Altiplano said it planned to advance the Hugo decline up to 53m vertically below the 395m level and allow it to access a potential 200,000 tonnes of copper-gold mineralised material.

"We are excited to move the project forward as we work on this expansion and the development and building of the onsite processing facility," recently-appointed CEO Alastair McIntyre said.

Altiplano is planning to build a 5,000t/month mill, flotation plant and iron recovery circuit.

Bulk sampling had generated a "fifth straight quarter of positive results" from the past-producing operation,  McIntyre said in January.

Over the course of 2019, Altiplano bulk sampled 57,000t grading an average 1.75% copper, which it said compared closely to the vein's 2018 inferred resource of 278,360t at 1.92% copper and 0.12g/t gold.

The company is chaired by industry identity John Williamson, of Kaminak Gold/Coffee fame.

It said Farellon had historically produced about 300,000t at an average grade of 2.5% copper and 0.5g/t gold.

Altiplano proposed a placement at C6c per unit to raise up to $400,000 (US$301,000) earlier this month.

It followed a debt financing plan outlined in January.

The company had reported a working capital deficiency of $201,751 (US$151,000) at September 30.

Its shares have ranged from 5-19c over the past year and were unchanged on Friday at 9c, to capitalise Altiplano at $6.1 million (US$4.6 million).