Hot Chili has continued to build out a significant copper-gold discovery at its La Verde prospect in Chile, with the latest drill hole delivering a huge 391.1-metre intersection grading 0.51 per cent copper equivalent from surface.
The company says the impressive hit confirms the continuity of broad, high-grade mineralisation and adds further weight to its view that La Verde could represent a high-grade starter pit opportunity for its much bigger neighbouring Costa Fuego copper-gold project.
The standout result came from a single diamond drill hole that returned 0.42 per cent copper and 0.11 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, and featured several higher-grade zones.
These included a 17.8-metre section grading 0.68 per cent copper equivalent from surface, a 40.7-metre hit at 0.60 per cent copper equivalent from 103.3m and an 85.4-metre intercept going 0.61 per cent copper equivalent from 160m.
The hole was designed to test the continuity of mineralisation reported in an earlier hole, which landed a mammoth 725-metre interval grading 0.42 per cent copper equivalent. Today’s results suggest the company has hit the mark.
Additional new assays from two other holes have also confirmed and expanded the near-surface bulk-tonnage mineralisation.
In particular, a second hole, drilled a further 125m to the west, extended the high-grade core, with 96.4m grading 0.40 per cent copper equivalent from a shallow depth of 11.6m downhole.
The La Verde discovery sits just 30km south of Hot Chili’s flagship Costa Fuego project, a tier-1 copper development in Chile’s low-altitude coastal belt.
A 2025 pre-feasibility study on Costa Fuego outlined a 20-year operation with a post-tax net present value of US$1.2 billion (A$1.7 billion) and an internal rate of return of 19 per cent, based on a copper price of US$4.30 (A$6.12) per pound. Today’s copper price of US$6.50 (A$9.20) is almost 50 per cent higher than the 2025 assumptions, suggesting the economics are improving.
Notably, the company also holds a strategic water asset, the Huasco water project, which has an active maritime licence to supply seawater to the region, providing another strategic advantage for potential development.
With three drill rigs spinning the rods at La Verde, Hot Chili is pursuing an aggressive exploration program. The company is awaiting assay results for another 22 drill holes, including six diamond and 16 reverse circulation holes.
The company says that of particular interest are the pending results for a hole drilled 150m west of the latest big hit, which has already visually recorded an 180-metre zone of strong copper mineralisation.
To fast-track the news flow, Hot Chili has engaged a second ISO-accredited laboratory to accelerate assay turnaround times, which until recently, stretched to more than 10 weeks.
The company expects to deliver a maiden mineral resource for La Verde ahead of a revised prefeasibility study for the wider Costa Fuego project in late 2026.
With La Verde looking more and more like the high-grade key that starts the engine for the bigger Costa Fuego machine and with a pipeline of 22 drill holes working their way through the assay lab and not far from landing, Hot Chili shouldn’t be waiting long to see if its emerging La Verde discovery can grow even more.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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