CULPEO MINERALS LTD (CPO) - Two Fresh IP Targets At Fortuna And What Comes Next Artwork

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CULPEO MINERALS LTD (CPO) - Two Fresh IP Targets At Fortuna And What Comes Next

September 02, 2026 • Andrew Musgrave

0:00 | 7:19

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ASX Investment Opportunity - Culpeo Minerals Ltd (ASX:CPO)

Two fresh IP anomalies, a four-kilometre copper-bearing structure, and a drill rig on the move across Chile, this chat is packed with near-term catalysts. We’re joined by Geoff McNamara, co-founder and Non-Executive Chair of Culpeo Minerals (ASX: CPO), to break down how a copper-focused explorer chooses targets that can realistically become an open-pit mine, not just an interesting hole on a map.

We start with Culpeo’s core strategy in Chile’s coastal cordillera, where infrastructure like roads, power and water can change the economics of discovery. Geoff explains the company’s “sweet spot”: aiming for around 100 million tonnes at 0.7% copper equivalent (CuEq) or better, at scales a modest company can develop. From there, we get specific on Fortuna, where extending historical induced polarisation (IP) lines has delivered two strong, close-to-surface anomalies: El Quillay North and the new El Quillay West. We talk about how surface copper, structure, and geophysics fit together when you’re trying to vector back to the source of a mineralised system.

The conversation then shifts to current fieldwork and what’s next. Geoff outlines drilling at El Quillay South targeting structurally enhanced zones for potentially wider copper and gold mineralisation, plus the broader geochemical work that helps unify the project-scale picture. The biggest headline is Lana Corina and Vista Montana: access is back, the rig is set to move, and a maiden drilling program is about to kick off at a target the team believes extends a system that previously returned 454 metres at 0.96% CuEq from surface. We also cover Culpeo’s landholding expansion and a funding approach built around options and upcoming news flow.

If you’re following ASX copper exploration, Chilean drill results, IP survey targets, or the path from discovery to resource, hit play, subscribe, and share the episode with a mate. If you enjoy it, leave a review and tell us what milestone you’re watching most closely.

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome again to ASX Briefs, and today I'm joined by Geoff McNamara, the Co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman at Culpeo Minerals Limited, a copper-focused exploration and development company with strategic portfolio of high-quality assets located in Chile, the world's leading copper producing jurisdiction. Geoff, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Geoff McNamara

Thanks Andrew, great to be here and appreciate the opportunity.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, now, Geoff, before we get into the latest announcements, can you just provide our listeners a brief overview of the company?

Geoff McNamara

Absolutely. So, as you mentioned, Culpeo's an ASX listed company. Ticker is CPO. We're also OTC listed, CPORF. We are focused on Chile, and we're focused on copper. And our strategy is to focus on what's called the coastal cordillera. It's the most western geological belt, closest to the ocean. Excellent infrastructure there, both water, power, and in our situation, a paved road running across our properties. And we're looking for discoveries of around a hundred million tonnes at about 0.7 or higher copper equivalent, open-pitable. So, projects that a modest sized company like Culpeo can put into production.

Andrew Musgrave

Looking now at Fortuna, the IP survey at Fortuna has just identified two new drill targets, El Quillay North and a brand-new prospect, El Quillay West. So, what makes these both worth drilling?

Geoff McNamara

Yeah, so the interesting thing about these targets is there's a lot of surface copper around the area, and there's a very large four-kilometre structure, which we think is a structure that comes off the source, and what we're obviously looking to do is define that source. So, there was a historic IP survey done. What we've done is extend some of those lines and identified these two very strong anomalies. They're close to surface and they're both in excess of 300 by 300 metres. So very excited, looking forward to drilling those, and expect some pretty significant results from them.

Andrew Musgrave

And just looking at those two big anomalies, what does the surface geology sitting on top of them look like?

