Torq Resources Inc. announce the first set of results from its phase III drill program at its Margarita iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) project located approximately 65 kilometres north of the city of Copiapo in Chile. The program, which consisted of 14 drill holes over 3,862 metres (m), successfully accomplished the Company's main objectives of: 1) expanding on the original Falla 13 discovery area and 2) discovering a new mineralized body to demonstrate the scale and potential of the mineralized system that encompasses the Margarita project. The phase III drill program identified a new parallel mineralized structure 200 m west of the original Falla 13 discovery, intersecting 42 m of 1.1 g/t gold and 0.48% copper of sulphide mineralization in drill hole 23MAR-031R and in addition, a new zone of copper oxide mineralization was discovered in the southern area of the project at the Cototuda target, where 132 m of 0.48% copper was intersected in drill hole 23MAR-035R (Figure 2).

Finally, broad zones of copper oxide mineralization were encountered at the historically drilled Margarita structural corridor, at the southwest limit of the property, where Torq drilled 62 m of 0.49% copper and 134 m of 0.29% copper in drill hole 23MAR-036R. Table 1 below summarizes highlights from the phase III drill program from the seven reported drill holes. Results from the remaining seven drill holes are pending.

Drill hole 23MAR-031R is located approximately 200 m west of the original Falla 13 discovery structure in a zone of significant surfacial iron oxides, without a strong gold or copper signature on surface (Figure 3). The drill hole intersected 42 m of 1.1 g/t gold and 0.48% copper (246 m - 288 m in depth) within a broader interval of 80 m of 0.64 g/t gold and 0.27% copper (232 m - 312 m in depth). The mineralization was encountered within a suite of dioritic porphyry bodies that are situated below the key volcanic-intrusive contact zone, which thus far has defined the position of mineralization along the 800 m long Falla 13 discovery (Figure 4).

The gold-copper mineralization is associated with a pyrite-chalcopyrite-magnetite and/or hematite mineral assemblage with alteration within the mineralized interval characterized as strongly sericitic. At this early stage, Torq's technical team has interpreted the mineralization to be hosted in a north-northwest trending structure that is parallel to the Falla 13 discovery and that has been mapped on surface and within geophysics over a 1,200 m strike length, demonstrating considerable exploration potential. Importantly, given that the mineralization encountered in drill hole 23MAR-031R is situated 200 m vertically below the sub-horizontal volcanic-intrusive contact zone, the depth potential for mineralization has increased dramatically within the Falla 13 discovery area.

The mineralization is interpreted as being hosted in a feeder structure, with mineralization open vertically upward. The primary targets are the volcanic-intrusive contact zone, where there is the potential for flat-lying manto-style mineralization, and the strike length of the structure. The Company is currently planning a set of follow-up drill holes to explore along the north-northwest trending structure, as well as to test for adjacent flat-lying manto-style mineralization both to the east and west of drill hole 23MAR-031R.

Drill hole 23MAR-035R is located on the north-northwest trending Cototuda structural corridor, approximately 150 m from the property boundary and the small-scale Cototuda copper oxide mine situated just to the south of the property boundary (Figure 2). The drill hole intersected 132 m of 0.48% copper (including 68 m of 0.76% copper) at a depth of 24 m - 156 m and is characterized by malachite, chalcocite, chrysocolla and black copper oxide minerals within a series of hematite - silica breccia bodies and dioritic intrusives that contain minor amounts of pyrite (Figure 5). The structural corridor is open along strike to the north-northwest for 750 m and represents an excellent opportunity to expand upon this second discovery on the project.

Drill hole 23MAR-036R is located on the north-northwest trending Margarita structural corridor where limited historical drilling in the mid-1990s encountered copper oxide mineralization in the southwest corner of the project. The purpose of drill hole 23MAR-036R was to evaluate the validity of the historical data and to determine the potential to define a coherent body of copper oxide mineralization within the structural corridor. Drill hole 23MAR-036R intersected two broad zones of copper oxide mineralization, including 62 m of 0.49% copper (including 40 m of 0.67% copper) from surface and 134 m of 0.29% copper (including 48 m of 0.40% copper) at a depth of 112 m - 246 m (Figure 6).

Mineralization within both intervals was characterized by chrysocolla, malachite, chalcocite and black copper oxide minerals within a feldspar porphyry crosscut by a series of dioritic dykes. The results from drill hole 23MAR-036R exceed the historical results and demonstrate that copper oxide mineralization occurs at greater depths.