Aztec Minerals Corp. announced plans for a two-phase, CAD 1.2 million exploration program in the first half of 2023 at the Cervantes porphyry gold-copper project in Sonora, Mexico. Aztec's board met last week to review and approve the following Phase 1 and 2 exploration programs. Aztec plans to start work in the first quarter on a Phase 1, CAD 250,000 surface exploration program comprised of road cut, reconnaissance outcrop and soil sampling, Terraspec SWIR data collection and geological mapping. It is planned to collect and analyze for multi-elements and SWIR over 1,300 geochemical samples including 950 road cut, 120 soils and 250 outcrop chips to expand and enhance geochemical and geological knowledge throughout the Cervantes project. Mapping will focus on the exposed road cuts with detailed lithological, structural and alteration mapping of the California target, while reconnaissance surface work will be on the California North, Estrella, Jasper, Purisima, Jacobo, La Verde, Brazil, El Indio targets. To gain efficiency, the surface exploration program is planned to be conducted during the regional dry season of December through May. Two field teams will examine outcrop exposures generated from recently constructed drill roads with detailed geological mapping for the lithologies, alterations (Terraspec), mineralization, structures and geotechnical aspects. The road cuts will also be continuously chip channel sampled to consolidate surface data with the geochemistry of the drill hole dataset, as well as to assist in 3D modeling. View: Cervantes Proposed 2023 Phase 1 Road Cut Channel Sampling Plan. Multiple targets outside of the California target will be explored with reconnaissance surface mapping, outcrop and soil sampling to enhance understanding, modeling and refine targeting for drilling. This will include the first field work on the La Verde and El Indio targets and first detailed work on the Brasil, Jacobo, California Noroeste, and Estrella Norte targets. View: Cervantes Proposed 2023 Phase 1 Surface Exploration Plan. Subject to the Phase 1 results and available funds, Aztec plans to initiate a Phase 2, CAD 900,000 26 hole, 4,000 m reverse circulation ("RC") drill program in the second quarter from mid-April through June (before the rainy season) to expand the mineralized California Au target in all compass directions, including connecting the California target with the California Norte target, and also to expand the
California Norte target mineralization. View: Cervantes Proposed 2023 Phase 2 RC Drilling Plan. Project data evaluation will also continue to advance including using the understandings gained on the multi-element relationships with Au and applying them to the soil sampling data, reviewing the subsequent results to the geophysical data and the SWIR-Terraspec data, 3D modeling of the data, metallurgical, and multiple other investigations. The primary objectives of the two phase 2023 exploration program are to continue to define the open pit, heap leach gold potential of the porphyry oxide cap at California, test the down dip extensions of the phyllic alteration in the Qfp intrusive for deeper copper-gold porphyry sulfide mineralization underlying the oxide cap, and test for extensions of the at California Norte. Cervantes is a highly prospective porphyry gold-copper project located in southeastern Sonora state, Mexico. The project lies 160 km east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico within the prolific Laramide porphyry copper belt approximately 265 km southeast of the Cananea porphyry copper-molybdenum mine (Grupo Mexico). Cervantes also lies along an east-west trending gold belt 60 km west of the Mulatos epithermal gold mine (Alamos Gold), 35 km northeast of the Osisko San Antonio gold mine, 45 km west of the La India mine (Agnico Eagle), and 40 km northwest of Santana gold deposit (Minera Alamos). Aztec has now completed over 10,500 meters of drilling over 54 drill holes at the Cervantes Project, primarily at the California target. In 2017-18, Aztec completed a Phase 1, 17 diamond core hole drill program, totaling 2,675 meters (m). The initial phase of drilling tested the California target 900m by 600m gold-in-soils anomaly that averaged 0.44gpt covering hydrothermal breccias within a Quartz feldspar porphyry stock intruding Paleozoic siliciclastic sediments. During the 2021 ¡ 2022 exploration program, Aztec completed a further combined 7,837 m of drilling over 37 drill holes comprised of a 26-hole 5,248.6 m track-mounted reverse circulation drill program and an 11-hole 2,588 m man-portable oriented core program. Every 2021-2022 drill hole, except one, of the 29 drill holes successfully completed out of 31 attempted at the California and the adjoining California Norte targets intersected near surface, oxidized gold mineralization with minor copper values. The drilling program expanded the footprint and the depth of the California target mineralization and alteration associated with the California porphyry intrusive complex with continued intercepts of broad gold mineralization. The identified California target area drilled has been enlarged to approximately 900 meters long E - W by 730 meters wide N-S, and exploration drilling successfully expanded the primary California zone to an area now measuring approximately 900 meters long E-W by 250 to 500 meters wide N-S, with demonstrated, continuous mineralization of up to 170 meters depth. The porphyry gold-copper mineralization is still open in all directions with anomalous mineralization and alteration up to 265 meters depth vertically. The California and California Norte targets appear to be merging from drilling and surface exposures. Aztec's drilling to-date has consistently intersected an oxidized gold cap to a porphyry-type gold-copper-silver system at California, including multiple 100+ meter widths of exceeding 0.40 gpt gold.