Categories: Base Metals
Topics: General Base Metals

Hannan Metals (TSX-V: HAN)(OTC: HANNF) CEO Michael Hudson on Identification of 18 New Copper-Gold Porphyry Targets at Valiente Project, Peru

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today from the field is the CEO of Hannan Metals — Mr. Michael Hudson. Mike, how are you today?

Michael Hudson: Hey, good morning from a chilly Down Under, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, let's get right into it. You had a news release and there was a quote there that mentioned that drilling and drill permitting in Peru is a slower process just because of the geopolitical situation there. 

But I think something that is less appreciated is how busy you've been in the meantime. It's not as if you haven't staked an entire basin of copper, silver, gold targets. This latest release now, you provided an update that mentions up to 18 porphyry targets in this specific area that is 140 km by 50 km; 18 intrusion-related porphyry epithermal skarn targets. 

And so I wanted to limit the conversation to this specific area that's emerging as just a very, very rich mineralized system that, look, if the drill permitting takes a year to happen, it takes a year to happen. If it takes a year and a half, it takes a year and a half. 

You're going to be drilling, as you mentioned in the release, for years on end once those permits come back. And I imagine there's a whole heck of a lot to do between now and then when you have an entire basin of this stuff.

Michael Hudson: Yeah, simply put, it's a bit overwhelming to speak about it like that but we have a new frontier in one of the world's greatest copper-producing countries. And we've got that first-mover advantage that should generally succeed by staking the best stuff first. And we've done that and we've defined 18 different porphyries. 

This specific area is within what we call our DIA area. That's our EIA for drilling, which is about a 12 km by 3 km area. This specific area contains two different porphyry targets; the Ricardo Herrera and Sortilegio. And Sortilegio is the project that we're talking about in this press release plus a couple of km-long epithermal targets that join them and then copper-bearing skarn targets around those porphyries. 

The area is dripping with mineralization and it has never been explored before and certainly never with this level of detail. And the other secret, and we can touch on it, is being able to permit. And you did touch on it, and that's having the right relationships with all of the stakeholders from the people on the ground right through to the authorities. And that's what we're working very hard at also.

Gerardo Del Real: The analogs, and let me be absolutely clear with everybody, I am as biased as biased can be. I have a pretty substantial holding in hand and I am going to use any weakness in the market over the next several months to continue to add to what's an already robust position for me. 

But the analogs for these types of porphyries are huge. Can you touch on that a bit, Mike?

Michael Hudson: Yeah, the Ricardo Herrera is a more standard calc-alkalic porphyry. So that's the one that is in the southern part of the area. Sortilegio is a different variation and it's what we call alkalic. 

And the key thing is that the alkalic porphyries are gold-rich porphyries, essentially, so copper, copper-gold porphyries. And they're the kind of targets that the major copper companies look for but also the major gold companies. And it's really to keep the major gold companies fed with their resource bases dwindling in traditional gold fields and who are now starting to move into these alkalic porphyries. 

It's what Newcrest Mines in Cadia and in the Macquarie Arc in Australia; it's Red Chris in the BC porphyries also. It's a desirable style. It's a little rarer. They're not as common. It's quite a geological head scratcher that they're out here in this part of the world — but that they are. 

The host rocks are silica undersaturated. So that's a very geological term… but the host rocks are right. We're seeing PG associations at low levels. We're seeing the different styles of alteration that you see around these alkalic porphyries in other parts of the world.

So I think we're onto something just a little different and unique also amongst the wealth of metal in the ground here. It's producing some very interesting styles at the same time. And this is one we'll be drilling, hopefully, within the next year, as well as the Ricardo Herrera porphyry and the epithermal target at Vista Alegre. And so just geologically intriguing and economically an amazing opportunity.

Gerardo Del Real: You mentioned in the release the bedrock of the Sortilegio area and the multi-stage intrusive event and the fact that the event was dated by Hannan back in May 2023. Can you explain to those that aren't geologically inclined, like myself by the way, the importance of that?

Michael Hudson: Yeah, there are different epochs in geological history that are more metalliferous than others. And one of those periods, one of the key periods in the Andes, is the Miocene period, which is something like 15 to 20 million years ago, give or take a few million years. 

And these porphyries that we have throughout the whole Valiente project are coming in at all of those dates. And again, it's a bit of a geological head scratcher because we're way into the back-arc. So we're not near the arc where the oceanic crust subducts under the continental crust. 

We're 80 km inland. And there must be some major transfer structures that bring these younger intrusives up into this back area of the subduction zone that we see in other parts of the Andes. Bajo de la Alumbrera in Argentina is similar; it's way further east than anything else seen in Argentina.

So it can happen. And that's the uniqueness of this opportunity and perhaps why it hasn't been explored before… because, geologically, it's, like I've said, a little different. But those dates are critical because it just puts it in the right box for a metalliferous event that produces the Miocene porphyries. I haven't got the stat on top of my head but that would be one of the major producing copper styles for the world today.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, I've done very, very well throughout my career, and most recently with Patriot Battery Metals, by sourcing and looking for companies that have robust land positions with first-mover advantage in those areas. 

Patriot, of course, was smart enough to vend in some really, really large properties over vast areas early on in the James Bay days. And now, of course, everybody is in James Bay and positioning for what I'm going to call round two of discoveries and exploration in James Bay. 

But clearly, Patriot had the network to be able to bring in a very, very prospective land package that, frankly, a lot of people missed. And I think you and I are going to be having a similar conversation about copper, silver, and gold in this part of Peru in the next year or two. Anything to add to that, Mike?

Michael Hudson: No, I think we're already having that conversation now. We've got Teck as 9.9% holders in Hannan for the very fact that they came and did their due diligence over a long period of time and have supported the company financially and are major shareholders because they also understand that opportunity. 

And then, just getting drills on the ground and those first drill holes will be a very exciting moment for us all then.

Gerardo Del Real: Looking forward to it. Mike, thank you for the update as always. We'll chat soon.

Michael Hudson: Cheers.

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