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- Hot Chili Limited (HCH) has reported a significant resource upgrade for its Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile
- Costa Fuego comprises the Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio deposits
- The resource upgrade follows 18 months of material investment, including completion of 52,000 metres of additional resource drilling at Cortadera
- Further drilling is planned to upgrade San Antonio to Indicated classification this year
- Hot Chili shares were trading at $1.34 this morning
Hot Chili (HCH) has reported a major resource upgrade for its Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile, with 67 per cent increase in the total Indicated resource and a 53 per cent increase in the high grade Indicated resource.
Costa Fuego comprises the Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio deposits, all of which have updated Mineral Resource Estimates (MRE) and are close to one another at low-altitude elevations, 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, the 100 per cent purchase of the Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery and executing an offtake agreement with Glencore for future concentrate production (60 per cent for the first eight years).
The Cortadera MRE has delivered the majority of resource growth for Costa Fuego. Cortadera is defined by over 92,000 metres of drilling.
The resource growth contains an indicated resource of 471Mt grading 0.46 per cent copper equivalent (CuEq) and an Inferred resource of 108Mt grading 0.35 per cent CuEq (previously 267Mt grading 0.44 per cent CuEq).
Cortadera’s Indicated resource has grown by 134 per cent and is now able to be studied for conversion into ore reserves in its Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), forecast for Q3 2022.
The Productora MRE has been revised following review of the 2016 MRE, completion of underground mine development and exploration drilling in 2021.
The review has resulted in a material increase in high grade Indicated resources reported above 0.6 per cent 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.
It continues to be encouraged by the initial Inferred resource of 4.2Mt grading 1.2 per cent 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.
Over 80 per cent of Costa Fuego’s global resource estimate is now classified as Indicated (previously 56 per cent), providing a strong platform to deliver a combined PFS with a large ore reserve in Q3 2022
Hot Chili Managing Director Christian 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.
Hot Chili Limited (HCH) was at $1.34 as of March 30 at close.
