Tesoro Gold (ASX:TSO) holds one of the largest and most prospective gold projects in Chile.
Geoff McNamara, a Non-Executive Director with the company spoke with Brieanna McCutcheon from The Market Herald at PDAC 2022.
Its El Zorro Project is strategically positioned near established infrastructure and is surrounded by mines. It is a 1.1 million oz. open pittable project looking to grow to 2 million oz. gold in the next 24 to 36 months, drilling to start in next couple of weeks, scoping study out in 4 weeks.
However, many companies are challenged under constitutional review in Chile, though this is likely not to impact gold companies, as the focus of the review is on copper and lithium. Another challenge the company faces, is securing water in Atacama dessert where project is located. Metallurgical test work with sea water 15km away in the Pacific Ocean has presented a reasonable alternative.
The company is looking to identify a new deposit regionally, with high probability based on large outcropping mineralized systems identified last 6 months.
The outlook is positive for Tesoro, with gold typically soft this time of year. Post summer, McNamara expects gold prices to strengthen as hedge against inflation. In the last 5 years, gold has risen steadily to sit around US$1,800 per oz. The next 5 years it should surpass US$2,000 in his estimation. In 5 years, Tesoro expects to bring Ternera Project into production.