(Kitco News) - Chile-focused miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) today announced maiden resources for the Encierro deposit and updated resources for the Cachorro deposit in Chile.
According to a press-release, from 2016 to 2021 diamond drilling completed by the company identified a significant deposit at the Encierro project in the Chilean High Andes, containing 522Mt of Inferred Resources at 0.79%CuEq (0.65% copper, 0.22g/t gold and 74 ppm molybdenum).
The company said that the deposit is a complex Miocene porphyry copper system displaying hypogene mineralisation with distinct sulfide and alteration zoning.
The Encierro deposit is held in a joint venture with Barrick Gold. Antofagasta holds the majority share and operates the exploration programme.
The company also provided an update on its wholly-owned Cachorro project, announcing that further in-fill drilling has increased the deposit size to 155Mt Inferred Resources of 1.20% copper from 142 Mt of 1.21% copper reported as at the 31 December 2021.
Antofagasta said that its Cachorro project lies between the company’s Antucoya and Centinela operations and may benefit from the use of their facilities, adding that the deposit remains open laterally and additional drilling will be carried out during the rest of this year.
Antofagasta's four operations in Chile are Los Pelambres, Centinela, Antucoya and Zaldívar. The world-class Los Pelambres and Centinela mining districts have sustainable long-life copper mining operations, with large mineral resources, and produce significant volumes of gold, silver and molybdenum as by-products. All of the company's mines are open pit operations.
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