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.
Hot Chili Managing Director, Christian Easterday said: “We are extremely pleased to move to full ownership of Cortadera almost one year ahead of schedule, given the success of our exploration to date.”
“Cortadera is already one of the lowest-cost acquisitions in the copper sector and we believe it has a long way to grow.”
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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By Matt Birney
