Chile
Freehill Projects
Freehill through its 100% owned Chilean companies Yerbas Buenas SpA and San Patricio Mineria SpA hold a number of concessions in an area just north of the city of Coquimbo-La Serena, Chile.
These concessions totalling about 1250 hectares are all located in the one area in Region IV of Chile on the coast about 500km north of the capital Santiago.
The concessions comprise a large JORC magnetite resource within the Yerbas Buenas and Arenas concession blocks and a magnetite-copper-gold exploration area on the northern boundary of Yerbas Buenas with eight blocks collectively known as the El Dorado project.
El Dorado is in the early stages of exploration with the aim of identifying further magnetite resource as well as locating the primary source of surficial copper and gold mineralisation. El Dorado sits within the IOCG belt of the Atacama and has obvious evidence of gold and copper artisanal mining. The project area is on a easily accessible low mountain range along the El Tofo fault with many copper, gold and magnetite projects all within 7-25kms of El Dorado.
Magnetite resource drilling and definition at the Yerbas Buenas areas is ongoing.
Property Location & Access
The concessions are approximately 50 kms north of the large cities of Coquimbo and La Serena and only 2kms west of the PanAmerican Highway. The highway is a modern 4 lane sealed road extending from La Serena northwards past the mine. Two High Voltage lines run N-S within 1-2km of the project area.
Greater La Serena has a population of 400,000 and a modern airport with several flights daily to and from Santiago. Flying time to Santiago is only 50 minutes.
The city acts as a service hub to numerous mining and exploration projects in the region.
Magnetite – Yerbas Buenas
A maiden magnetite resource within the Yerbas Buenas concession area was declared 6th May 2019 following an RC drilling program at a resource known as YB1. A trial mining pit and demonstration processing plant had been operated for approximately two years over the area of the YB1 resource. It produced magnetite concentrates for sale and quality assessment to a large pellet feed plant owned by Chiles largest iron ore producer Compania Minera del Pacifico S.A.
Following the acquisition of a single 80 hectare concession block, Arenas XI, the company immediately drilled a geophysics target known as YB6 and declared a second JORC magnetite resource known as 2nd June 2020.
Copper, Gold & Magnetite – El Dorado
The El Dorado concession area consists of 8 blocks totalling approximately 750 hectares, sits along the El Tofo fault and within the Atacama IOCG belt (Iron Oxide Copper Gold). The area is well known for magnetite, gold and copper mineralisation.
Early stage geophysics, surface sampling and mapping have been completed indicating that further exploration works are justified.
Early stages of trial mining pit development 2017
Click here for details on the Yerbas Buenas ‘Summary of Mineral Resources Estimate’ and ‘Exploration’ sections
Yerbas Buenas 1 mining pit design
Demonstration crushing, screening and magnetic separation plant