Avispa Copper–Molybdenum Project
Overview
The Avispa Copper–Molybdenum Project (Avispa Project) is located in the Atacama region of northern Chile, west of the town of Calama and 220 km north-east of Antofagasta, Chile’s largest commercial deep-water port. The project is connected by asphalt road to the ports of Tocopilla and Antofagasta.
Montero has been awarded 459 km2 of Exploration Mining Concessions in an almost contiguous area south of the main highway between Calama and Tocopilla. The area was previously held by Spence Mining (Spence), a subsidiary of BHP, CODELCO, and Quantum Pacific Exploration Chile (Quantum), a private exploration company.
History
The Avispa project area was previously held by Spence and Quantum that were exploring for porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization. BHP drilled approximately 38 widely spaced reconnaissance drill holes, Quantum drilled an unspecified number of holes, while CODELCO drilled approximately 19 closely spaced drill holes concentrated in an area in the south of Avispa. The Avispa license is surrounded by major mining companies such as Codelco, Antofagasta, Freeport, and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM).
Geology
The Avispa project occurs within the north – south trending Paleocene Porphyry Copper Belt which is also termed the Sierra Gorda-Spence-Cerro Colorado Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum Belt. The project area is 40 km north of BHP’s Spence Cu-Mo mine, 50 km north of KGHM/South32’s Sierra Gorda Cu-Mo mine, and 50 km west of Codelco’s super-giant Chuquicamata Cu-Mo mine. The project is 8 km south of Chug-Chug porphyry system which shows Quartz-Sercite-Tourmaline breccias and copper oxide mineralization on surface.
Avispa is also adjacent and east of the north – south trending Nitrate “Caliche” Belt locally hosting the Nitrate-Iodine mines Maria Elena, Coya Sur, and Pedro de Valdivia mines operated by SQM.
Location of Avispa and major mines along the Paleocene Porphyry Cu-Mo and east of the “Caliche” Nitrate Belt
Location of RC drill chip sampling sites and geochemical results: Cu ppm (left image) and Mo ppm (right image)
Location of previous drill holes and iso-surface modelling of Porphyry Cu-Mo Target (purple) generated by Fathom Geophysics