Atex Valeriano copper‑gold drilling: scale, grades and resource lens for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Atex Resources’ Valeriano copper‑gold project in northern Chile has returned a 448 m interval from hole ATXD26B grading 0.93% copper and 0.51 g/t gold from 1,014 m depth, including 186 m at 1.32% copper and 0.72 g/t gold and 88 m at 1.61% copper and 0.99 g/t gold, strengthening the B2B breccia target. The B2B zone now appears to have roughly 400 m strike, up to 200 m horizontal width and 500–600 m vertical extent, with drilling already past half of the planned 25,000 m in stage six. September’s resource update outlined 475 Mt indicated at 0.58% copper and 0.25 g/t gold plus 1.51 Bt inferred at 0.5% copper and 0.2 g/t gold, with Agnico Eagle holding a 13% stake and Atex valued at about C$1.2 billion.
Technical Brief
- Assays released in December from ATXD26B included 224 metres from 1,014 metres depth at elevated grades.
- Stage six drilling commenced in September and has already completed over half of the planned 25,000 metres.
- Current drilling focuses on the B2B breccia plus other nearby high‑grade breccia targets within the Valeriano system.
- B2B mineralisation geometry now interpreted with ~400 m strike, up to 200 m width, and 500–600 m vertical extent.
- Inferred tonnage increased by 7% relative to the 2023 estimate, improving large‑scale porphyry development optionality.
- Valeriano lies ~6 km from Antofagasta’s El Encierro project and ~1,000 km north of Santiago, aiding regional benchmarking.
Our Take
Within our 582 Mining stories, very few copper–gold projects in Latin America report contiguous mineralised intervals above 1% Cu over >200 metres, so the ATXD26B intercepts at Valeriano place Atex in the same exploration ‘tier’ as larger porphyry plays that typically attract major interest at PEA/PFS stage.
Agnico Eagle’s 13% stake in Atex gives a gold-major lens on a copper‑dominant system, which often leads to development concepts that emphasise gold credits to improve early cash flow and could influence how any future scoping or PEA work is framed for Valeriano.
The proximity of Valeriano to Antofagasta’s El Encierro (6 km) in northern Chile suggests eventual infrastructure and permitting synergies are likely to be a key part of any development case, as our database shows clustered Andean porphyries often share access, power and sometimes water solutions to cut upfront capex.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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