The electric vehicle boom. The mass electrification of developing economies. Within a decade, the world may face a colossal shortfall of what is arguably the most critical metal for the new global economy – copper. This raises the questions of where, when, and how to discover and develop new sources of the vital metal.
Along with the skyrocketing price of copper – which hit a high of USD$4.90 per pound in May – the metal is now well above an incentive price for both explorers and developers / producers. As trillions of dollars in economic stimulus pour in to support the post-COVID-19 recovery – including funds for infrastructure and for the transition to a carbon-free world – boosted demand, a dearth of investment dollars by big mining companies and a slowdown in production during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak last spring brought inventories to levels not seen in fifteen years.
And here’s where Vancouver, BC-based junior explorer, Torq Resources, is stepping up to the plate in the world’s most prolific copper-producing country.
Torq Resources (
TSXV:TORQ,
OTCQX:TRBMF,
Forum) is a junior exploration company focused on establishing a top-tier copper-gold portfolio. It recently acquired two copper exploration projects in Chile: the Margarita iron-oxide-copper-gold project and the Andrea copper porphyry project –both of which are actively being advanced to drill stage. Torq is continually reviewing mineral targets in pursuit of acquisition, strategic exploration, and significant discovery. In a country dominated by the major mining players, Torq is one of the few juniors aggressively exploring for copper in Chile.
To date, the Company's experienced management team has raised over USD$550 million – an astounding number for a junior exploration group. Prior to forming Torq Resources, this skilled and experienced team has formed the backbone for several other prominent mining companies, monetizing successes in two previous exploration companies. This includes
Galiano Gold Inc. (
TSX.GAU) – a current $300 million-plus market cap company – which was taken to production between 2005 and 2016 producing 450,000 ounces per year, along with Cayden Resources, which the team sold in 2014 to
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. (
TSX.AEM) for CAD$205 million.
Major mining companies continue to keep a close eye on Torq given the group’s track record and their high quality of technical expertise –which is bolstered by former Newmont geologists. They also added an in-country team in Chile last year, which is known for playing a key role in the discovery of the La Fortuna (El Morro) copper-gold deposit in Chile.
With the team’s track record, high calibre team of geologists, and robust portfolio of high-quality, copper-gold exploration projects, it’s needless to say, Torq is positioning itself to become a major player in region, and metals & mining investors a have taken note.
Torq Resources is Leading the Way in Copper Exploration in Chile
Chile is copper, and copper is Chile.
And as reported in a detailed 2020 Stockhouse Editorial, experts were already predicting a major supply and demand shortfall.
As the largest producer of copper globally, Chile is well known for hosting the world’s largest copper mines and producers. While outputs already exceed that of any other on country the planet, outputs are expected to ramp up even further in 2021.
The predominance of these major mines highlights the unique opportunity that Torq Resources presents. President & CEO Michael Kosowan notes:
“Chile is where the mineral endowment is, the mining code is very sound; it’s been in place for decades, and companies have been operating quite handily there,” he said. “Torq sees the opportunity to have that next big discovery to fill the reserve requirements that these big copper seniors are going to require in order to be able to keep up with demand.”
Despite some of the copper majors’ presence in Chile, Kosowan said not only are there very few copper juniors in Chile, Torq is one of the few that has a team on the ground.
Amid the COVID-19 challenges, the company has been able to hire a Chilean exploration team as it advances its efforts in the South American country. In addition to the Chilean team’s deep technical knowledge, Kosowan said that having a team based in the country is a real advantage and something that couldn’t be replicated just by visiting on a part-time basis, even if they were able to operate under normal non-pandemic circumstances.
They attribute the success of their most recent project acquisitions to the expertise of their in-country team, which has the connections and knowledge that can only come from decades of local experience.
The Margarita Project
Under the company’s dual property portfolio is its
recently acquired Margarita Project, approximately 65 kilometres north of Copiapo, Chile, and located within the prolific Coastal Cordillera belt – host to world-class properties such as Candelaria – operated by
Lundin Mining Corp. (
TSX.LUN) and Manto Verde – run by Mantos Copper Holding. The project boasts access to advanced infrastructure and convenient road access.
The 1,045-hectare Margarita property is flanked by secondary copper oxide mineralization on the southwestern boundary and the team at Torq believes that the copper sulphide source of this mineralization exists within the Margarita property boundaries –this is what they plan to target in their upcoming drill program this year.
