Intense mineralisation is being found in hole 16 at the Cascabel copper project in Ecuador, SolGold (LON:SOLG) said.
The hole is progressing without difficulty and is targeting a depth of 1800m.
As at 6pm yesterday, it was down to 973 metres.
It has hit continuous visible copper mineralisation shallower than expected, from 568 metres, an intersection so far of 405 metres, the explorer told investors.
This hole extends the Alpala deposit by 100 metres to the south east in the direction of significant magnetite/hematite alteration at surface at Hematite Hill and significant bornite mineralisation evident at surface at Alpala Southeast and Cristal prospects.
Also underway is hole 15R2 from the Hole 15 pad, and is at a current depth of 149m. This is targeting extensions of the Alpala deposit to the north east, and at depth.
Cascabel lies on the Andean copper belt, the same geological trend as some of the largest copper and gold finds and the firm's geologists believe the mineralisation in hole 16 suggests the porphyry system at depth could be very strong, similar to that intersected in hole 12.
SolGold shares added 2.35% to stand at 2.175p.