Aztec Continues to Expand the Cervantes Project California Zone with Additional Intersections of Broad and Shallow Oxide Gold Mineralization

• The remaining 10 Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes from the California Zone all intersected broad oxidized near surface gold mineralization.
• All 13 step out drill holes of the recently completed program expanded the California zone gold mineralization in multiple directions.
• Step out drilling has grown the area of demonstrated Au mineralization of the California zone to 1,000m East-West.
• The 2023 exploration program was successful in discovering extensions, particularly to the West and Northwest, and confirms the broad style of the gold mineralized zone.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 30, 2024 / Aztec Minerals Corp. (TSXV:AZT)(OTCQB:AZZTF) announces the additional gold results from the recently completed Reverse Circulation (RC) exploration drilling program conducted in Q4 2023 at the California gold zone of the Cervantes project in Sonora, Mexico. The results of the final 10 of the total 13 RC drill holes, CAL23-035 to 044, continued to show intersections of gold mineralization in the altered California intrusive porphyry complex extending the California gold zone to the West, North, South and East as well as to depth.

Results for hole CAL23-041 (Fig. 3), a step-out extending the California zone to the West, returned 57.76 m grading 0.42 gpT Au. The results from all final ten RC drill holes encountered the gold mineralized and altered California intrusive complex.

California Zone Drill Highlights

• CAL23-035 - 47.12 m @ 0.51 gpT Au
• CAL23-041 - 57.76 m @ 0.42 gpT Au
• CAL23-044 - 59.44 m @ 0.28 gpt Au

Drilling toward the West and Northwest of the California zone targeted the edge of an airborne magnetic low (Fig.5) that the California gold porphyry mineralization appears related to. The drilling has expanded the knowledge of the system, including support of the concept that much of the metasediments intersected are unconnected blocks as xenoliths within the California intrusive porphyry complex as relicts of its piercement by its uppermost levels. It is also being shown that the metasediments, specifically the quartzites, can host gold mineralization which hadn't been well evidenced before. Surface reconnaissance confirmed that the mineralized and altered quartz feldspar porphyry and hydrothermal breccias continue to the east for at least another 400 meters. To-date, every hole except one drilled at the California Zone has intersected near surface, oxidized gold mineralization with minor copper values.

Figure 1: California Zone Drill Progress Map

The primary focus of the Phase 3A RC drilling program at Cervantes was to expand the previously drilled California zone and towards the California North and Jasper zones, and to enhance geologic understanding of the targets. The Phase 3A RC drilling program at Cervantes was comprised of thirteen RC holes totaling 1,630.7 meters drilled at California. The program was conducted in the end of the rainy season with no injuries or accidents.

Link to Figure 2: Section View CAL23-035

Link to Figure 3: Section View CAL23-041

Link to Figure 4: Section View CAL23-044

Reported lengths are apparent widths, not true widths, and the gold mineralization appears to be widely distributed in disseminations, fractures and stockwork veinlets at high levels within the California intrusive porphyry complex of Quartz-feldspar porphyry and feldspar porphyry intrusives and related hydrothermal breccias.

Figure 5: California Zone Aeromag, Soils, and Drilling Map

Holes CAL23-035 to 044 intersected extensive gold related mineralization and alteration, see table 1 below, extending the known mineralized zone to the North and West and at depth. The California intrusive porphyry complex including the California and California Norte zones as drilled measures approximately 1,000 meters long E - W by 730 meters wide, with demonstrated, continuous mineralization of up to 170 meters depth. The porphyry gold-copper mineralization is still open in all directions.

Table 1: 2023 Drilling Intersections

The planned testing of the California zone of the Cervantes phase 3A RC drilling program is complete. The primary objectives of the 2021 - 2024 exploration program are to better define the open pit, heap leach gold potential of the porphyry oxide cap at California, evaluate the potential for deeper gold - copper porphyry sulfide mineralization underlying the oxide cap, test for north and west extensions of the California mineralization. In 2024 it is plan