AusQuest drilling program confirms significant porphyry copper discovery at Cangallo in Peru
AusQuest (ASX: AQD) has gained further confidence in its Cangallo porphyry copper discovery in southern Peru with the incoming results from recent drilling.
The company initially announced the Cangallo find in mid-January 2025 when multiple wide intercepts of significant copper and gold mineralisation were confirmed in the first two reverse circulation (RC) holes in a maiden drill program.
New assay results from the drilling program, now comprising eight RC holes, have confirmed the potential of the discovery in a world-class copper-producing destination.
Well-located project
Managing director Graeme Drew said Cangallo’s location close to significant infrastructure—within 10 kilometres of the coast and regional power lines—provides additional strength to the mineral potential already identified in the discovery.
“This is another set of excellent results from our Cangallo prospect—the final batch of assays has exceeded our expectations and confirmed Cangallo as a significant new greenfields porphyry copper-gold discovery in Peru,” Mr Drew said.
“Based on the results generated to date, we believe there is significant upside potential at Cangallo and we are confident that further exploratory drilling will continue to find more copper near the surface as well as deeper sulphide mineralisation.
Broad mineralised zones
AusQuest’s drilling has so far identified broad zones of copper mineralisation of up to 0.30% copper and 0.06 parts per million gold in the form of both oxides and sulphides.
The mineralisation has been identified in seven of the eight holes drilled and remains open in all directions, including at depth.
The prospectivity appears to increase west of the current drilling, where the centre of the porphyry system is thought to be hidden beneath the cover.
Large structure identified
Earlier geological mapping and rock-chip sampling outlined a partially exposed copper porphyry system within a large-scale caldera-like structure containing extensive colluvial and younger sediment cover.
The company will release a more detailed assessment of the maiden drilling results over the coming weeks, once the interpretation of the multi-element data has been completed and integrated with other available data.
Planning is also underway for future exploration programs at Cangallo, including further drilling.
Major copper producer
Peru is now the second-largest copper producer in the world behind Chile, with around 2.8 million tonnes of copper mined and processed per annum.
The bulk of this production comes from about 10 large copper projects.
These are mainly porphyries located along the Andean Belt, which extends from Chile in the south to Ecuador in the north.
Porphyry deposits are typically large – often containing more than 1 billion tonnes of ore – and are usually open-cuttable with a low waste-to-ore ratio.