Caserones is a copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit geographically located in the high-cordillera of the Chilean Andes at the southern end of the Maricunga mineral belt. Caserones is an EarlyMiocene porphyry system associated with a cluster of dacite porphyries and breccias intruding Palaeozoic granitic, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks, and has a well-developed supergene enrichment profile of oxide copper and secondary chalcocite situated above hypogene chalcopyrite mineralization.

The Regalito Deposit strikes SE-NW with a length of approximately 2,000 m and a width of approximately 1,500 m. The oxide and secondary copper zones form a surface-parallel blanket over 1,200 m in diameter, with a central “core” of at least 1,000 m in diameter where thicknesses average 300 m and exceed 400 m in the central part. Secondary copper grades within this central area are also slightly elevated above those in the surrounding parts of the deposit. Outboard of this “core” the zone thins, and grades are generally lower, although the enrichment blanket is still open to the southwest. The secondary copper zone has been modeled to approximately 4,000 m in elevation and deeper locally. It is generally coincident with the porphyry intrusive.

The oxide zone forms a cap that sits on top of the secondary copper zone in the upper part of the northeast trending ridge that constitutes the northwest margin of the deposit, mostly above 4,400 m, and thinning to a skin of a few metres moving down the ridge slopes. Grades within the oxide zone are higher than the average grade of the secondary copper zone, and it is open to the northeast.

Flanking the oxide zone and overlying the supergene zone, a zone of “leached” material varies in thickness from 0 to 200 m, averaging ~40 m over most of the deposit. This zone is not leached sensu strictu, as it contains appreciable amounts of pyrite and pods of chalcocite and copper oxide mineralization, which is poorly defined at the current drill spacing, and was not included in the [AMEC] resource estimate.

The Caserones open pit mine is developed upon a significant porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit in the Atacama Region of the northern Chilean Andean Cordillera, 162 kilometers southeast of the city of Copiapó, at an approximate elevation of 4,300 meters above sea level.

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Caserones considers an open pit operation, with a plant to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates from primary sulphides; and a solvent extraction and electro-obtaining plant (SX-EW) to produce copper cathodes by processing oxidized, mixed minerals and secondary sulphides.

Production of copper and molybdenum concentrates process:
Crushing / grinding -> flotation / dewatering / draining -> copper concentrate and molybdenum concentrate.

Production of refined copper:
Dump-leaching -> SX-EW -> Refined copper.

Concentrates were initially trucked to the port at Coquimbo – 500 km away by road – at high cost. Since 2018, concentrates have been trucked to Totoralillo, to the north of Caldera in Region III of northern Chile – only 250 km by road – at a lower cost, and with lower port costs being an additional advantage. All copper cathodes are exported through Angamos and Antofagasta port, located in Region II of northern Chile.