Solis up 60% on Chile copper drilling update
Solis Minerals Ltd. [SLMN-TSXV, 08W-FSE, SLM-ASX] shares rose sharply in active trading Tuesday after the company released a drilling update from its Mostazal Copper Project in Chile.
The company said copper sulphides, sometimes locally abundant, have been observed during logging of the first two holes completed from surface down to 362 metres (in hole 1) and 444 metres (in hole 2, as part of an initial 2,000-metre diamond drill program at Mostazal.
Solis’ maiden drill program is targeting both near surface and manto-style copper mineralisation and an interpreted primary copper porphyry mineralisation feeder structure at depth.
The shares rallied on the news, jumping 59% or 10 cents to 27 cents on volume of 821,300. The shares previously traded in a 52-week range of 39 cents and 15.5 cents.
Solis Minerals is a Latin America-focused exploration company.
The company is earning a 100% interest in the Mostazal Copper Project, which is located in the Atacama Desert, 80 kilometres northeast of Copiapo, Chile, and within the Domeyko fault, which is a major structural control for some of the world’s largest and most productive copper mines, including Chuquicamata and Escondida. The project is located 40 kilometres south of Codelco’s El Salvador mine.
Mostazal hosts an undrilled classic copper porphyry target, along with significant high-grade copper silver mineralization at surface. The company has previously said it plans to prioritize the porphyry target but will also advance the identified stratabound mantos-style mineralization, which is reported as a historical drill-indicated resource.
In 2015, APGC Corp Chile SpA of Chile generated a resource estimate for Mostazal based on a 60-hole data based and related geological information. They estimated an indicated resource of 10 million tons, grading 0.95% copper and 8 g/t silver, with a cut-off grade of 0.5% copper, constrained to lenses more than 2.0 metres thick and less than 150 metres from surface.
However, the company is not treating any of the historical estimates as a current mineral resource as it has yet to complete sufficient work to achieve that goal.
“Drilling is progressing very well, with our first two drill holes now completed, and we are off to a fantastic start at Mostazal,” said Solis CEO Jason Cubitt. “These first drill holes were designed to test the near surface manto-style mineralisation encountered in the historic drilling, and our logging has confirmed the presence of widespread alteration and disseminated copper sulphide mineralization throughout both holes.”
He said the drill rig has now moved and commenced drilling at a third planned hole. This drill hole is targeting the heart of an interpreted IP chargeability geophysical anomaly, which the company believes may represent a feeder structure for the extensive manto-style copper mineralisation found closer to surface at Mostazal and drilled in the first two holes.
Aside from Mostazal, Solis also holds a 100% interest in a package of highly prospective IOCG (iron oxide copper/gold) and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru, within that country’s coastal copper belt. The region is a source of nearly half of Peru’s copper production.