Element 29 Resources (ECU.V) has been relatively quiet in the past few months as it of course takes a while to drill deep holes on its flagship Elida copper-molybenum-silver project in Peru and wait for the lab to return the assays.
But patience is a virtue, and the company released the assay results from three holes earlier this week. Holes ELID042 and ELID043 are new and encountered respectively 806 meters of 0.36% copper-equivalent in 042, and three separate areas of mineralization in ELID043 (shown below). But the attention went to hole ELID035. Originally a hole that was completed in 2024, it represented ‘unfinished business’ for Element29, as that hole ended in mineralization at a depth of almost 1,000 meters.
As that hole was initially terminated due to operational reasons, the company re-entered the hole in the current drill season and extended it to 1591 meters, while still ending in mineralization. It also is remarkable to see that the final 508 meters of this hole actually saw the grade increase compared to the upper 1,000 meters as the 508 meters returned a copper-equivalent grade of 0.64% (consisting of 0.40% copper, 0.066% molybdenum and 2.42 g/t silver).
Not only do the results of these three holes confirm the continuity of the mineralization at depth, it also confirms beyond any doubt the current inferred resource of 322 million tonnes (containing just under 2.2 billion pounds of copper and about 210 million pounds of molybdenum) is literally just scratching the surface. Element 29 plans to update the resource after the current drill program is completed and while we of course have to wait to see all the drill results from the 2026 exploration program, we are anticipating a very substantial increase in the tonnage and the contained copper when the updated resource will be published around the end of the year.
Two rigs are currently still active at Elida, where approximately 4,900 meters of the anticipated 10,000 meters of drilling has been completed so far. And with approximately C$37M in cash, the company is of course fully funded for the drill program and the resource update. On top of that, considering there are a substantial amount of warrants in the money, Element 29 could reasonably be expected to even complete a PEA assuming the warrants will get exercised.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Element 29 Resources. Element 29 is a sponsor of the website. This post is for educational purposes only; be mindful investing in junior mining stocks is risky and you may lose your entire investment if things go wrong. Please read the disclaimer.
