Great Southern Copper (GSCU ) has commenced scout drilling at the Victoria porphyry copper target in Chile.
Victoria is located at the southern margin of the La Colorada lithocap. Four holes are planned to test the high-grade vein and disseminated-type mineralisation identified in outcrop.
The drilling will test beneath artisanal and small-scale workings, in an area that has already returned rock chip geochemistry results grading up to 6.9% copper, 1.85 grams per tonne gold, and 84.8 grams silver.
A recently completed five hole reverse circulation programme at the nearby Artemisa North target has already confirmed evidence of a strong porphyry copper-style alteration system.
Victoria is located at low elevation with excellent access to infrastructure and mining services and along trend of major copper deposits including Los Pelambres, Altar and El Pachon.
It’s part of Great Southern’s wider Especularita project, which occupies a significant swathe of ground on the coastal metallogenic belt of Chile. This belt hosts significant copper mines and deposits, including Teck’s Carmen de Andacollo copper mine, and boasts excellent access to infrastructure such as roads, power and ports.
Significant historical small-scale and artisanal workings for both copper and gold are evident in the exploration project area.
“Victoria is the third of four targets to be tested with scout RC drilling in the current porphyry exploration programme,” said Sam Garrett, chief executive of Great Southern Copper.
“This programme is focusing on targets on the western and southern margins of the La Colorada lithocap that display geological, geochemical and spectral features that are characteristic of porphyry copper systems. Drilling will also test beneath high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation identified in old workings, providing an opportunity to assess both the broader porphyry potential and the higher-grade mineralised structures observed at Victoria. The drilling programme is progressing well with both the Piedras Blancas and Artemisa North programmes now successfully completed. Combined with the encouraging geological observations from Piedras Blancas, these results continue to strengthen our confidence in the broader prospectivity of the La Colorada lithocap to host a significant porphyry copper system.”
View from Vox
Great Southern is systematically building up its knowledge base of what could turn out to be a significant district-scale copper porphyry play. There’s more work to be done, of course, but the drilling at Victoria will answer some key questions as to grade, and as to the presence of gold. The discovery of one or more copper porphyries on Great Southern’s ground would be a major win. Some metallurgical work is underway already, so an early insight as to possible processing routes will be available soon. More significantly for the longer-term, though, these projects are in a well-established mining jurisdiction, with proximate infrastructure and easy access to the coast. We’re not looking at a high capex, logistically complex operation high in the Andes here. On the contrary, if the drill bit delivers the right answers, the next steps could be comparatively simple.