Announcement • 15h
Fitzroy Minerals Reports Channel Samples Averaging 2.96% Cu And Continues Drilling At Buen Retiro Copper Project
Fitzroy Minerals Inc. has provided an exploration update from its 100%-owned Buen Retiro Copper Project, located near Copiapó, Chile. Drilling continues to intersect additional oxide and mixed (oxide-sulphide) copper mineralization that is expected to be incorporated into resource definition and the Heap Leach Development Plan. Three diamond drill rigs are at site and a Reverse Circulation rig will be added next week. Metallurgical test work is underway and initial column results are expected to be delivered in July. The Company will apply a data cut-off to resource drilling from the end of July to allow time for assaying, modelling, integration with metallurgical results, and inclusion in a Project Development Plan that will provide the basis of the Environmental Permit Application (scheduled for October 2026). The Pre-Feasibility Study is on track for completion in First Quarter 2027. The delivery of assay results from the laboratory continues to be disrupted and delayed. Results from channel sampling in the historical Buen Retiro Open Pit are reported. 21 one-metre channel samples collected from locations distributed throughout the historical Buen Retiro open pit returned an average grade of 2.96% Cu, with a maximum of 10.68% Cu. Historical drill hole BRT-DDH-013 returned 7 m @ 2.78% Cu from 130 m, and 30 m @ 3.52% Cu from 141 m downhole in intervals that are approximately 30-55 metres below the current pit floor. Drill hole BRT-DDH099, located 70 m south of the historical Buen Retiro open pit, intersected 113 m of tenorite (CuO) mineralization from 3.5 m downhole which has been submitted directly to the lab for ‘over-limit’ analysis as the intercept is estimated to average approximately 1.0% Cu and exceed regular exploration assay limits of 1% Cu. Exploration with three diamond drill rigs continues to intersect wide zones of copper oxide and copper sulphide mineralization, and a Reverse Circulation rig will join soon. Fresh data will be incorporated into the Project Development Plan to enable the submission of the Environmental Permit Application to be made in October 2026. Channel sample results averaging around 3.0% Cu and historical drill results of 30 metres at 3.52% Cu showcase the type of copper mineralization that Fitzroy is targeting in the Pit Area. Historical production focused on Cu-oxide material only, and analysis of historical drill data shows that a meaningful amount of mixed and transition copper material was left behind, that can be recovered with the planned chloride-leach process. The drilling campaign in the Southwest Area is finishing up, and attention is now turning to the Pit Area where recent drilling has intersected highly encouraging and newly identified mineralized zones. With four rigs on site as of June 20th, around 5,000 m of drilling in the Pit Area will be completed for inclusion into the Project Development Plan ahead of submission of the Environmental Permit Application. The copper that Fitzroy is delineating at Buen Retiro has advantages such as proximity to processing and transport infrastructure, low elevation, no human habitation, and being located at a brownfields site in Chile. The Company has completed a program of 21 channel samples collected from mineralized outcrop within the historical Buen Retiro open pit. The arithmetic average of all 21 results is 2.96% Cu. Seventeen of the samples returned above 1.0% Cu, and four were more than 5.0% Cu. In addition to the channel samples, Fitzroy has access to the historical drill data collated by Pucobre S. A and Ptolemy Mining Ltd. Data shows that mining stopped at the base of predominantly Cu-oxide mineralization but that well-mineralized rock continues at depth in mixed, transitional material. For example, historical drill hole BRT-DDH-013 (drilled by Ptolemy Mining Ltd. in 2024) intersected two high-grade intervals of typically leachable minerals: 7 m @ 2.78% Cu from 130-137 m, and 30 m @ 3.52% Cu from 141-171 m downhole which are located approximately 30-55 metres below the current open pit floor. Fitzroy has drilled 10,048 m at Buen Retiro to date in 2026, principally targeting Cu-oxide and mixed (Cu-oxide and sulphide) material for inclusion in the Heap Leach Development Plan. The original plan for 7,000 metres of drilling (infill, sterilization and geotechnical) has increased to 10,000 metres as Fitzroy continued to intersect shallow mineralized material, expanding the envelope of known mineralization. A further 5,000 m drilling program, targeting Cu-oxide and mixed material in the historical Pit Area, is underway. The ALS Global laboratory is still experiencing severe congestion, resulting in turnaround times for samples of 60-70 days. A further complication has arisen at the border between Chile and Peru. Sample preparation is done in Copiapó, Chile and the pulps are sent to Lima, Peru for assaying. Some pulp shipments have been stalled at the border by Peruvian customs, which means that not only are Fitzroy samples late, but their delivery is irregular. Fitzroy is mitigating the assay result delays in two ways. Firstly, samples from drilling in the Pit Area will be sent to SGS Laboratories in Santiago, Chile that has offered much shorter turnaround times. Secondly, the team of Fitzroy geologists have now built-up considerable experience in characterizing the Buen Retiro copper mineralization, and plans drill holes and requests ‘over-limit’ analysis (>1.0% Cu) based on visual estimates of grade. Comparison of estimated grade versus actual grade (from the results to date) shows that the Fitzroy technical team tends to under-estimate intercepts of higher-grade copper by about 20-30%. On this basis Fitzroy can advise assay laboratories to send runs of mineralized samples with visual grade estimation averaging 0.9% Cu and above directly to ‘over-limit’ copper analysis, saving upwards of two weeks’ of time. Diamond drill hole BRT-DDH099, drilled 70 m south of the historical Buen Retiro open pit, is a good example of in-field copper grade estimation. Here, Fitzroy geologists recorded a core Quick Log estimate of 113 m with an average of almost 1.0% Cu (visual) from 3.5 m downhole. These results, plus the high tenor channel samples from the southern half of the historical pit, meant that the drilling plan was immediately adjusted to increase the drill hole density in this area. Furthermore, a large proportion of the 113 m intersection has been selected for immediate ‘over-limit’ analysis, corresponding with samples estimated to be 0.9% Cu and above. Fitzroy will publish drilling assay results in late June, but the mid-monthly routine of reporting will be regained for July and beyond.