SLM starts drilling southern targets on copper project in Peru.
Our exploration Investment Solis Minerals (ASX: SLM) just announced results from the first two holes at its Ilo Este copper project in Peru.
These results come from the second project SLM drilled this year - and one of our favourite projects SLM will be drilling this year.
The key results from the first two holes were:
- Hole #1 - 120m at 0.13% copper and 0.07g/t gold from 268m.
- Hole #2 - 39m at 0.04% copper and 0.2g/t gold from 712m.
Both technically good results with the drilling hit the right type of geology, but they did fall short of the results we would have expected to see for a re-rate in SLM’s share price.
For context, one of the discovery holes that triggered the big run up in one of SLM’s Peruvian peers AusQuest was 348m at 0.26% copper and 188m at 0.28% copper:
Next at Ilo Este, we are looking forward to seeing SLM drill the southern magnetic anomaly on the project.
We already know that there has been previous drilling in that southern target area which returned assay like ~472m at 0.11% copper with 0.09g/t gold grades, from near-surface…
(Source)
So any results that can replicate or improve on that could be what brings market interest back into SLM’s project.
Of course, there is no guarantee anything comes from those targets.
What’s next for SLM?
🔄 Drilling results from the Ilo Este project
We are now looking forward to seeing results from the drilling going into the southern magnetic anomaly at Ilo Este.
🔲 Permitting on two other projects.
We mentioned earlier that SLM is drilling four different projects this year.
We did a deep dive on all four projects in our last note here: An update on SLM’s 4 shots on goal
Across the two remaining undrilled projects, we are waiting to see SLM get drilling permits granted.
Here is a quick update on those two remaining projects:
Project 3: Cinto Project
Stage: Drill targets identified, permits pending.
When is it drilling: Q4 this year
Why it is interesting:
SLM’s drill targets here are ~15km away from the Toquepala mine which has a 3.3BN tonne copper resource and is producing over 180,000tpa copper:
Project 4: Chocolate (previously Guaneros)
Stage: Target generation
When does SLM expect to drill: Q4 2025 - Q1 2026
Why is it interesting?
The Chocolate project sits between SLM’s two other main projects Chancho al Palo and Ilo Este.
A drone magnetic survey conducted by SLM showed that the area was potentially prospective for gold and copper - similar to what was found at Ilo Este.
