Great Southern Copper has raised £2 million through an equity placement to expand exploration at its Mostaza copper-silver discovery in Chile, funding drilling, metallurgical testing and technical studies aimed at establishing a maiden mineral resource.
The company issued approximately 133.3 million new shares at 1.5 pence per share, representing around 15% of its enlarged share capital. Most of the proceeds will support exploration across the Especularita project, where Great Southern plans drilling at Mostaza, Monolith and the Artemisa porphyry prospect.
The funded programme is designed to advance Mostaza from a discovery supported by individual drill intersections towards a formal estimate of contained copper and silver, providing a basis for assessing the potential scale of the mineralised system.
Drilling Programme Covers Three Exploration Targets
Great Southern plans to undertake up to 5,000 metres of diamond drilling at Mostaza and Monolith. The programme will also include approximately 2,000 metres of reverse-circulation drilling along the Mostaza Fault and a further 1,000 metres at the Artemisa porphyry prospect.
The combined drilling programme will test mineralisation across the Especularita project and support the geological work required for resource definition. Funding will also be allocated to metallurgical testing and technical studies. The immediate priority is a maiden mineral resource estimate for Mostaza. Previous drilling has identified high-grade copper-silver mineralisation, while initial flotation tests have delivered encouraging recovery results.
Resource Definition to Follow Previous Drilling and Metallurgical Work
The new funding is intended to support the transition from exploration results to a formal estimate of the quantity of mineralised material and its contained metal content. Establishing a resource would provide a more defined basis for evaluating the scale of the Mostaza discovery and progressing subsequent technical studies.
Resource definition also represents a stage at which junior exploration companies may seek engagement with a wider range of strategic investors and potential project partners. Great Southern’s expanded programme will provide additional drilling data to assess the continuity of mineralisation across the target areas. Mostaza remains an exploration project, with no established mineable tonnage or demonstrated project economics. The existing drilling and flotation results do not yet constitute a formal mineral resource or establish the commercial viability of a future mining operation.
Equity Placement Increases Share Count
The £2 million placement provides funding for the expanded exploration programme but also increases the company’s issued share capital. The approximately 133.3 million new shares represent around 15% of the enlarged share count, resulting in dilution for existing shareholders.
The planned work will need to establish additional geological confidence and support the resource-definition objective following the equity raise. The principal milestone is the conversion of the existing exploration results into a maiden copper-silver resource, rather than the reporting of further isolated high-grade drill intersections. If drilling demonstrates sufficient continuity across the mineralised system, Great Southern could progress towards a first formal copper-silver inventory in 2027, providing a clearer basis for further technical assessment of the Mostaza project.
