It intersected a "hypogene porphyry zone" of 168.1m of 0.56g/t gold and 0.29% copper from 5m, including 12.1m at 2.04g/t gold and 0.58% copper, at the Raya Tembrillo target at the northern edge of the Villa Rica zone.

The company believes it could represent the hypogene source of previously reported supergene mineralisation, where an intersection of 94m at 1.36% copper was reported in December 2017.

"This is a very exciting development in our exploration programme," chairman Duane Poliquin said.

Azucar is excited about El Cobre's potential, citing analogies to other projects hosting multiple porphyry discoveries across several kilometres of strike, including Newcrest Mining's Cadia Hill mine in Australia and Northern Dynasty Minerals' Pebble project in Alaska.

It now has five known copper-gold porphyry targets at El Cobre, namely Encinal, El Porvenir, Norte, Villa Rica and the recently-discovered Suegro zone.

The company formed in May 2018 as the rebadged Almadex Minerals, which spun out its early-stage exploration assets into a company of the same name.
 
Australian-based Newcrest topped up its holding at C55.81c per share in October to maintain its 19.9% stake.

Azucar had about C$16 million (US$12 million) in cash at the end of September.

Its shares have slid from over $1.40 a year ago to 27.5c last month.

They rose almost 13% yesterday to close at 35c, capitalising it at $25.8 million.