Marimaca Copper expands footprint in Chile with US$12M option deal

Marimaca Copper (TSX: MARI) has signed an option agreement to expand its holdings in Chile. The company which is advancing its Marimaca copper project in the country has optioned the Pampa Medina project adjoining its Sierra de Medina claims, and near the company’s oxide deposit of the same name.

Marimaca CEO Hayden Locke said the acquisition aligns with the company’s strategy to grow its base of leachable copper resources to complement the Marimaca deposit, for which it is working on a definitive feasibility study and is targeting first production in 2028.

The new project, Locke adds, will also underpin mine life growth and, more importantly, support Marimaca’s goal of increasing its scale of production target to more than 50,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year.

To buy the project, the company will pay owner Sociedad Contractual Minera Elenita a total of US$12 million over the course of five years, as well as grant SCM a 1.5% net smelter royalty. As part of the option agreement, Marimaca can withdraw from the project at any time.

Potential synergies

The Pampa Medina project consists of four mining concessions totalling 1.4 sq. km., located within the southern portion of Marimaca’s broader 14.5-sq.-km. Sierra de Medina property. It is also about 28 km in distance and at 200 metre higher in elevation relative to the planned processing infrastructure at the Marimaca deposit.

Due to its proximity to the preferred plant site of the oxide deposit, CEO Locke says there could be “several clear routes for a synergistic development” to incorporate the Pampa Medina project.

Regionally, Pampa Medina is located on the eastern domain of Antofagasta’s coastal copper belt, which hosts large, ‘Manto’-style copper deposits including the Mantos Blancos mine (Capstone Copper) and the Cachorro project (Antofagasta Minerals).

Based on roughly 41,000 metres of historical drilling, the project currently has a predominantly oxide-based indicated resource totalling 12.3 million tonnes grading 0.86% total copper and 28.1 million inferred tonnes at 0.66% total copper.

However, the Pampa Medina resource is not compliant with NI 43-101 standards. Marimaca plans to review the historical drilling data and compile a compliant resource estimate in early 2025.

A potential resource at Pampa Medina would add to Marimaca’s existing resource base of over 200 million tonnes grading 0.45% total copper in the measured and indicated category and 37 million tonnes grading 0.38% total copper in the inferred category.

“Pampa Medina lies in the middle of one of our most prospective exploration targets at Sierra de Medina,” Locke said. “We have completed surface geology in and around the historical resource, including several geophysical surveys, and are excited about the potential to extend both along strike to the north and south, and down plunge to the east-north-east.”