Helix Resources (ASX: HLX) has intersected alteration and mineralisation consistent with porphyry copper at the company’s Joshua Project in Chile.
A 1,000 metre diamond drilling program at the Joshua Project, designed to follow up on copper mineralisation identified over wide intercepts, has been completed today.
Assays from the first two holes have been returned, with results including:
- 164 metres at 0.32% copper equivalent from surface, including 34 metres at 0.49% copper equivalent; and
- 92 metres at 0.13% copper equivalent from 210 metres.
Assays from the remaining holes are expected in the coming weeks.
Results to date are consistent with previous exploration, which identified a porphyry target.
Greg Wheeler, managing director of Helix, said, “the information being gathered at Joshua is very positive and provides confidence that our Chilean copper gold strategy has the potential to unlock significant value.”
New project acquisition
In addition to the company’s work at Joshua, Helix has applied for the Huallillinga Project, which comprises 95 square kilometres of exploration concessions.
Helix is targeting shear hosted copper and gold at Helix, which is along strike from Glencore International’s (LON: GLEN) Punitaqui Mine, which produced 39,000 tonnes of copper in 2011.
The project is also close to Helix’s Joshua and Hado projects. The area has a number of Picenero operations that are mining between 2% and 5% copper deposits, with minimal drilling and no exploration to date.
Helix has identified evidence for associated gold from samples taken from the project.