The company currently has a 661,000oz resource at Ternera near Copiapo and has a 60,000m drilling program underway as it seeks to build resources towards the 1.5-2Moz level it believes it needs to make developing an open pit mine a possibility.

"The main risk is getting the resource to a size that warrants building a mine and processing plant. … The level of resource inventory to warrant the financial investment to move to feasibility, we think that is 1.5-2Moz," said Reeves.

Ternera is an intrusive-related deposit relatively close to the Pacific coast, which is currently 1km long and 750m wide and includes high-grade zones controlled by north-south faults. Some 15.4 million tonnes grading 1.09 grams per tonne containing 540,000oz is considered the high-grade component of the overall 25.1Mt grading 0.8gpt resource.

Reeves said the company has identified six similar prospects to Ternera within a 3km by 1.3km area around the deposit in what it calls an emerging new gold district, which it plans to drill within the next six months. The Ternera East discovery included an intercept of 4.5m grading 1.14gpt, which Reeves said would improve the stripping ratio of a future open pit mine at Ternera as it sits higher up the hill.

The company said it had A$13.7 million in cash and a $1.8 million a month burn rate while drilling, which mean it is funded through to the end of first quarter 2022.

Shares in Tesoro last traded at 10c, valuing the company at $60 million.