Hot Chili strengthens team to push Chile projects into development

West Australian

07-05-2025

Hot Chili has secured the services of two seasoned mining executives to bolster leadership as the company progresses its Costa Fuego copper-gold project and Huasco Water venture in Chile's Atacama region.
Ex-Gold Fields Australia executive Stuart Mathews joins as non-executive chairman, while Chilean copper expert Alberto Cerda assumes the role of project director. Cerda brings a particular set of skills… namely in mine development and operations to support the company's upcoming definitive feasibility studies for both projects.
The appointments align with Hot Chili's strategic focus on advancing its low-altitude, copper and water projects amid a looming copper market, which has international majors clamouring for quality.
Hot Chili says Mathews' and Cerda's proven expertise in delivering large-scale mining operations - particularly in Chile in Cerda's case - positions the company to navigate the complexities of project development, resource optimisation and strategic partnerships in the world's top copper producing country.
Costa Fuego is a large copper-gold porphyry set to churn out 116,000 tonnes per annum of copper-equivalent metal, which includes 95,000t of copper and 48,000 ounces of gold in its first 14 years. Importantly for Hot Chili's metals mix, chairman Mathews comes from a gold mining background as the recent executive vice president for Gold Fields in Australasia, where he oversaw operations producing more than 1 million ounces of gold annually.
Cerda takes care of the copper background as a Chilean mining engineer with more than 40 years of experience in major copper projects in Chile for companies such as Newmont, Barrick and BHP Billiton.
Hot Chili's projects are strategically positioned to benefit from rising copper demand and regional infrastructure needs. Costa Fuego's robust economics and Huasco Water's exclusive water supply permit make it strategically significant to the region.
With environmental permitting and exploration ongoing, the company is well-placed to deliver and further extend its overall resource numbers, thanks to a recent discovery of copper-gold porphyry mineralisation at its non-contiguous but nearby La Verde project.
Located 60 kilometres from Las Losas port on Chile's coastal range, Costa Fuego is Hot Chili's flagship project. A recent prefeasibility study outlined a 20-year mine life with a maiden ore reserve of 502Mt grading 0.37 per cent copper, 0.10 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 0.49g/t silver, and 97 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum, with a contained 1.86Mt copper, 1.58M ounces gold, 7.95M ounces silver and 49,000t molybdenum.
The project is expected to generate a post-tax net present value (NPV) of US$1.2 billion at a US$4.30 a pound copper price and US$2280 per ounce gold price. At current market prices, the NPV increases to US$2.2B, with a 19 per cent internal rate of return and a five-year payback on US$1.27B capital expenditure.
Hot Chili's 80 per cent-owned Huasco Water project, in partnership with Compañia Minera del Pacifico, addresses critical water scarcity in the Huasco Valley.
Secured after a decade-long regulatory process, Huasco Water holds the region's only maritime licence for seawater supply, providing the project with a significant competitive advantage. Its recent pre-feasibility study detailed a two-stage development plan to supply water to local major copper producers, to earn an estimated revenue of US$9.35B and a US$977M NPV over 22 years of supply.
The company has completed its baseline environmental studies and a second maritime concession application is under review, positioning Huasco Water, like Costa Fuego copper, to commence supply by the end of the decade.
With copper prices soaring and gold continuing at all-time highs, the appointments come at pivotal time in the company's development. Hot Chili says it remains on a tidy $7.5M cash pile to rapidly expand its resources, while simultaneously courting strategic partners for production at its huge copper and water undertakings.
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