Hot Chili nails massive 725-metre copper-gold hit in Chile

Hot Chili Limited has reamed through its best drill intercept to date from the company’s La Verde copper-gold porphyry discovery in Chile, stacking on a massive slice of scale and confidence as it works to weave the latest discovery into its flagship Costa Fuego copper-gold project.

The headline hole carved its way through an eye-watering 725-metre intercept with an average grade of 0.42 per cent copper equivalent from 18m down hole.

Within the overall run, several higher-grade zones included 22m grading 0.71 per cent copper equivalent from 42m and a deeper 62m run going 1.03 per cent copper equivalent from 671m depth.

Two other higher-grade slices between the upper and lower runs yielded 46m at 0.65 per cent copper equivalent from 249m and 51m, going 0.62 per cent copper equivalent from 433m depth.

Management says the deeper intercept is the real kicker, confirming a major 200m down-dip extension of La Verde’s rapidly growing high-grade core.

At the shallower part of the high-grade run, from 42m, the company believes the near-surface hit further expands the potential for a starter pit that could provide a welcome hefty slug of early high-grade feed for the overall Costa Fuego project.

We are very pleased to deliver the most significant drill result to date from our La Verde copper-gold porphyry discovery in Chile. Drill hole DKD039 recorded 725 m grading 0.42% CuEq from 18 m depth - the widest significant drill intersection so far at La Verde.

Supporting infill diamond holes also pointed to continuity of potential bulk-tonnage mineralisation, with one hole returning 184m at 0.42 per cent copper equivalent from 105m.

Another hole notched up a 221m run, going 0.37 per cent copper equivalent from 48m, including 45m at 0.51 per cent copper equivalent from 53m downhole depth.

Stepping further out, diamond tail extensions have also stretched out the footprint of the discovery.

A 200-metre tail on a previous hole reported 68m at 0.42 per cent copper equivalent from 354m. In comparison, a 284m tail to another earlier hole delivered 132m at 0.36 per cent copper equivalent from 306m depth, opening up the system to the north along a north-northeast structural corridor.

Notably, all of the significant intercepts reported gold grades in the range of 0.03 to 0.29g/t gold, along with silver in the range of 0.29 to 2.26g/t gold and molybdenum in the range of 3 to 203 parts per million, which may imply credits through bulk tonnage production.

Hot Chili now has two rigs running at La Verde, with its diamond rig working on double shift and a reverse-circulation (RC) rig on single shift, while a third rig is planned to roll in during May.

Intercepts like these could prove transformative for the project. With assay results still pending for 11 holes, the company looks set to maintain its news flow as it chases more high-grade zones to bolster the tonnes for its Costa Fuego project development pipeline.

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