Great Southern Copper (LSE:GSCU), the UK-listed copper-gold-silver explorer in Chile, has begun scout RC drilling at the Victoria porphyry target on the Especularita project.
The preliminary programme comprises at least four scout RC holes totalling up to 1,000m to test beneath shallow gravel-scree cover and historic artisanal workings for both breccia-vein and disseminated styles, with rock chip grades reported up to 6.9% Cu, 1.85g/t Au and 84.8g/t and no previous drilling at Victoria.
"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 Officer.
Scout RC drilling at nearby Artemisa North has been completed with five holes for 796m and all holes intersected pervasive biotite-chlorite-magnetite alteration with variable sulphides, which the company interprets as proof-of-concept for a porphyry-copper setting, and samples from the first four holes have been despatched to ALS in Santiago.
GSC says the Artemisa North alteration is consistent with the potassic zone of porphyry systems and may be continuous with potassic alteration encountered at Piedras Blancas, increasing the prospectivity of the La Colorada lithocap.
After finishing Victoria the rig will move to Artemisa South, the AMT geophysics survey across the western lithocap is in progress, and planning and permitting for Phase IV drilling at Cerro Negro are underway with IP survey extensions anticipated to commence in June.
