The share price of explorer AusQuest tripled on the ASX on Thursday following the announcement of a significant large-scale porphyry copper/gold discovery at its Cangallo project in Peru.

A maiden drilling programme, comprising eight holes for a total of 3 000 m, revealed broad zones of visible copper mineralisation – both oxides and sulphides – in seven of the drill holes.

MD Graeme Drew confirmed that assay results from two of the holes, CANRC001 and CANRC002, verified the presence of a large-scale porphyry copper/gold system.

“This is a fantastic breakthrough for our shareholders and an extremely exciting way to start the new year,” he said.

Results from CANRC001 showed 348 m at 0.26% copper and 0.06 parts per million (ppm) gold from a depth of 6 m, while CANRC002 recorded 118 m at 0.28% copper and 0.07 ppm gold.

Assay results from the remaining six drill holes are expected by early February.

“We are now eagerly awaiting the results from the six outstanding drill-holes which also encountered broad zones of continuous visible copper mineralisation and demonstrate the potential for a near surface copper oxide resource located close to infrastructure as well as deeper sulphide mineralisation,” said Drew.

He pointed out that the maiden drill programme only tested a small fraction of the prospective target area. We have only just scratched the surface of Cangallo’s potential,” he said.

Peru is the world’s second-largest copper producer after Chile, with an annual output of approximately 2.8-million tonnes of copper. Much of this production comes from large porphyry deposits located along the Andean Belt, which stretches from Chile to Ecuador.

Porphyry deposits are typically massive, often exceeding one-billion tonnes of ore. These deposits are usually mined through openpit operations due to their low waste-to-ore ratios. The shallow portions, primarily composed of oxide ores, can be processed using heap leach methods, offering lower development capital costs and reduced energy consumption compared with traditional flotation processing of sulphide ores. Heap leaching also allows the production of pure cathode copper on-site, bypassing the need for shipping, smelting, and refining copper concentrates.

Mining and processing costs benefit significantly from the scale of porphyry operations, and several successful large-scale mines – including Cerro Verde, Cuajone, Toquepala, Quellaveco, and the recently approved Zafranal project – are located in the Arequipa district, where Cangallo is situated. These mines typically process ore grades ranging from 0.20% to 0.40% copper and boast multi-decade mine lives.

The share price of AusQuest traded to A$0 02 apiece on Thursday.