Peru's Cucho Copper Project Plans 5,000-Meter Drilling Exploration

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 20, Australian mining exploration company Solis Minerals announced plans to commence a 5,000-meter diamond drilling program at its Cucho copper project in Peru in October, with approximately 10 holes in the first round, focusing on verifying three copper-molybdenum mineralization targets. The project has obtained permits for 34 drill holes to date. Recent geological mapping and geochemical sampling have extended the mineralized exploration area approximately 1,000 meters northeast of historical drill holes, with the newly added target area covering porphyry intrusions and related copper-molybdenum anomaly zones.

The drilling will test the southwestern mineralized corridor, the northern stockwork mineralized zone, and the eastern intrusive target. The southwestern corridor hosts copper, molybdenum, and sulfur geochemical anomalies; the northern target contains mineralized quartz veins; and the eastern target will be drilled around intrusive contact zones, molybdenum anomalies, and high-chargeability induced polarization anomalies. Together, the three targets will be used to identify the extension of copper-molybdenum mineralization at depth and along strike.

Rock samples from the latest surface surveys returned copper grades of up to 0.49%, with other samples grading 0.43% and 0.30%, and molybdenum grades of up to 0.63%. Geological mapping also identified a sericite-altered monzonite intrusion over 950 meters long and 450 meters wide, surrounded by granodiorite with stronger copper mineralization. The intrusion and its surrounding mineralized zone correspond spatially with magnetic anomalies and induced polarization anomalies, forming the primary basis for the current drill hole layout.

The Cucho project previously completed 7 diamond drill holes in 2014, totaling approximately 2,000 meters, all of which intersected copper mineralization. Hole COP14-01 intersected 169.7 meters from surface grading 0.24% copper, 0.012% molybdenum, and 1.0 g/t silver; hole COP14-07 intersected 269.1 meters from surface grading 0.25% copper, 0.011% molybdenum, and 1.1 g/t silver. Historical drilling confirmed the transition from near-surface oxidized copper mineralization to primary chalcopyrite and molybdenite sulfide mineralization at depth.

Solis Minerals plans to determine follow-up drill hole locations and whether to expand the drilling program based on the geological logging and assay results from the first-round drill core. Under a joint venture arrangement, the company holds the right to earn up to a 100% interest in the Cucho project. The 5,000-meter drilling program is part of exploration work planned to commence in October 2026, and actual drilling results from the new holes have not yet been announced.