Revelo Resources Corp. said Oct. 4 that its joint venture partner, Minera Newmont Chile Ltda., a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corp., has kicked off a drilling campaign at the Montezuma copper-gold project in northern Chile.

The program will comprise about 10,000 meters of combined diamond core and reverse circulation drilling and will test between four and five targets over the remainder of the year.

Minera Newmont owns 51% in the venture but can raise its stake to 75%. It has already elected to pursue an increase to 65%.

The project covers about 45,000 hectares of fully owned tenements, together with an option over an additional 285 hectares, with the giant Chuquicamata copper district located a short distance to the north.

According to Revelo President and CEO Tim Beale, the company has delineated a number of other potential targets, some of which require further surface exploration.

The JV partners are exploring the Montezuma project for porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum deposits and related mineralization.

To date, Newmont has spent a total of about US$6.1 million at the project since the JV deal was signed in 2014.

The initial earn-in deal was struck with Polar Star Mining, which merged with another firm in late 2014 to form Revelo.