Hot Chili closes deal on world-class Chilean copper deposit
Hot Chili has wrapped up a deal to acquire a 100 per cent
interest in the company’s world-class Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile.
Hot Chili and the original project owner, SCM Carola, have now consummated to
transfer 100 per cent ownership in the project to Hot Chili after the final
instalment of US$15 million was paid by Hot Chili to SCM.
The final US$15 million payment for the acquisition was met
by a recent A$40 million capital raise via a A$35 million private placement to
professional investors and a A$5 million share purchase plan. Of the A$35
million private placement, Glencore strategically emerged as Hot Chili’s
largest shareholder with a 9.99 per cent interest in the company.
Hot Chili’s world-class Cortadera copper-gold discovery in
Chile is just one part of the company’s colossal Costa Fuego porphyry
copper-gold project. Located some 600km north of Santiago, the project lies
within the low-altitude coastal region of Chile and is only 50km by road to the
port of Los Lasas.
The company has government mining and processing approvals
in place and has been granted an essential water licence. Additionally, it gets
the environmental green tick as it can access solar power and seawater
processing technology.
Current poly-metal resources for the Costa Fuego porphyry
copper-gold project are a whopping 2.9 million tonnes of copper, 2.7million
ounces of gold, 9.9 million ounces of silver and a surprising 64,000 tonnes of
molybdenum. With molybdenum prices nearing five-year highs at US$26,000 per
tonne, this represents a potentially lucrative side-hustle for Hot Chili.
The global resources at the project are contained within the
copper-gold porphyry development hub at Cortadera, Cortadera North and
Productora to the west. Hot Chili continues to drill several other identified
prospective porphyry systems at Valentina and San Antonio where a maiden
resource is being calculated.
Last week the company announced the discovery of two large
geochemical targets, Productora Central and Santiago, considered to be
potential “game-changers”.
Despite three rigs already drilling furiously at the
Cortadera deposit where the company is aiming to upgrade the 451 million tonne
resource, Hot Chili says it has secured a fourth rig to commence exploration
drilling at Productora Central and Santiago in the coming months.
Hot Chili has progressed its Cortadera acquisition and
development at break-neck speeds with the deal only struck in early 2019,
world-class drill results delivered by mid-2019 and a maiden resource announced
just over a year later – elevating the company into the senior ranks of global
copper developers.
With plenty of change left over after the US$15 million
payment and the backing of mining powerhouse Glencore on its share register,
Hot Chili finds itself in an enviable position to accelerate exploration and
deliver a major resource upgrade and pre-feasibility study for the Costa Fuego
project leading into 2022.
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