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Planalto Copper-Gold Deposit’s Pre-Feasibility Pathway with Lara Exploration CEO Simon Ingram

MiningStockEducation.com Jul 6, 2026

Summary

Seven rigs have drilled over 10,000 metres across 30-plus holes at Planalto, confirming a higher-grade core of 0.6% to over 1% copper.

Infill drilling — added holes between existing ones — upgrades inferred resources to measured and indicated, feeding an updated resource estimate for pre-feasibility.

Drilling south of the Silica Cap pit returned encouraging intersections, while the 3 km Atlantica license awaits permits and land access.

Environmental baseline studies should finish around year-end, leading to a first permit filing that takes roughly a year to review.

The CEO points to a nearby BHP asset sale above $400 million as evidence of buyer appetite for small Carajás copper mines.

Key points on Lara Exploration Ltd

  • The CEO reports Lara raised about $25 million and, as of the early-July 2026 update, had seven drill rigs turning at Planalto with more than 10,000 meters across just over 30 holes drilled to validate the geological model and upgrade indicated/inferred resources toward measured & indicated for pre-feasibility.
  • Drilling is confirming a central higher-grade core of roughly 0.6% to over 1% copper, which the CEO calls the most exciting result because it sits right where mining would start; results will go into an updated resource estimate rather than being released hole by hole.
  • Four holes south of the smaller Silica Cap pit returned good intersections at slightly higher grades (in the 0.6-0.7% copper range per the CEO), and the newly acquired Atlantica license adds a 3-kilometer extension that still needs drill permits and landowner access.
  • Support studies run in parallel: more water wells and geotechnical holes, a phase-three metallurgical drilling program for the chalcopyrite copper-gold mineralization, access and power studies, and surface water management in an area receiving about two meters of rainfall per year.
  • Management says the financing is enough to carry Planalto through pre-feasibility and into feasibility, and points to batch drill releases, an updated resource estimate, and an environmental baseline study completing around end-2026 ahead of the first permit filing (about a year of review including public consultation) as the catalyst sequence.

Rick Rule's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Lara is one of the companies Rick Rule owns in his portfolio, and the Lara CEO was marketing the stock at Rule's symposium in Florida during the week of this update.

Bill Powers's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The host argues this pre-feasibility work appears to take Planalto most of the way toward a full feasibility study — citing a qualitative step-up he has seen in pre-feasibility studies over the years — and asks what work would remain.
  • He frames the catalyst sequence as batch drill results, then an updated resource estimate, then pre-feasibility, and asks how Lara's prospect-generator portfolio of royalties, minority interests, and joint ventures is progressing.