05:15 PM EDT, 10/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- NGEx Minerals ( NGXXF ) after trade Tuesday said a Phase 3 drill program is underwa at its Lunahuasi property located in Argentina.

The Phase 3 program follows the Phase 2 program completed in the first half of 2024, which delivered some of the highest-grade copper, gold, and silver intercepts drilled anywhere in the world and confirmed that Lunahuasi has both "unusually high grades and large size potential".

Phase 3 drilling intends to grow the deposit through step-out drilling and provide enough closer-spaced data to develop an initial exploration target for a mineral resource estimate.

"We are extremely excited to kick off our third and largest drill program at Lunahuasi," said chief executive Wojtek Wodzicki. "With a significantly oversubscribed private placement financing of approximately $175 million currently in progress, which we plan to close in the coming weeks, we expect to be fully funded and well positioned to execute our current plan and will have flexibility to expand the program if justified."

The company's shares closed up $0.17 to $11.93 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.