Great Southern Copper (LSE:GSCU) has commenced scout RC drilling at the Artemisa South target at its Especularita project in northern Chile while reporting that recent work at the nearby Victoria prospect has confirmed porphyry-related alteration increasing toward the system centre.
Artemisa South is being tested for structurally-controlled vein and disseminated Cu-Au mineralisation in granodiorite, a target that has no previous drilling and to which GSC holds rights to own 100%.
"Artemisa South is the final of four targets to be tested with scout RC drilling in the current porphyry exploration programme," chief executive Sam Garrett said.
GSC completed five scout RC holes for 662m at Victoria and reported that the first holes beneath the La Colorada lithocap returned pervasive phyllic and magnetite-biotite alteration consistent with a buried porphyry system, with samples dispatched to ALS in Santiago.
Three scout RC holes are planned at Artemisa South and the broader preliminary programme comprises up to 1,000m of scout RC in at least four holes to assess alteration and higher-grade structures.
The RC programme collects two-metre cuttings with QAQC protocols and prepares samples at ALS in Santiago or La Serena before 200g splits are assayed in Lima for gold and 48 elements.
An AMT survey across the western lithocap is complete, interpretation is underway, and first assay results from the scout drilling are expected within 2-4 weeks.
