Hot Chili Extends Near-Surface Copper-Gold Mineralisation at La Verde as Maiden Resource Work Advances

• DKP078 returned 240 metres at 0.43% copper equivalent (CuEq) from 36 metres, including 54 metres at 0.60% CuEq.
• Final assays extended DKP075 to 188 metres at 0.56% CuEq from 24 metres, up from 132 metres previously reported.
• DKP067 returned 112 metres at 0.47% CuEq from 42 metres, including 26 metres at 0.70% CuEq, on the eastern flank.
• Assays remain pending for 25 drill holes.
• A maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is targeted for later in 2026, ahead of a revised Costa Fuego Pre-Feasibility Study and a Q2 2027 Environmental Impact Assessment submission.

Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH, TSXV: HCH, OTCQX: HHLKF) is an Australia-based copper company exploring and developing copper-gold projects in Chile’s coastal Atacama region. Its main project is Costa Fuego, a copper-gold project located at low elevation in Chile’s coastal range and planned around a central processing hub. The company is also drilling La Verde, a copper-gold porphyry discovery 30 kilometres south of that hub. A porphyry is a deposit in which metals are spread through a large body of rock.

Broad, Shallow Intersections Confirm Continuity of the Higher-Grade Zone

Drilling at La Verde continues to target higher-grade mineralisation close to surface. Results are reported as copper equivalent (CuEq), which converts the value of gold, silver and molybdenum into a single copper grade. Interval lengths are measured along the drill hole.

DKP078 was drilled within La Verde’s higher-grade core at a different angle from earlier holes. It returned 240 metres at 0.43% CuEq (0.30% copper, 0.17 grams per tonne gold) from 36 metres, including 54 metres at 0.60% CuEq from 46 metres and 42 metres at 0.50% CuEq from 188 metres. Final assays for DKP075 extended its earlier result of 132 metres at 0.57% CuEq to 188 metres at 0.56% CuEq from 24 metres, with a further 29 metres at 0.50% CuEq from 304 metres to the end of the hole.

The results support the current geological interpretation, which is based on more than 35,000 metres of reverse circulation (chip-based) and diamond core drilling. The near-surface zone could support open pit mining with a low strip ratio, meaning less waste rock removed per tonne of ore, during the early years of Costa Fuego’s current 20-year mine plan.

Eastern Flank Expansion Confirmed as 25 Holes Await Assays

DKP067 extended mineralisation along La Verde’s eastern flank, returning 112 metres at 0.47% CuEq (0.40% copper, 0.10 grams per tonne gold) from 42 metres, including 26 metres at 0.70% CuEq from 62 metres. Results for the first 42 metres of the hole are still outstanding.

DKP067 was drilled from the same platform as DKP058, which returned 182 metres at 0.60% CuEq from 24 metres in August. The two results provide further support for the continuity of copper-gold mineralisation along the eastern flank. Other holes in the batch also returned broad shallow intervals, including DKP072 with 160 metres at 0.37% CuEq from 12 metres and DKP082 with 158 metres at 0.36% CuEq from surface.

Assays are pending for 25 drill holes: three diamond holes, one diamond tail (a cored extension of an existing hole) and 21 reverse circulation holes. Reported intervals use a 0.20% copper cut-off grade, the minimum grade included when calculating an interval.

Maiden MRE Modelling Advances Towards Costa Fuego Integration

Drilling and resource work at La Verde are progressing in parallel, with new results being added to the geological and mineralisation models. An MRE is a formal estimate of the tonnes and grade of mineralised material in the ground.

Around 1,000 samples are being submitted to an independent laboratory for confirmatory assaying, which will be completed ahead of the MRE.

The MRE is intended to allow potential higher-grade, near-surface open pit feed from La Verde to be evaluated for inclusion in the Costa Fuego mine plan. Integration of La Verde into a revised Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), an engineering and economic study of a project’s viability, is expected to have a material impact on Costa Fuego’s economic metrics.

Milestones and Next Steps

Upcoming milestones include assay results from the 25 pending holes, completion of the maiden La Verde MRE later in 2026 and evaluation of La Verde within a revised Costa Fuego PFS. These steps precede the formal submission of the Costa Fuego Environmental Impact Assessment, the project’s main environmental permitting application, in Q2 2027.

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