Great Southern Copper (LSE:GSCU), the LSE-listed copper-gold-silver explorer focused on Chile, has completed a 17-hole reverse circulation drilling campaign at its Especularita project, totalling 2,474 metres across four target areas on the western and southern margins of the La Colorada lithocap.
Drilling at two of the four prospects, Piedras Blancas and Artemisa North, intersected what the company describes as porphyry-copper-style potassic alteration within approximately 100 metres of surface, a finding it considers significant because potassic alteration is typically associated with the mineralised core of a porphyry copper system.
"The results from this programme already suggest that we are seeing porphyry-related phyllic alteration at surface at Piedras Blancas and Artemisa North and, more importantly, potassic alteration at shallow depths below that," said Chief Executive Sam Garrett.
The La Colorada lithocap covers more than 75 square kilometres, and the company says it has so far explored less than a quarter of the prospective area. Especularita sits within a structural corridor linking it to deposits including Los Pelambres, Altar and El Pachon, which together host more than 85 million tonnes of contained copper.
First assay results from the campaign are expected within two to four weeks, with extensions to the Cerro Negro induced polarisation survey anticipated to commence during July and August.
