Solis Minerals Ltd (ASX:SLM, TSX-V:SLMN, OTCQB:SLMFF) earlier this week confirmed it has received final exploration permitting to commence drilling at its 100%-owned Cinto copper project in southern Peru. The company said it now has 17 drill pads approved and is currently mobilising equipment to begin its initial campaign.
The company told investors that the Cinto project is situated in a highly prospective copper belt, directly adjacent to Southern Copper’s Toquepala operation and Anglo American’s Quellaveco project. It highlighted that Cinto lies along the Incapuquio fault zone, which is associated with major copper discoveries in the Andean region.
Solis Minerals said it plans to drill approximately 2,500 metres in the initial program, targeting three porphyry anomalies identified through recent geophysical work.
CEO Mitch Thomas said drilling follows two years of preparatory work including surface geophysics, geochemistry, and IP surveys. He said the company expects to provide initial updates before year-end, with early visuals and potential assay results expected from January 2026.
Solis also noted that it expects to release assay results from other assets in the coming days.
Proactive:
Welcome back to Proactive Newsroom. I'm now joined by Solis Minerals CEO Mitch Thomas. Mitch, it's always good to have you back here in the newsroom. How are you?
Mitch Thomas:
Great to see you again, for sure.
Proactive:
You've now received the green light from the government in southern Peru to kick off drilling at Cinto. Walk us through the details of this agreement.
Mitch Thomas:
Yes, we’ve just received our exploration permit for the Cinto project, which is 100% owned by Solis Minerals. We now have 17 drill pads permitted. Mobilisation is underway, with drilling pad preparation already started — so things are moving quickly.
Proactive:
Before we get into the details of the drilling campaign, can you give investors a quick recap of the potential at Cinto?
Mitch Thomas:
Absolutely. Cinto is an exciting project. It’s located next to major mining operations like Southern Copper’s Toquepala and Anglo American’s Quellaveco. These are world-class projects, and from our site, you can actually see the waste dumps and concentrators of Toquepala — that’s how close we are.
What’s even more important is that we share the same Incapuquio fault zone, which is well known in the Andean copper belt for hosting large-scale deposits. That’s exactly what we’re targeting. We’ve completed geophysical and geochemical programs, and released our IP results in June. So after two years of preparation, we’re finally ready to drill and hopefully make a discovery similar to those nearby.
Proactive:
This has been building up over two years, as you said. The diamond drilling is about to begin — what will you be targeting?
Mitch Thomas:
We’ve got 17 drill pads approved, but internally we’re budgeting for about 2,500 metres of diamond drilling to start with. We’ll be focusing on three key porphyry targets, which were identified through IP chargeability anomalies.
We’re confident in the first few targets in our drill sequence and believe we’ll get a quick read on the potential of the project once we begin. Of course, we’ll keep shareholders updated as information becomes available.
Proactive:
Could shareholders expect any updates from Cinto before the end of the year?
Mitch Thomas:
Yes, I think there’ll definitely be updates in terms of drilling commencement and mobilisation. But for visuals and potentially assays, that’s more likely a January story.
That said, we are expecting assay results from other assets in the coming days, and we plan to release those before the Christmas break. So it's shaping up to be a strong period of news for Solis Minerals and our shareholders.
Proactive:
We’ll definitely keep a close eye on Cinto and look forward to more updates. Thanks for your time, Mitch.
Mitch Thomas:
Thank you.