Adventus Mining Corporation and Salazar Resources Limited provided an overview of exploration programs planned for 2020 on the Curipamba, Pijili and Santiago projects in Ecuador. Exploration will focus on making new discoveries through drilling and leveraging off the recently completed MobileMT airborne magneto-telluric airborne survey (see April 5, 2019 and September 21, 2019 news releases). This work will be complemented by continuing regional geological and geochemical field work on all three projects.

A total exploration budget of approximately USD 7 million has been allocated to complete this work. The Curipamba project is comprised of seven concessions representing about 21,500 ha and includes the El Domo deposit. No systematic exploration work has been conducted on the greater Curipamba project area since the discovery of the El Domo deposit in 2008 by Salazar, which was a key driver for undertaking the MobileMT geophysical survey.

Since completion of the MobileMT geophysical survey, the Partners have made significant progress generating targets through the processing and integration of all geoscience data collected from surficial geochemistry, geological mapping, prospecting, drilling, and ground geophysical surveys. The various data sets have been compiled in order to produce a matrix that will drive exploration logistics and planning through 2020 on priority ranked targets. Targets have been classified as either volcanogenic massive sulphide -related, such as the El Domo deposit, or porphyry-related.

Both target generation and delineation will continue over the next year, as will surficial geochemical surveys and geological mapping in order to advance the understanding of the geological controls on mineralization and to further delineate highly prospective areas. The results are expected to aid in further developing a pipeline of drill ready locations in the favourable strata that hosts the El Domo deposit. A minimum drilling budget of 10,000 metres and financial budget of approximately USD 5 million has been approved for the evaluation of these new priority targets areas and the continuing advancement of Curipamba-El Domo related studies.

Perforaciones Andesdrill S.A. of Quito, Ecuador, a wholly owned subsidiary of Salazar, has been contracted to conduct the 2020 drill program at Curipamba project and supply the two drill rigs that are being mobilized to the project site. The Partners are also preparing for additional drilling-related studies that are expected to provide information for future engineering and environmental baseline studies over the next year. Study topics include but are not limited to geotechnical assessment of the waste management areas, geomechanical characterization of the open pit, hydrogeological modeling of the project area, and condemnation drilling of key infrastructure sites.

These studies are expected to confirm the PEA findings and support both the commencement of the El Domo feasibility study in 2020 and the submission of a draft environmental impact assessment to Ecuadorian authorities by the first half of 2021. Since the second quarter of 2019 completion of the MobileMT geophysical survey at the Pijili project, a regional surficial geochemistry sampling program coupled with detailed property mapping for geology and hydrothermal alteration has been systematically grooming drilling targets. The recently completed upgrade of exploration infrastructure at the Pijili project means that field crews are now fully supported to undertake drilling.

The main targets at the Pijili project are Cu-Au-Mo porphyry and orogenic gold deposits. At the Santiago project, evaluation and construction planning work has begun on the potential upgrade of local roads and support infrastructure ahead of a planned drilling program. The proposed drill program will utilize results from the 2019 MobileMT geophysical survey, and all compiled historical exploration results.