Aztec Minerals Expands Tombstone Project Drilling Program Amid Analytical Delays

Aztec Minerals Corp. announced an expansion of its ongoing drilling program at the Tombstone Property in Southeastern Arizona, increasing the planned meterage from 7,500 to a minimum of 8,500 meters. The expanded program, comprising 7,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling and at least 1,500 meters of core drilling, is now expected to extend into the first quarter of 2026. To date, the 2025 program has completed 34 RC drill holes totaling 5,960 meters and 495 meters of core drilling, with 21 RC drill holes currently awaiting geochemical analysis at the Bureau Veritas laboratory.

The company has been advised that sample backlogs and turnaround times for geochemical analysis at the Bureau Veritas laboratory are expected to improve following recent staff additions and equipment repairs. Aztec anticipates receiving additional analytical results within the next 30 days. Core drilling has resumed, advancing to 465 meters total depth in drillhole TC25-03, targeting the previously identified AMT target under the Bisbee formation. The company plans to continue testing depth extensions of conductive bodies identified through natural-source audio-frequency magneto-telluric surveys, as documented in the Zonge International AMT Survey report from May 2020.

Aztec Minerals holds an 85.0% interest in the Tombstone Property Joint Venture, which covers most of the original patented mining claims in the historic Tombstone silver district. The current drilling aims to test shallow, bulk tonnage, potentially heap-leachable mesothermal gold-silver oxide mineralization adjacent to and below the previously mined Contention pit. Future drilling may focus on strike and dip extensions of shallow oxide mineralization and deeper exploration into sulfide zones, as historical production reached depths of 300 meters, according to Michael N. Greeley's 1984 review of the Tombstone Mining District.

The Tombstone project is located 100 kilometers southeast of Tucson, Arizona, covering much of the historic district that produced an estimated 32 million ounces of silver and 250,000 ounces of gold between 1878 and 1939. District geology consists of oxidized gold-silver and base metal deposits related to carbonate replacement deposits and skarns, hosted in folded sediments, intrusive dikes, and lode veins. The Bisbee Formation, between 50 and 300 meters in depth, is underlain by approximately two kilometers of Paleozoic carbonate formations that also host the Hermosa-Taylor zinc-lead-silver deposit, as detailed in the M3 Engineering Hermosa Project Pre-Feasibility Study from January 2014.

Aztec believes the historic silver mines could be part of a larger mesothermal system with carbonate replacement deposit mineralization below the old mines. Since 2017, the company has conducted geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysical surveying to identify prospective areas for gold-silver mineralization around the Contention pit and carbonate replacement deposit zinc-lead-copper-silver-gold mineralization throughout the district. The expanded drilling program represents continued investment in exploring this historically productive region, with management viewing the district as highly prospective for discovering both mesothermal and carbonate replacement deposit mineralization.