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“Margarita is in that world-class belt,” Michael Henrichsen, chief geologist of Torq Resources, said in an interview with Stockhouse Editorial. “There’s a lot of copper oxide on this project that has been drilled historically and we feel there is a much bigger copper sulphide source to that mineralization that we plan on drill testing.”
He added that the copper sulphide source is what has the potential to make the project world-class.
The copper oxide mineralization is defined by 39 drill holes totalling 3,984 metres and indicates an exploration target of approximately 20 to 35 million tonnes at 0.2 - 0.5 per cent copper.
In other words, this presence of oxide mineralization is significant –and the primary copper sulphide source hasn’t been found yet.
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The company has identified large-scale geophysical targets through an IP chargeability survey and is refining drill targets.
“It will be that first swing at a potential world-class discovery,” Henrichsen added.
(Click image to enlarge)
The Andrea Project
This past May, following the Margarita acquisition, Torq announced it had bought the Andrea copper porphyry project – located at the western margin of the Miocene-aged El Indio belt. This region hosts the world-class El Indio and Pascua Lama epithermal gold and silver deposits, which are owned and operated by mining giant Barrick Gold Corporation.
Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, this belt was extensively explored for precious metal epithermal style deposits, but to this day is highly underexplored for copper porphyry systems.
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The project itself covers approximately 1,200 hectares at elevations ranging from 3900 - 4900 metres. The project is characterized by a 3.5 kilometre by 1 kilometre alteration system, situated along a north-south trending fault zone that localizes the emplacement of multi-phase porphyry bodies, which are anomalous in copper, gold, and molybdenum at an elevation of approximately 4,300 metres.
The company says that, importantly, the majority of the 3.5-kilometre fault zone and associated mineralized porphyries, which represent the primary target area on the property, are situated under post-mineralization landslide and colluvium cover and remain undrilled.
Torq plans to rapidly advance the project to drill stage and is planning for its inaugural program at the project to commence early in 2022.
According to data from Statista, Chile is the world leader in terms of copper production with an estimated 5.7 million metric tons produced in 2020, which accounted for 28.5 per cent of global copper production in 2020. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, Chile’s copper production only decreased by less than 2% when compared to 2019 levels.
Additionally, the country also plays host to the largest undeveloped copper reserves in the world, estimated at roughly 200 million tonnes,
according to the US Geological Survey. Similarly, some of the largest copper mines are in Chile. These include the Escondida Mine, which is operated by BHP, the Collahuasi Mine which is operated through a joint venture between Glencore and Anglo American, and El Teniente which is owned and operated by Codelco.
Shawn Wallace, Executive Chairman of Torq Resources said the company has landed its feet firmly in Chile and hasn’t looked back.
“The reason why we want to be in Chile right now is because we believe there are five to 10 years of strong copper. Chile is the granddaddy of all copper resources.”
He went on to say:
“Torq’s two projects represent an excellent opportunity to make a major copper-gold discovery and we will continue to add world-class exploration opportunities in Chile to its portfolio.”
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While the Margarita and Andrea projects are the company’s current focus, Michael Henrichsen, chief geologist of Torq, said that a major catalyst to look forward to will be future acquisitions.
Henrichsen explained that this will fuel the company’s goal of becoming a premium exploration company in Chile:
“They’re going to be earlier stage opportunities like the Margarita [project], but we are also looking at more advanced projects with confirmed mineralized systems.”
Investor’s Corner
With most of the major copper companies in Chile focused on production, and with Torq Resources being one of the few junior copper companies in Chile, Torq CEO, Michael Kosowan told Stockhouse Editorial that the company’s focus on exploration sets Torq apart.
“Exploration is so important, it’s the lifeblood of this industry,” Kosowan said. “This work will become increasingly crucial over the coming years as the demand for copper skyrockets and the discovery of new deposits declines.”
As noted by the chart below, TORQ has provided its shareholder an approximately 50% increase in share value over the past year.
(12 month TSXV:TORQ stock chart September 2020 – August 2021. Click image to link to chart)
The Bottom Line
Torq Resources has been judicious in ensuring that the company has the right assets that continue to remain “very accretive” for shareholders and the right team to relay that value into the eventual share price from making that big discovery.
Torq Resources presents itself as a unique opportunity for investors as one of the only junior explorers in the space –but with the technical expertise at the level of a major.
What’s more, with Torq Resources’ team’s proven track record of success with previous companies, investors can remain confident that the company has what it takes to see things through for the long haul.
And presently, Torq’s boots-on-the-ground team in Chile is making the kind of progress that metals & mining investors should be keeping their eyes on keenly now…and in the future.
For more information, visit
www.torqresources.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.