Great Southern Copper, a London-listed exploration company, has started a two-hole diamond-drilling programme totalling about 500 metres at the Artemisa prospect in Chile, part of its Especularita exploration project. The campaign follows a copper-molybdenum intersection and is intended to define the target more closely before further drilling is considered.
An earlier reverse-circulation hole returned 106 metres grading 0.33% copper and 42 parts per million molybdenum from surface, including 54 metres grading 0.46% copper. The company said the intersection, together with alteration and mineralisation observed in neighbouring holes, supports further investigation of a possible porphyry-style copper system. The interval is an exploration result, not a mineral-resource estimate.
One diamond hole is designed to follow the earlier intersection at a steeper angle and provide more detailed information on host rocks, alteration and mineralised structures. The second will test related veins and fractures from a different direction. Results are expected to help determine whether a larger phase of reverse-circulation drilling is justified.
Artemisa is one of several targets near the La Colorada lithocap at Especularita. Great Southern Copper has also reported exploration indicators at nearby Piedras Blancas and Victoria, which could help refine its regional geological model. Alteration can indicate proximity to an intrusive mineralising system, but drilling must establish the location and size of any economically significant copper deposit.
If the diamond-core results are encouraging, the company has indicated that a subsequent reverse-circulation programme of about 2,000 metres could follow. No economic mineral resource, feasibility study or construction financing has been announced for Artemisa. Future drilling must establish the scale, continuity and grade of mineralisation before Especularita can be assessed as a potential development project.
Chile attracts international junior copper explorers because its established copper industry, mineral expertise and services infrastructure can reduce some logistical barriers. Early-stage explorers still face capital demands, geological uncertainty, environmental permitting and a lengthy path from discovery to mine development.
