Ecuador

Condor

Summary

Condor is a highly mineralized project with approximately 156,000 metres of drilling as of February-2023 across all deposits. Current drill programs include drilling at Cuyes West and Prometedor, both part of Condor North (gold-silver). The 2023 drill program includes approximately 10,000 metres of drilling. The main goal is to achieve a maiden mineral resource estimate at Cuyes West, which will add a second underground deposit at Condor North.

The Condor Project is 98.7%* owned by Luminex and 1.3% owned by the Instituto de Seguridad Social de las Fuerzas Armadas (“ISSFA”), which is the pension fund for Ecuador’s armed forces personnel.

• 43-101 Gold Resource:
  – Indicated Resource of 2.3 Moz of gold¹
  – Inferred resource of 4.3 Moz of gold¹
• 43-101 Silver Resource:
  – Indicated resource of 12.8 Moz of silver¹
  – Inferred resource of 18.1 Moz of silver¹
• Located 35 km south of the 9.5 million oz Au Fruta del Norte project and 55 km south of Tongling-China Rail’s 4 million oz Au Mirador Project.

* Luminex’s level of ownership on the Condor concessions varies between 98.7% and 100%; 6,900 ha of the 9,897 ha are 98.7% owned by Luminex

¹ Mineral resource estimate has an effective date of July 28, 2021 across the Santa Barbara, Los Cuyes, Soledad, Enma and Camp deposits

Location & Access

The Condor Project is located in Zamora-Chinchipe province in the SE of Ecuador. The province is serviced twice daily by air from the City of Loja, which is a three-hour drive from the property. Access is by paved highways via the provincial capital of Zamora and 30 km east to the village of Zumbi. From Zumbi ~35 km of gravel road passes through several villages with a variety of services before arriving to the property. 

Condor North

In 2019, Luminex discovered a new high-grade area called the Camp deposit that helped unlock the lower grade open pit deposits at Los Cuyes, Soledad and Enma (collectively known as Condor North) within the northern epithermal deposits. The Company released a Preliminary Economic Assessment for Condor North in July 2021. Click here to review PEA Summary.  In 2022, the Company resumed a drill program targeting the high-grade discovery adjacent to Los Cuyes, called Cuyes West. The Company has completed additional drilling at Camp and Cuyes West that should add mineral resource to Condor North when the resource is updated by Q4-2023.

Condor North also contains a target called Prometedor that Luminex is drilling 1,200 metres at. This target could add to the Condor North PEA area, if sufficient gold mineralization is discovered.

All drilling at Condor North is meant to enhance the PEA area with additional higher-grade underground ounces (Cuyes West and Camp) and more scale and mine life (Prometedor).

Central Condor

Consists of the Santa Barbara gold-copper porphyry deposit, El-Hito, El Hito North and Wanwintza Alto targets. This area contains more porphyry style mineralization and would likely require a different processing methodology vs. the Condor North area.

Previous work in the area between El Hito and Wanwintza Alto indicates that the best copper mineralization, including the centre of the porphyry system, lies in the El Hito North area just to the north of the historic drilling at El Hito. The best drill interval returned at El Hito was 332m from surface, grading 0.44% copper and 53ppm molybdenum. Gold was not analysed in this historic drilling. 

Luminex completed four drill holes here in 2022 with copper mineralization hosted in phyllic-altered quartz-diorite porphyry rocks in all four holes. The best drill interval from El Hito North returned 627m grading 0.20% copper and 42ppm molybdenum. The higher grade potassic core has not yet been intersected (see NR: Nov 15, 2022)

Mineralization

Three distinctive types of mineralization are recognized at the Condor Project:

• An intermediate sulphidation narrow-vein epithermal system in the historical Chinapintza area
• Intermediate sulphidation epithermal gold-bearing diatremes, volcanoclastic and breccia bodies at Los Cuyes, Camp, Enma and Soledad
• Au-Cu porphyry mineralization at Santa Barbara and Cu-Mo porphyry mineralization at El Hito

Camp Deposit

Over 25,000 metres of drilling as of March 2023 has discovered substantial high-grade gold mineralization. Surface sampling and mapping may have identified a northwest extension to the Camp deposit. This work has defined rhyolite dikes with highly altered, brecciated and veined margins with abundant pyrite dominant sulphide mineralization, a style identical to the Camp deposit. Rock chip sampling has returned up to 4 g/t Au and up to 108 g/t Ag from surface. (see NR: Feb 9, 2022)

In addition to the Northwest extension, the Camp deposit mineralization remains open laterally and at depth, with indications that grade and mineralized widths increase to depth. Additional drilling in 2022 has intersected further high-grade mineralization outside the existing resource (see the resource grade thickness model superimposed on the long Camp long section below). (see NR: Jan 10, 2023)

Cuyes West Underground

A new structurally controlled, high grade intermediate epithermal discovery has been made adjacent to the Los Cuyes open pit resource. Drilling to date has confirmed lateral continuity across 350 metres and confirmed to a depth of 300 metres with drilling ongoing. The zone remains open laterally and at depth. Mineralization of pyrite, marcasite and sphalerite in veins, veinlet networks and disseminations are very similar to the underground Camp mineral deposit. Drilling this new zone has also intersected a parallel hanging wall structure increasing the grade and thickness of the Cuyes West zone to the east. The Cuyes West zone could extend the underground mine life at Condor North or open the possibility of scoping a smaller higher grade project.

Highlights:  (see NR: Mar 3, 2023 for details)

• 350 metres x 300 metres strike and depth extent
• Surface mapping and sampling extend to more than 500 metres
• Drill results favorable for another Camp style deposit (600 metres to the West) and drilling is ongoing

El Hito & El Hito North

June 2002, the Company announced the discovery of a copper porphyry drill target located 500 metres north of the El Hito prospect. The initial four-hole drill program at El Hito was completed in October 2022. All four holes intersected phyllic-altered quartz-diorite porphyry rocks with copper mineralization including 627 metres grading 0.20% copper, 42 ppm molybdenum and 0.21% copper equivalent (see PR: Nov 15, 2022). Another drill program is being planned to continue testing for the potentially higher grade potassic core.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara deposit is classified as a gold-copper porphyry deposit and is hosted in basaltic andesites within the eastern edge of the Zamora Batholith. The mineralized body extends at least 700m in length by approximately 300m in width and contains an NI 43-101 resource of 0.9 Moz gold and 1.0 Moz silver Indicated, and 2.8 Moz gold and 4.9 Moz silver Inferred.

Qualified Person

• Resource QP:  Rob Sim, P.Geo., as defined by NI 43-101
• Leo Hathaway, P.Geo, a “qualified person” within the definition of that term in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained on this page