Ecuador

Tarqui

• Tarqui – 4,817 Ha, 100% owned
• 25 km N of the Mirador deposit (7.8 Blbs Cu, 3.2 Moz Au)
• 25 km S of San Carlos (7.7 Blbs Cu) / Panantza (6.7 Blbs Cu) deposits
• Identified fertile mineralized porphyry system on the property
• 2022 – BHP drilled ~6,900m confirming Cu-Mo mineralization and alteration
  • Best intercept was TARQ4D – 0.32% CuEq over 218m

Location

The Tarqui project is located in the Morona Santiago province of SE Ecuador, within the porphyry rich Zamora-copper-gold metallogenic belt. The geologic belt hosts San Carlos / Panantza, Mirador, Fruta Del Norte and Santa Barbara deposits, Tarqui is situated 25 km to the north of the Mirador Cu deposit which contains an indicated resource of 7.8 Blbs Cu and 3.2 Moz Au and is 25 km south of the San Carlos (7.7 Blbs Cu) / Panantza (6.7 Blbs Cu) deposits.

2019-2022 Work Program

• BHP drilled ~6,900 m (13 diamond drillholes) as part of an earn-in with Luminex, which they exited in July 2022
• Drill highlights include:
  • 0.21% CuEq over 685.34m (TARQ1D)
  • 0.19% CuEq over 441.2m (TARQ2D)
  • 0.32% CuEq over 218m (TARQ4D)
• 2 large copper-molybdenum anomalies with coincident conductive and magnetic responses targeted
• Prior to drilling, BHP conducted surface geological mapping and rock chip and soil sampling comprised of 1,015 samples and 2,815 samples respectively
• A helicopter borne survey with a VTEM (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic) system comprising 349-line kilometres was also completed

Geology & Mineralization

Porphyry Cu-Au mineralization was discovered at Tarqui in 2018 through property wide rock, sediment and soil sampling and geologic mapping. Porphyry Cu mineralization assaying over 1.2% Cu is hosted in fertile, structurally partitioned phases of the Zamora Batholith and is traversed by numerous Cordilleran quartz Cu-Au-Ag veins assaying up to 14.9% Cu, 38.3 ppm Au and 597 ppm Ag over an area measuring 4 km by 2 km north to south. 

Drilling targeted two large (>2 km2) copper-molybdenum anomalies with coincident conductive and magnetic response from a VTEM survey. At these two target areas, mineralization is related to diorite and granodiorite porphyry stocks hosted within the Jurassic Zamora batholith, which in turn intrudes Cretaceous Sedimentary rocks. At both, mineralization is associated with potassic alteration and outboard propylitic alteration that is overprinted by intermediate sulphidation zinc-lead-silver veins.

Qualified Person

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.