Based on diamond drilling completed from 2016 to 2021, the company has identified a significant deposit containing 522 million tonnes of inferred resources at 0.65% copper, 0.22 g/t gold and 74 ppm molybdenum.
The Encierro project is held in a joint venture with Barrick Gold, with Antofagasta holding the majority share and acting as operator of the exploration program.
Cachorro resource update
Based on results of further infill drilling, Antofagasta has also updated the resource base for its wholly owned Cachorro project. The deposit size has increased to 155 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 1.20% copper, from the 142 million tonnes at 1.21% copper reported as of Dec. 31, 2021.
The Cachorro project is located in the western Atacama Desert in northern Chile, 100 km northeast of the city of Antofagasta and 1,100 km north of Santiago. It lies between the company’s Antucoya and Centinela operations and may benefit from the use of their facilities. The deposit consists of manto-type sulphides, mostly chalcopyrite and bornite and some oxides.
According to the company, Cachorro remains open laterally and additional drilling will be carried out during the rest of this year.
