ASX- and TSX-V-listed Hot Chili has entered into option agreements to acquire two historical copper mine areas near its Costa Fuego copper/gold project, in Chile.
The Marsellesa and Cordillera projects are about 10 km southwest of Costa Fuego’s planned central processing hub.
Hot Chili states that its first-pass reverse circulation drilling is planned to start at Marsellesa and Cordillera in the coming week, following completion of drilling at the Corroteo exploration target, about 5 km southeast of the Cortadera porphyry copper/gold deposit.
The company’s recently published preliminary economic assessment establishes Costa Fuego as a low-risk, long-life copper project benefiting from a low startup capital and a copper equivalent metal production profile of more than 100 000 t for a 16-year mine life, including 95 000 t/y copper and 49 000 oz/y gold during primary production at C1 cash cost of $1.33/lb.
Hot Chili is focussed on up-scaling Costa Fuego’s resource base and potential study scale towards a 150 000 t/y copper production profile, in order to further enhance project returns ahead of the delivery of a prefeasibility study.