Hot Chili finds second porphyry centre as La Verde drilling reaches 50,000m

La Verde South adds a second porphyry centre

Hot Chili Limited (ASX:HCH) has moved La Verde from a single expanding discovery to a two-centre copper-gold system, with step-out drilling confirming mineralisation at La Verde South. The interpreted footprint now extends 1,400 metres along strike, according to the company.

“Long section view (A – A’) showing recent drill hole results DKP084 (± 75m clipping) and +0.3% copper (red), +0.4% (purple) copper interpolants and extent of visual estimate3…”

Caption and image © Hot Chili Limited. From “Quarterly Activities/Appendix 5B Cash Flow Report”, 30 Oct 2026.

The first southern RC hole, DKP084, returned 148 metres at 0.44% CuEq from 36 metres, including 44 metres at 0.56% CuEq from 138 metres. It was drilled about 250 metres south of La Verde’s existing +0.4% copper mineralisation footprint and cut mainly oxide copper porphyry-style mineralisation beneath shallow gravel cover. The result builds on the earlier La Verde South intersection, which reported the same DKP084 result while noting that deeper assays were still required.

“Core photo from DKD100 (259 – 261 m downhole) with vein-hosted and disseminated chalcopyrite (2%) and pyrite (4%) mineralisation in strongly veined tonalite host rock2.”

A diamond hole drilled a further 100 metres south, DKD100, visually logged 307 metres of porphyry-style mineralisation from 40 metres to 347 metres. That interval included oxide mineralisation to 172 metres and porphyry-style sulphide mineralisation below it. The geological observation is encouraging in scope, but it is not a grade result: laboratory assays remain pending, and Hot Chili cautions that visual estimates cannot substitute for sampling and analysis.

Fifty thousand metres now underpin the resource work

La Verde’s Phase 2 infill and extensional program is complete after 13 months and more than 40,000 metres of diamond and RC drilling. Combined with the 10,000-metre Phase 1 program, total drilling has reached 50,000 metres and outlined an interpreted 1,400m by 780m by 800m footprint across the two porphyry centres.

Image © Hot Chili Limited. From “Quarterly Activities/Appendix 5B Cash Flow Report”, 30 Oct 2026.

Results from the main discovery continued to show broad mineralisation at shallow depths. DKP063 returned 398 metres at 0.45% CuEq from surface, including 62 metres at 0.91% CuEq; DKD060 delivered 472 metres at 0.41% CuEq from 49 metres, with a 105.8-metre interval at 0.70% CuEq deeper in the hole. The company has also reported 398m near-surface copper-gold as part of the case for a higher-grade starter pit.

Those intersections may help shape the geological model, but La Verde still has no declared Mineral Resource. Assays remain outstanding for 35 holes, comprising 24 infill holes and 11 southern step-outs. The next formal test is the maiden La Verde resource estimate, which Hot Chili says remains on track alongside a revised Costa Fuego pre-feasibility study.

Funding improves while development costs remain substantial

Hot Chili ended 30 September with A$29.3 million in cash and no debt after receiving net proceeds of A$20.4 million from an amended royalty agreement with OR Royalties. The additional US$15 million royalty investment takes total consideration under the arrangement to US$30 million and expands OR’s royalty interest to include La Verde.

Quarterly exploration and evaluation spending was A$10.1 million, largely reflecting four active drill rigs and Costa Fuego study work. With Phase 2 drilling finished, the company expects exploration expenditure to fall materially in subsequent quarters. That should ease the immediate cash draw, although the company says development through a definitive feasibility study, construction and production would require funding of about US$1.27 billion. Its asset-level strategic partnering process continues, but the filing stresses that it may not produce a transaction or binding agreement.

Permitting timetable remains a separate hurdle

Hot Chili is incorporating La Verde into the revised Costa Fuego PFS while advancing mine planning, metallurgy, hydrogeology, tailings and materials-handling studies. Environmental approvals are being prepared through separate Huasco Water and Costa Fuego workstreams, with submissions still targeted for the second quarter of 2027 after heavy rainfall delayed some field activities during July and August.

The discovery has expanded the geological opportunity; the pending assays and resource estimate must now determine how much of that opportunity can be defined with the confidence required for mine planning. Until then, La Verde remains an exploration discovery attached to a project whose economics, permitting and financing are still being worked through.