Latest news with #SouthernHemisphereMining
West Australian
7 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Southern Hemisphere, FMR lock-in Chilean copper-gold JV
Southern Hemisphere Mining and FMR Resources have locked and loaded their earn-in joint venture across four concessions in the southern portion of Southern Hemisphere's Llahuin copper-gold-molybdenum project in Chile, after FMR completed its technical due diligence. The two firms revealed in June that FMR had signed a binding term sheet to earn up to 60 per cent of the southern concessions by funding a minimum $13 million in exploration and drilling over five years and two stages. Upfront payments for the earn-in on the project, 350 kilometres north of Chile's capital city of Santiago, comprise a total $2.67 million, which includes FMR issuing 937,500 shares valued at about $150,000 at the time of the disclosure and $2.52 million in cash. FMR appointed experienced mining executive Oliver Kiddie, a geologist with 20 years' experience, to come aboard as managing director and navigate its course across the Chilean project. Kiddie previously held senior executive positions with Dominion Mining, Creasy Group and Legend Mining. He brings a track record of discoveries at the Silver Knight and Mawson nickel-copper-cobalt deposits. FMR successfully completed a $2.2 million placement to support the transaction. Notably, billionaire prospector Mark Creasy has joined its register as a substantial shareholder. Meanwhile, Southern Hemisphere retains all the project's prospective northern concessions. It will also hold on to the company's Ferrocarril deposit and Ferro South and Ferro West targets, in addition to its Cerro and Central ground. Southern Hemisphere maintains a firm grip on all defined resources at the project site, consisting of a copper resource with 218.2 million tonnes grading 0.38 per cent copper equivalent for 496,600t of copper, 654,900 ounces of gold and 12,500t of molybdenum. The resource, previously measured under 2004 JORC guidelines, now meets 2012 JORC-compliant guidelines. With many thick intervals from surface or shallow depths, Southern Hemisphere feels it is in a tremendous position to bolster the resource with near-surface tonnes and provide for a potential open-pit operation at the project. The company believes the agreement with FMR provides it with exposure to an aggressive and well-funded exploration program, with FMR planning deep drilling to target the Southern Porphyry copper-gold prospect later this year. The promising Curiosity target is within the Southern Porphyry prospect and will form FMR's primary area of interest among the concessions. Southern Hemisphere has also completed a deep penetrating magneto-telluric (MT) geophysical survey at the potentially company-making Curiosity target. It revealed a possible large copper-gold porphyry system below historic shallow copper porphyry-style mineralisation, providing FMR with plenty of work to keep it busy. Curiosity is 550 metres below the previous Santa Maria gold workings and is about 1km in diameter and up to 2km deep. The Curiosity target is supported by a soil geochemistry anomaly at surface and two shallow drill holes that produced drill intervals of 164m at 0.16 per cent copper equivalent from 2m and 106m running 0.13 per cent copper equivalent from 28m. A 2m slice grading 1.45 per cent copper equivalent from 168m provides further encouragement to FMR that it may have plenty to work with. The stage one earn-in initially requires FMR to spend a minimum $1 million on the concessions within the first year, including drilling at least one hole for a minimum of 1400m. For FMR to earn a 50 per cent legal and beneficial interest in the agreed concessions, it must spend $3 million within the first two years, including a minimum 6000m drill program. When completed, a joint venture will be established to explore and mine all minerals within the agreed concessions. Within 30 days of completing the stage one earn-in requirements, FMR may elect to earn an additional 10 per cent, bringing its stake to 60 per cent of the project's southern concessions. To achieve this, FMR will pay Southern Hemisphere $2.5 million in cash or FMR shares at FMR's election within 60 days and spend a further $10 million at the site over three years. The JV earn-in agreement may well produce a win-win outcome for the two active mineral explorers. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
West Australian
30-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Southern Hemisphere boosts Llahuin copper-gold resource to 218Mt
Southern Hemisphere Mining has firmed up its copper-gold-molybdenum footing in Chile having unveiled a beefed-up mineral resource of 218.2 million tonnes at 0.38 per cent copper equivalent at its Llahuin project north of the country's capital Santiago. The company says the new JORC-compliant estimate, complied by Hyland Geological and Mining Consultants, incorporates its Central Porphyry, Cerro, and Ferro zones and contains 496,600 tonnes of copper, 654,900 ounces of gold, and 12,500 tonnes of molybdenum. Critically, the recent in-fill drilling has lifted a significant chunk of the resource into the measured category now totalling a robust 151.9Mt in measured resources at 0.4 per cent CuEq, 22.2Mt in indicated resources at 0.33 per cent CuEq, and 44.1Mt in inferred resources at 0.31 per cent CuEq. Located 350km north of Santiago near Illapel and just 5km from grid power in Chile's Coquimbo Region, the Llahuin project sits within a well-established mining district also home to major copper mining operations such as Los Pelambres and Andacollo. Situated at 1300m elevation, Llahuin benefits from sealed roads, non-potable water in shallow aquifers, and proximity to underused rail infrastructure. The Llahuin deposit is a porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum system with iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) characteristics, hosted in Cretaceous dioritic and granodioritic intrusions and surrounding volcanic units. High-grade mineralisation, associated with quartz stockwork and potassic alteration, extends along a 2.5km north-south strike, with management eyeing a potential 6km mineralised corridor which remains open north, south, and at depth. Recent drilling, particularly at the Cerro-Ferro deposit, has confirmed both areas form a single mineralised system, with recent step-out holes targeting NNE-trending, ESE-dipping vein sets known to host gold at Cerro. Last year's discovery at Ferro South added consistent grade and width, boosting resource numbers and pointing to more upside. Stowell says the company sees considerable scope for resource growth at Cerro-Ferro including the Ferro West magneto-telluric target and at its recent discovery at Ferro South, considering the shallow drilling to date in these areas. Backing that up, Southern Hemisphere has now defined an