Southern Hemisphere Mining has made an encouraging start to its 2000-metre diamond drilling program at the company’s Llahuin copper-gold-molybdenum project in Chile, logging high-grade chalcocite copper sulphide mineralisation in an extension hole and adding a compelling new gold-copper target to the campaign.
The current program is designed to extend the project’s existing copper resource of 218.2 million tonnes at 0.38 per cent copper equivalent. With three holes already completed and 658.2m drilled, the campaign is now one third of the way through.
One of the first holes probed the extension of a previous intercept that returned a solid 241m at 0.42 per cent copper equivalent, including a higher-grade zone of 143m at 0.51 per cent copper equivalent. Visual logging of the new core identified important chalcocite and chalcopyrite copper sulphide mineralisation, the principal copper ore minerals.
Chalcocite is a high-tenor copper sulphide mineral that contains just under 80 per cent copper by weight, more than double chalcopyrite’s 35 per cent. Its exceptionally high copper content makes chalcocite one of the richest and most valuable copper sulphide minerals, prized for its favourable processing characteristics. Chalcopyrite, while containing less copper, remains the world’s most abundant copper sulphide mineral and the principal source of copper production globally.
Southern Hemisphere is also set to test a deeper target at the Cerro deposit by re-entering a historic diamond hole and extending it from 401m to between 650m and 750m. The hole is designed to test for a potential high-grade porphyry feeder zone, using modern copper isotope analysis to guide the targeting.
We’re drilling at Ferro South to test how far this copper system extends. Logging the chalcocite in 24LHRD067 is further encouragement. Chalcocite contains around 80% copper by weight, more than double chalcopyrite, and has beneficial processing qualities.
The company’s exploration at Llahuin comes at a time of tightening global copper supply, particularly in Chile, which is the world’s biggest producer. The country’s copper commission, Cochilco, recently lifted its 2026 price forecast to US$5.55 (A$7.90) per pound as local production is expected to decline this year. Global mined copper supply is also forecast to fall in 2026 for the first time since 2017, reflecting a combination of operational issues and lower grades at major mines.
The current supply squeeze has prompted major producers to respond, with Antofagasta Minerals planning to invest about US$3.4 (A$4.8) billion in Chile during 2026 to boost its output. For an explorer like Southern Hemisphere, the macro setting provides a supportive backdrop for any drilling success at Llahuin.
Perhaps most intriguingly, the company has also added a new gold-copper target to its program after a bit of meteorological and geological serendipity. A historic reverse-circulation (RC) hole had jagged a shallow zone of 8m grading 3.67 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 45m downhole, but it was never assayed for copper or any other elements.
After recent heavy rains eroded local river banks back to bedrock, fieldwork identified outcropping chalcocite near that old RC drill site. Visual estimates from rock chips near the drill collar suggest a sulphide abundance of 6 per cent pyrite and chalcocite. However, the company emphasises that, while encouraging, such visual assessments are not a substitute for laboratory analysis.
The company now plans a new hole to test the zone, while retrieving historic drill pulps from the original RC hole for full multi-element analysis.
The Llahuin project already boasts a significant JORC-compliant resource containing 168.2 million tonnes in the indicated category and a further 50 million tonnes in the inferred category.
With new core from the current drilling program now being sent to the laboratory in batches, and initial assays expected by the end of November, Southern Hemisphere is hoping to add some serious scale to its already impressive Chilean copper play in a market hungry for new discoveries.
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