Geoff McNamara

Yeah, it looks it looks very good. So, as I mentioned, a lot of surface copper. There's also been some modest scale artisanal mining on the structures just to the east of these anomalies. We did drill some holes further to the south, which had regional intercepts, but as I mentioned, what we're focused on is finding the source, and we think you know these anomalies have a high potential to be the source.

Andrew Musgrave

And just touching on El Quillay South, you've had a rig there, so what is that program testing for?

Geoff McNamara

Yeah, so there's some very nice high-grade copper and gold in El Quillay South. What we're looking to do is to drill on some of the structurally enhanced areas, and by that what I mean is we think potentially the zones of copper will be materially wider than we what we've previously drilled. So, we've completed one hole there, and we're currently drilling our second hole there as we speak.

Andrew Musgrave

And rock chip sampling elsewhere on the project has also turned up some strong numbers. So, what does that look like?

Geoff McNamara

Yeah, it looks very good. So we've done a lot of geochemical work there, so a lot of trenching, rock chip sampling, and again it's about bringing the picture together on this you know large structure and honing in on the source where we, you know, again, as I mentioned, looking to target that hundred million tonne, that 0.7 copper equivalent or higher as an open pit deposit. So very excited to be back on the ground and drilling.

Andrew Musgrave: 03:48

Now, Culpeo's got a couple of other projects as well. So, first of all, can you tell us what's happening at Lana Corina?

Geoff McNamara

Yeah, so we actually announced last week that we have regained access at Lana Corina. We had a challenge there with access, but that issue has now been resolved. So, the rig that's drilling at El Quillay South will move to what we believe is the extension of Lana Corina called Vista Montana. So, we expect the rig to start drilling there within the next week. And we're very excited by this. This is our you know our prime asset or our primary asset. Historically, we drilled a hole there of 454 meters at 0.96 copper equivalent from surface. So that's probably one of the best intersects ever on the ASX. So, we believe Vista Montana is the extension of Lana Corina, and we're looking to do a program there, our maiden drilling program, as I mentioned, which will kick off in approximately one week's time.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, looking at it more at a corporate level, Culpeo has also expanded its Chilean land holding by 45% and ran a capital raise this quarter. So, can you just talk us through both those circumstances?

Geoff McNamara

Absolutely. So yeah, we expanded our land position both around Fortuna and at Lana Corina. So that's very material for us. We'll continue to look at you know strategic concession holdings. Regarding the capital raise, we did something a little unique. We did a rights issue of options. So that raised us, you know, a modest $600,000. But what it does give us is some options that are very close to being in the money. So those options are at 1.75 cents. There are two sets of options, the ones we did with the rights issue and some options from an earlier cap raise. So, in total, there's approximately $7 million out there in those options. So, we anticipate with the upcoming news flow, you know, more IP target announcements, drill results, and obviously the first couple of holes into that into Vista Montana, that we'll start to see some of that option money come in, and that'll enable us to continue drilling for the rest of the year.

Andrew Musgrave

Now finally, Geoff, as we look out over the next 12 months, what are some of the key milestone’s investors should keep an eye out for?

Geoff McNamara

Yeah, so there'll be continuous drilling across Vista Montana, Lana Corina and the Quillay area. We're very excited to be at Vista Montana and to be able to access that. So, the IP crew will go there in the coming days. As I mentioned, the drilling will start in a week. And if we can successfully connect Vista Montana to Lana Corina, then we'll be looking at a copper mineralized system of well over three kilometres long, potentially up to 400 meters wide, and open at 500, 600 metres deep. So that'll be very material for us. And then the second part of that objective after the maiden program will be to link Vista Montana with Lana Corina and hopefully establish a resource there within the next 24 to 36 months.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, Geoff, well it's been great to chat. Plenty happening with the company at the moment. Obviously, copper is a pretty hot product at the moment, so we look forward to any further updates in the upcoming months.

Geoff McNamara

Thanks, Andrew. Appreciate it.

Andrew Musgrave

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.