Filo expands copper-gold Aurora Zone in Argentina amid $4.1B sale

Filo Corp. (TSX: FIL) said Friday new drill results from its Filo del Sol project in Argentina add scale and grade.

The results come as the company works to complete a $4.1-billion buyout by BHP Group (ASX, NYSE: BHP) and Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) by the first quarter next year. Nine drill rigs are working a 30,000-35,000 metre program, with results feeding into future resource estimates, the company said in a news release.

Drillhole FSDH107 cut 1,270 metres at 0.55% copper, 0.35 gram gold per tonne and 12.6 grams silver for 0.92% copper-equivalent from 298 metres down in the Aurora Zone. This included 624 metres at 0.78% copper, 0.41 gram gold and 5.3 grams silver for 1.13% copper-equivalent from 606 metres depth.

The hole expanded the Aurora Zone by 300 metres west, widening the mineralized area to at least 700 metres, the company said.

“These results show the extraordinary scale and continuity of the deposit,” he said in a news release. “With these new results, we’ve now defined continuous mineralization over 5.5 km from Tamberias in the south to Bonita in the north.”

Filo’s next steps are metallurgical tests on sulphides and more environmental studies. Also, it will drill more to define the deposit’s boundaries and high-grade zones, it said.

Emerging district

The Vicuña copper district, on the Argentina-Chile border, is a rising copper-gold hotspot. projects like Filo del Sol, NGEx Minerals’ (TSXV: NGEX) Lunahuasi and Los Helados projects show the region’s potential as a source of critical metals for the green energy transition.

The project’s growing scale coincides with rising demand for copper, a critical metal for electrification. Forecasts predict a 10-million-tonne copper shortfall in 12 years. Filo is one of the few advanced projects that can help. The pending joint venture with BHP and Lundin Mining will merge Filo with Lundin’s Josemaria project.

Filo shares fell less than0.5% or 11¢ in Toronto on Friday to close at $32.70. They ranged between $17.99 and $33.00 over the past 12 months, and the company has a market capitalization of $4.4 billion.

Another highlight, hole FSDH112, drilled 1.5 km northeast in the Bonita Zone, returned 1,282.5 metres at 0.46% copper, 0.16 gram gold and 4.9 grams silver for 0.61% copper-equivalent from 96 metres depth. It included a higher-grade intersection of 528.5 metres at 0.77% copper, 0.2 gram gold and 6 grams silver for 0.97% copper-equivalent from 659.5 metres depth.

The Tamberias Zone, 4.3 km southwest of Bonita, yielded 610 metres at 0.15% copper ,0.39 gram gold 2.2 grams silver in hole FSDH116. This points to a gold-rich porphyry system, the company’s president and CEO Jamie Beck said, singling out hole FSDH107.

The Aurora Zone’s western expansion and Bonita’s high-grade results confirm the deposit’s growth potential, the company said.

Filo’s strategy includes step-out drilling and testing new targets. A magneto telluric survey found more zones with high conductivity, the company said.

Filo del Sol has overlapping porphyry copper-gold systems and high-sulphidation epithermal mineralization. This creates a complicated orebody rich in copper, gold and silver.

More results

Drilling has found mineralization 1.5 km deep and 800 metres wide. High-grade corridors improve the project’s economics and show the system’s potential for bonanza-grade zones, the company said.

As of Jan. 18, Filo del Sol hosts indicated resources of 432.6 million tonnes grading 0.33% copper for 3.2 million lb of metal. The inferred resource stands at 211.6 million tonnes grading 0.27% copper for 1.3 million lb of metal.

The company’s drilling program will run through the Southern summer. Assay results are expected to come in steadily into 2025.