THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Hot Chili received its Christmas presents early in 2019 when it encountered, what the company described as, “one of the best global drill results of 2019”.
Hot Chili hit the intersection at the company’s Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery in Chile that returned:
CRP0020D
972 metres at 0.5 per cent copper and 0.2 grams per tonne gold from surface.
The intersection included the widest zone of high-grade the company had recorded at Cortadera of:
412m at 0.7 per cent copper and 0.3g/t gold from 436m.
“Cortadera is continuing to outperform expectations the company had set following our announcement of a deal to acquire the privately-held discovery in February this year,” Hot Chili managing director Christian Easterday said.
“We have recorded many stand-out drill results this year, but this 972 metres drill result from surface firmly announces Cortadera’s arrival on the global copper stage.
“In little over nine months we have transformed the growth trajectory for our company and outlined what could become the world’s next Tier-1 copper-gold discovery.”
Cortadera is a major copper-gold porphyry discovery located along the Chilean coastal range, 14 kilometres from the company’s large-scale Productora copper development and adjacent to its high-grade El Fuego satellite copper projects.
Hot Chili acquired 100 per cent ownership of Cortadera in February 2019, after which it quickly commenced a confirmation drilling program that confirmed and extended areas of surface enrichment and wide, higher-grade, copper-gold sulphide mineralisation at depth, which had not previously been closed off by 23,000m of historical diamond drilling.
A key to Hot Chili’s initial success at Cortadera was the discovery and definition of a large and robust high-grade core to the largest of Cortadera’s four porphyry centres – Cuerpo 3.
The average grade of drill intersections recorded by Hot Chili within the high-grade zone of Cuerpo 3 ranges between 0.7 to 0.9 per cent copper and 0.3 to 0.4g/t gold.
The combined copper-gold drill intersection grade of the Cuerpo 3 high-grade zone compares well to the reserve grade of other large-tonnage underground mines.
Hot Chili followed up the above intersection with further drill results that outlined a second large source of bulk tonnage, high-grade copper and gold at the Cortadera discovery.
The results demonstrated that the drilling being carried out is continuing to grow the discovery, and just as importantly, is also providing strong encouragement for both open pit and underground, high-grade, development options.
The company kept both diamond and Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rigs spinning, the latter testing the extent of shallow chalcocite enrichment zones across three of the four Cortadera porphyry centres it has discovered to date.
Thirteen shallow Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes were completed, from which results were available for seven across Cuerpo 2, the second largest porphyry at Cortadera.
These results confirmed and extended a bulk tonnage zone of high-grade copper and gold from surface.
The highlight drill result came from hole CRP0021 that recorded:
80m at 0.8 per cent copper and 0.3g/t gold from surface, including a high-grade chalcocite zone of 26m at 1.7 per cent copper and 0.7g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 54m.
High-grade zones related to chalcocite enrichment were drill confirmed at Cuerpo 1, 2 and 4, from surface and from shallow depth, with drill intersection copper grades ranging between 0.7 to 1.6 per cent and gold grades ranging between 0.3 to 0.7g/t gold.
The results achived to date show Hot Chili has a project in Cortadera that is shaping up as a globally important standalone copper-gold project, which can utilise the Productora project resources, while leveraging from a central processing and combined infrastructure approach along the coastline of Chile.
The company believes its recent discovery and addition of a higher-grade bulk tonnage underground development opportunity at Cortadera places it in a unique position amongst potential large-scale global copper-gold developments.
Hot Chili has received regulatory approval provides access to expand its phase 2 drilling program, which is expected to include first drill testing of two large growth targets identified close to the Cortadera discovery window: Cuerpo 3 North and Cortadera North.
Further results from the shallow RC drill program and expansion diamond drill program are anticipated for release in the New Year.
Hot Chili is well positioned to capitalise on the numerous world-class drill results that have established Cortadera as one the stand-out global copper-gold discoveries of 2019.
Drilling activities are set to accelerate in 2020 toward a first resource estimate with hopes of advancing various future funding discussions with several large domestic and international groups.
Email: admin@hotchili.com.au
Web: www.hotchili.com.au
Directors: Murray Black, Christian Easterday, Dr Allan Trench, Michael Anderson, Roberto de Andraca Adriasola, Randall Nickson
