Can you give an update on Torq Resources' recent activities?

Torq Resources has been active on both its Santa Cecilia gold-copper and Margarita IOCG projects in Chile. Margarita is a greenfield project in the Coastal Cordillera belt that hosts Lundin Mining's Candelaria mine and Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde and Santo Domingo deposits. It is an area that was overlooked for many years, and we are pleased to have not only conducted the first drill program on the property, but to have made a discovery with an intercept of 90 m of 0.94% copper and 0.84 g/t gold. We have since conducted a second drill program on the project and extended the discovery to an 800 m long mineralized system. It’s a great start to a greenfield discovery and we see excellent growth potential for the project as we have identified a number of additional targets with similar characteristics to the discovery. In addition, the infrastructure on the Coastal Cordillera belt is fantastic – you can work 12 months a year as the elevation is low, it’s about 65 km from Copiapo, and there is power and extensive road networks – all contributing to excellent conditions for exploration.

At Santa Cecilia, the situation is slightly different because the project already has historical discoveries on it, and we are the first to launch a modern comprehensive exploration program. We obtained our community agreement for the project in late 2022, spanning the seven years of our option agreement and allowing us to commence our on-site exploration. We put boots on the ground for the first time in December 2022 and immediately began our surface programs to prepare for drilling and targeting. The project has mainly sat dormant over the past thirty years, except for two holes that were drilled in 2012, one of which intercepted 925 m of 0.21 g/t gold, 0.27% copper and 82 ppm molybdenum. This intercept was immediately below an epithermal gold system that was drilled in the late eighties. The gold – copper porphyry system below is what we’re following up on because of its immense potential. We have also found multiple porphyry centers that look similar to the project’s immediate neighbor, the Norte Abierto project, which is comprised of the Caspiche and Cerro Casale gold–copper porphyry deposits owned by Newmont and Barrick.

Our future drill plans for Santa Cecilia include a total of 15,000 m as part of the first phase of drilling, which we should complete by May of 2024. In addition, we plan to drill an additional 4,000 m at Margarita, primarily on new targets starting in mid to late June of this year. So, the company is planning to have a drill turning more or less continuously for the next 12 – 14 months.

What are your views on the current regulatory framework for junior companies operating in Chile?

Chile is an important mining country with a well-established set of rules, and as a junior exploration company our experience has been that if you follow these rules, you can move forward with executing your business plan in a timely fashion. While there has been a change in government and a referendum on the new constitution in 2022, we saw a very clear democratic process play out, which gave us a lot of confidence and reassurance. We will have to see how the taxation policies move forward, but there are currently no concerns from our viewpoint. As metal prices rise, there is the potential for all countries with mining sectors to increase their taxes on producers, and Chile is no different.

What are these projects' advantages compared to other projects in the region?   

Santa Cecilia effectively remains untested, almost as if it’s been frozen in time. We know there is an extensive mineralized system with multiple porphyry targets just waiting to be drilled. The true advantage of Santa Cecilia is that we get to step back to 1990 to realize the discovery potential of the Maricunga belt from the early days of discoveries in the region. With our current drill program, we get to expand upon an existing porphyry discovery, while looking for the high-grade core of the system, which we are confident we can uncover. We believe the targets at Santa Cecilia are part of the same system that created the 4th largest undeveloped gold project in the world, Norte Abierto, which is immediately adjacent to Santa Cecilia and owned by Newmont and Barrick. 

As for Margarita – aside from it being in a well-known mining belt with other iron-oxide-copper-gold deposits, it has the advantage of accessibility. Factors like road access, power and nearby infrastructure are essential to expedite exploration and any eventual mine construction. With a new greenfields discovery, in an area of excellent infrastructure, we are excited to realize the true potential of the project through additional drilling.  

What is Torq Resources' strategy and vision moving forward?

Our vision is to realize the value of our projects through comprehensive and expertly targeted drill programs. We don’t plan on building a mine or becoming a producer, we are here to make discoveries, and our strategy is thus to drill, discover, and maximize the exit value. We are now well on our way down that path with active exploration ongoing at both our projects, and we can expect to announce drill results from both Santa Cecilia and Margarita starting in the last half of 2023. We are excited to expand our projects over the next 12 months, and we are well-positioned to continue to drill and produce positive results over the coming year.