The company has 24 drill rigs operating throughout the Curaçá Valley, including 11 within Vermelhos and 13 within Pilar.

Ero is the latest vehicle of copper exploration legend David Strang, who is president and CEO.

Drilling at Vermelhos has resulted in meaningful increases in previously modeled thickness and the known extent of mineralisation, which, when combined with results of an regional airborne geophysical survey and data compilation programmes, indicate potential for extensions of the Vermelhos mine along a structure interpreted to extend over 5.5km. Drilling highlights include 24.6m grading 7.56% copper.

Drilling at Pilar has identified a high-grade zone in the southern portion of the West Limb. In addition, an historic drill database encompassing 53 drill holes has been digitised, which encompasses an area within the West Limb measuring about 300m in length by 275m in depth immediately south of the previously defined resource model. This resulted in a significant extension of the drilled extent of the West Limb. New results drilled in the southern portion of the West Limb include 16.7m grading 3.31% copper.

Shares in Ero (TSX:ERO) opened up almost 3% at C$16.60 valuing the company at $1.4 billion. Its share price has increased about 39% so far this year.