Flagship Minerals secures Anglo shed and dataset as Chilean gold project tests begin

Flagship Mineral’s Chilean warehouse containing the recently acquired physical data for the company’s Pantanillo gold project.

Flagship Minerals (ASX: FLG) has officially taken the keys to Anglo American’s long-held warehouse in Chile’s Copiapó mining hub, gaining control of the entire physical exploration archive behind the company’s 1.05-million-ounce Pantanillo gold project.

The warehouse comes complete with 13,949 metres of diamond core, 18,878 metres of reverse circulation (RC) chips, assay pulps and coarse rejects spanning 148 holes drilled by Anglo, Kinross and Orosur - all now available for re-analysis and metallurgical verification.

Access to the historic core samples is a huge win for Flagship. The entire data library cost the company just under $3 million, which is a fraction of the estimated $30 million and five years it would have otherwise spent drilling and collecting samples at Pantanillo from the ground up. Securing the warehouse and its intriguing contents hands the company a significant head start at the project.

Flagship officially took control of the warehouse lease at the start of the month and says the move is major step in the company’s plan to convert Pantanillo’s foreign estimate into a full ASX-compliant JORC resource.

‘Progress at Pantanillo on all fronts is strong and gaining momentum.’

Flagship Minerals Managing Director Paul Lock

Once completed, the updated data will then be added to a new feasibility study, paving the way for a heap-leach gold development in the heart of Chile’s prolific Maricunga belt.

From that mountain of material, the company has carved out a 690-kilogram batch of metallurgical samples, now bound for processing by mining services giant Xinhai Mining in China.

The metallurgical parcel includes three well-balanced samples, including 211 kilograms of oxide ore grading about 0.54 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 235 kilograms of mixed ore at 0.65 g/t, and 243 kilograms of sulphide core averaging 1.1 g/t.

Xinhai will run a new suite of tests comparing crush size, leach time and reagent consumption across all three composites to optimise gold recoveries and confirm the project’s heap-leach potential.

Earlier test work by previous operators delivered recoveries of up to 89.6 per cent in bottle-roll tests and 82.7 per cent recoveries in column leach trials, indicating Pantanillo’s oxide zone could behave much like nearby Rio2’s Fenix Gold project, 50 kilometres further north.

Fenix Gold, which hosts a staggering 389 million tonnes of ore grading 0.38 g/t gold, for a total of 4.8 million measured and indicated ounces is a similar dump-leach development.

Now 63 per cent complete, Rio2 expects to pour its first gold from site early next year and is forecast to produce 82,000 ounces of gold annually across a 17-year mine life.

Also, much like Rio2’s chosen processing path, Flagship plans to test the potential for “dump leaching” its oxide ore, which is a simple, low-cost method that treats run-of-mine material directly, skipping the need for crushing or agglomeration. This streamlined approach can slash both capital and operating costs, while the sulphide material will instead be floated to produce a pyrite-gold concentrate that could be sold to nearby copper smelters.

Flagship’s ultimate goal is a 10-year, 100,000-ounce-a-year open-pit heap-leach operation drawing on both oxide and higher-grade sulphide material across its 110-square-kilometre landholding.

We are very pleased with our progress at Pantanillo. In assuming control of the Anglo warehouse last Saturday, we have managed to secure a well located, secure and organised property and avoid the cost and risk of shifting ~100 tonnes of drill core and other exploration and testing samples.

Flagship Minerals Managing Director Paul Lock

With the metallurgical samples now on their way, Flagship has turned its focus to lining up local drillers for a 2026 campaign aimed at pulling fresh core for new test work and pushing the boundaries of its growing resource. A recent site visit with one of Copiapó’s top drilling crews confirmed smooth access to all historic pads providing a big tick for fast mobilisation next year.

With a secure base now established, samples en route for testing and fresh drilling on the horizon, Flagship looks to be hitting its straps in Chile.

The company’s rapid progress at Pantanillo appears to signal more than just good housekeeping; it marks the start of a full-scale transformation from a dormant project with a foreign estimate into a potential new gold producer in one of South America’s most proven belts.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: office@bullsnbears.com.au