

More holes, more news

Overall, assay results are still pending for 22 drill holes, made up of six diamond holes and 16 reverse circulation efforts.

These include results from drill holes DKD049, DKP052, DKP053 and DKP054, which Hot Chili expects to confirm further extensions to La Verde’s high-grade core.

Hot Chili has engaged a second regional accredited laboratory to speed up turnaround times, with delivery times stretching to ten weeks in some cases.

Three drill rigs are operating at La Verde.

Hot Chili expects to provide constant news flow, ahead of a maiden mineral resource for La Verde and a revised pre-feasibility study for Costa Fuego.