exploration target in the ranges of 260–340Mt at 0.20–0.30 per cent copper, 0.08–0.10g/t gold, and 50–60 parts per million molybdenum - a conceptual target that sits outside the existing resource and includes zones such as the Curiosity-Southern Porphyry target. While still early-stage, the target is supported by wide-spaced drilling and soil sampling, with infill drilling planned to bring it into the fold. Only the Central Porphyry zone has been systematically drilled below 200m, with mineralisation still open at depth, underscoring the upside for deeper exploration. On the metallurgy front, copper recoveries from past testwork have averaged around 84 per cent, with gold coming in between 41 and 57 per cent, and molybdenum between 14 and 56 per cent, with potential for improvement using specialized reagents. The orebody also features moderate hardness and low deleterious material, ticking key boxes for flotation and processing. Southern Hemisphere is now planning a 1400m diamond drilling program with JV partner FMR Resources in the final quarter of this year. The program will target the depth extensions and untested areas of the Curiosity-Southern Porphyry copper zone where earlier drilling flagged the potential for higher-grade mineralisation lurking deeper down. With a substantial resource at hand, robust exploration upside and drilling on the immediate horizon, Southern Hemisphere with its Llahuin project looks poised to become a key player in Chile's copper-gold landscape with investors likely closely monitoring the action as the company aims to add more tonnes to an already solid resource base. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
West Australian
22-04-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Southern Hemisphere geophysics scores big Chilean copper target
Southern Hemisphere Mining's deep penetrating magneto-telluric (MT) geophysical survey has kicked up a potentially significant target 500 metres in diameter and to a depth of 500m to the west of its Ferro copper deposit at its Llahuin project in Chile. The large low-resistivity anomaly identified from the MT survey is in addition to the recent reveal of a possible large copper-gold porphyry deposit at the company's Curiosity target, which was also identified from the MT survey. Both targets are part of Southern Hemisphere's flagship Llahuin copper-gold-molybdenum project, 350 kilometres north of Santiago in Chile. Management is particularly interested in a deep zone of low-resistivity defined by 3D inversion modelling of the MT dataset at Ferro West, its newly named target. It subjected the area to a detailed surface geological mapping program, which identified black copper wad oxides at surface. The company believes this is a positive sign as black oxides were also seen at Ferro South during drill pad construction prior to the Ferro South extension discovery from a 2024 drilling program. Management believes testing the newly defined target will require about six holes to be hammered into its diameter. Previous management plunged a reverse circulation drill hole into the ground that extended into the low resistivity target, intersecting low-grade copper. The company says a sub-optimal drill technique was employed on the historic hole, which is now being evaluated for further drilling to target a deeper extension through the target using a diamond drill rig. Southern Hemisphere expects to make significant time and cost savings if it utilises the existing hole, which has already been drilled to 190m depth. An MT survey is an electromagnetic geophysical method for measuring the electrical resistivity of the earth's sub-surface. The surveys were used to identify some world-class copper porphyry deposits in the region, including Atex Resources' 61-square-kilometre Valeriano deposit in northern Chile. Both 2D and 3D inversion models for the distribution of resistivity in the target's area generally indicate zones of moderate to low resistivity. Low resistivity indicates that a material readily allows the flow of electric current, meaning the ground material has high conductivity and may represent conductive ore deposits. Deeper zones of moderate to low resistivity may indicate the presence of conductive metallic sulphide mineralisation. The company used a portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) technique to confirm copper oxides in the surface black material. The technology beams X-rays at a sample to interact with its atoms, causing the atoms to emit characteristic X-rays. By analysing the X-rays emitted, it is possible to identify the elements present and their estimated concentration levels. The pXRF works fast and can provide results quickly, which is a great advantage when working out in the field. The historical drill pad where the black copper oxides were previously identified has not been used and could be utilised for part of the planned drilling program. Management is seeking quotes for the upcoming campaign from experienced companies with a demonstrated history of drilling to depths of 2km to test the new target and the deeper Curiosity copper-gold target. It says the configuration of the Curiosity MT target is remarkably similar to an MT target at the large Valeriano porphyry copper-gold deposit. The Curiosity target is within the Southern Porphyry prospect. The target is 550m below the previous Santa Maria gold workings and is about 1km in diameter and up to 2km deep. The Curiosity target is supported by a soil geochemistry anomaly at surface and two shallow drill holes that produced drill intervals of 164m at 0.16 per cent copper equivalent from 2m and 106m running 0.13 per cent copper equivalent from 28m. A 2m slice grading 1.45 per cent copper equivalent from 168m provides further encouragement that Southern Hemisphere may be onto something. Southern Hemisphere's recent drilling program has sought to add scale to a copper resource that consists of 169 million tonnes grading 0.4 per cent copper equivalent for 680,000t of copper equivalent material, which was measured under the 2004 JORC guidelines. Results from a recent program comprised a large 128m hit stretching from a depth of 16m, which returned a grade of 0.41 per cent copper equivalent ending in mineralisation. This included a 32m section going 0.57 per cent copper equivalent from 66m. Southern Hemisphere plans to achieve an updated 2012 JORC-compliant mineral resource this year. With many thick intervals from surface or shallow depths, the company feels it has a compelling opportunity to bolster the resource with near-surface tonnes and provide for a potential open pit operation at the project. The use of geophysics is proving to be a positive move for Southern Hemisphere as it kicks up newly identified prospective targets that provide the opportunity for the company to potentially grow Llahuin into a significant project. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
