Andina discovers third Piuquenes porphyry in Argentina

Andina Copper (TSXV: ANDC; US-OTC: ANDC) has discovered a third copper porphyry at Piuquenes North in Argentina’s San Juan province, sending shares higher.

Visual logging of the cores from two holes drilled earlier this year confirmed mineralization at depth in an 800-by-700-metre low-resistivity magnetotelluric (MT) anomaly the company first flagged in February.

Hole PIU13, reaching 1,235 metres depth, cut four porphyry intrusive phases and logged its strongest visible copper sulphides from 848 to 1,045 metres downhole, in early-mineral porphyry, showing chalcopyrite and bornite in quartz veins and distributions, Andina said Thursday in a statement.

PIU12, drilled to 992.6 metres depth, cut andesitic host rock and pre-mineral porphyry with chalcopyrite and trace bornite, which the company said points to broad continuity across the system. Assays from both holes are pending.

“Both drill holes completed at Piuquenes North intersected a multiphase porphyry copper system, with the MT anomaly remaining open to the north and at depth,” CEO Joseph van den Elsen said in the press release. “Confirmation of a third mineralized porphyry system at Piuquenes North marks an important milestone for the project.”

Piuquenes sits in a crowded San Juan copper belt beside Aldebaran Resources’ (TSXV: ALDE; US-OTC: ADBRF) Altar project and near Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) El Pachón, McEwen’s (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX) Los Azules and Antofagasta’s (LSE: ANTO) Los Pelambres.

Investment across the district keeps rising: BHP (LSE, ASX: BHP) and Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) this year laid out an $18 billion (C$25 billion) plan for Josemaría and Filo del Sol, while Glencore has applied for Argentine investment incentives for El Pachón and McEwen works to line up project debt for Los Azules project.

Andina’s Toronto-listed shares added 4.8% to C$1.31 in late afternoon trading Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of C$363 million ($263 million).

Stepping out

With Piuquenes North added to the previous East and Central discoveries, Piuquenes starts to look more like a broader porphyry cluster than a two-zone project. In February, Andina said the new MT anomaly began about 600 metres below surface beneath Piuquenes East and Central and could mark the deeper source for mineralization already drilled there.

The two new holes do not prove that case yet, but they give the theory substance and open ground to the north and at depth for follow-up drilling.

At the Central deposit, the first confirmed porphyry system on the property, drill highlights include hole PIU-03, from June 2024, which returned 801 metres grading 0.4% copper, 0.51 gram gold per tonne and 2.87 grams silver from 54 metres depth. This included 518 metres at 0.53% copper, 0.73 gram gold and 3.45 grams silver.

At the East deposit, Andina said April 2025’s hole PIU06 cut 208 metres at 0.31% copper, 0.13 gram gold and 1.24 grams silver from 292 metres in, including 98 metres at 0.49% copper, 0.16 gram gold and 1.26 grams silver. Hole PIU09 returned 126 metres at 0.46% copper and 0.53 gram gold from 529 metres depth.

Discovery-focused

Those holes sit on a 25 sq. km land package in the Altar-Piuquenes cluster, about 190 km west of the provincial capital San Juan. Andina, which holds full exploration permits, says it has drilled about 9,000 metres at Piuquenes since January 2024, with two rigs now turning.

Andina is working towards earning an 80% interest in Piuquenes by Nov. 30, 2027, through a $14.75 million payment and the issuance of a 1.25% net smelter return royalty. It still to spend an additional $6 million on the project.

The company is also pushing an exploration campaign at the Cobrasco copper-molybdenum porphyry discovery of 2022, in Colombia’s Chocó copper belt. Early drilling there has already cut long copper-molybdenum intervals, including 808 metres grading 0.42% copper from 184 metres, across a broad system that the company says remains open and could host many porphyry centres.