Libero Copper & Gold Corporation announced that it has optioned the Esperanza porphyry copper-gold and epithermal gold project located in the prolific precious and base metal endowed and mining friendly Huachi Mining district, San Juan Province, Argentina. The advanced stage Esperanza exploration project is road accessible, contains multiple copper-gold drill targets supported by numerous high-grade surface rock samples across a large alteration footprint and numerous historical drill intercepts including 387 metres of 0.78% copper equivalent from surface through end of hole. An initial 5,000 metre drill program is planned for the second quarter. The Esperanza project lies within the pre-cordillera tectonostratigraphic belt of northern Argentina, in a region dominated by Paleozoic to Lower Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks. At Esperanza, these rocks are cut by the Cretaceous or Tertiary sub-volcanic stocks and dykes known as the Huachi Intrusions. Mineralization at Esperanza is centered on a large and intense porphyry-style alteration footprint exposed over a 2 km by 1.2 km area where copper and gold mineralization is associated with hypabyssal feldspar porphyry intrusions, an early phase of the Huachi Intrusions. At Esperanza epithermal gold mineralization and porphyry copper-gold mineralization occur together, which suggests overprinting of the two styles, and thus increases the potential for high-grades. Porphyry-style copper mineralization consists of dissemination and fracture fill chalcopyrite with subordinate magnetite and pyrite within a broad potassic alteration envelope. Historical exploration includes diamond drilling, rock and silt sampling, IP, and magnetic geophysics. Rock sampling at surface has defined copper and gold mineralization over much of the project. Drill hole 18-ESP-025, completed by Latin Metals in 2018, returned the best results to date with 387 metres grading 0.57% copper and 0.27 g/t gold from surface through end of hole. This hole was not followed up on due to market conditions. Mineralization is open at depth and laterally, with priority targets located west and south. There are multiple drill-ready, untested targets. A 5,000 metre drill program is planned for the second quarter. Esperanza is road accessible and located at an elevation of only 3,200 metres in mining-friendly San Juan Province, Argentina. Libero has entered into an option agreement with Latin Metals Inc. to earn-in to 70% of the Esperanza project by assuming the underlying option payments to the original project vendors and incurring $2 million in exploration expenditures by December 15, 2022. Upon the exercise of the option, Libero and Latin Metals will form a 70/30 joint venture for the continued exploration and development of the project.