Regulus had suspended drilling at the copper-gold project in late 2020 after concerns were raised about discolouration and potential contamination of the Aguas Coloradas Reservoir.

The company stated in March this was not due to its drilling, following testing by government agencies and an independent consulting firm.

It said efforts to communicate the results with local and regional stakeholders had encountered "numerous delays" due to COVID-19 and Peru's federal elections.

However CEO John Black said yesterday the company had since made significant progress and had received strong support from local stakeholders.

Regulus planned to launch additional projects to improve access to clean drinking water and agricultural production but said this was linked to its ability to continue exploring AntaKori.

"We are confident that advancing AntaKori in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner will be mutually beneficial to all stakeholders," Black said.

Regulus had restarted drilling at the Anta Norte target and planned to add a second rig in January, to follow-up on a 2019 hole which returned 473.2m at 1.39% copper-equivalent.

AntaKori has an indicated 4.1 billion pound Cu-eq resource and an inferred 3.9Blb Cu-eq, using a 0.3% cut-off.

 

Regulus expanded its holdings around AntaKori in February, signing an option with Gold Fields to earn a 60% interest by spending US$3.5 million over three years.

The company had C$11 million in cash at June 30.

Regulus shares closed up 17.8% to $1.06, a midpoint in its one-year range, capitalising it at $108 million (US$85 million).