Azucar Minerals Ltd. announced that it has completed drilling the first hole into the large lithocap target. The first hole initially passed through typical clay dominant lithocap alteration into phyllic alteration, then continued to propylitic alteration and at depth intense biotitic potassic alteration. Some high temperature zones of pyrophyllite and diaspore alteration were intersected confirming the in-situ interpretation for the lithocap, derived from deep porphyry fluids.

The hole was drilled to 1280 metres, near vertically at -80 degrees, and only tested a small area of the large lithocap footprint at surface and is interpreted to have intersected a peripheral part of a porphyry system beneath the lithocap, providing a vertical alteration profile. At this time the potassic alteration intersected at depth is considered to be similar to the broad zones of barren or low grade potassic alteration found peripheral to some of the known mineralized zones on the El Cobre project. Zones of high pyrite were intersected and minor veining with sulphides and chalcopyrite were noted.

The hole did not transect the deep IP anomaly located further to the north. This first hole helps guide the next hole of the program which will drill at a shallower angle to the north from the same pad and is intended to intersect the high chargeability anomaly at depth as well as a zone of circular concentric fracturing interpreted to represent an intrusive centre. The drill team will start the second hole after a short crew break.

This area has been targeted for drilling on the basis of the following data set: 2021 mineral vectoring study (MVS) completed at the CODES Analytical Laboratory of the University of Tasmania utilizing chlorite and epidote samples collected from the El Cobre project in 2021; Mineral vectoring has been established as an effective tool for exploration targeting at porphyry projects around the world through published studies at systems such as the El Teniente, Resolution, Arizona and Batu Hijau, porphyry systems; The MVS indicates that the El Cobre district likely contains a fertile medium to large sized porphyry system; The most prospective area in the MVS is located in the centre of the project (approximately 1 km southeast of the established resource at the Norte target) where there has been little previous exploration drilling; This area coincides with a deep IP geophysical anomaly which does not crop out, within an area of moderate magnetic response. The deep IP anomaly is the deep core to the broad near surface anomaly which encompasses all the currently known areas of porphyry mineralisation on the project; The closest hole to this deep core IP anomaly, which did not test the anomaly, intersected intense quartz pyrite sericite (QSP) phyllic alteration which provides further support to this new target representing a possible porphyry centre; The MVS target also overlaps with a large area of mapped pyrophyllite (approximately 700 metre (E-W) x 550 metre (N-S)), an alteration mineral often observed overlying porphyry copper-gold mineralisation; Recent spectral mineral mapping and sampling in this area has further defined a strong alteration signature with clear zoning including a central diaspore-pyrophyllite-shallow alunite/dickite and concentric halos of paragonitic and muscovitic white mica and inner propylitic epidote halo; Observed illite crystallinity shows consistent high crystallinity over the entire target. Iron oxide rockchip mapping shows a hematite core zone and a goethite halo as well.