Aztec/Kootenay Joint Venture Plans Two Phase, CAD$1.1 Million Exploration Program in 2021 at Cervantes Gold-Copper Project, Sonora, Mexico

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 26, 2021 / Aztec Minerals Corp. (TSXV:AZT)(OTCQB:AZZTF) and Kootenay Silver Inc. plan a two-phase, CAD$1.13 million exploration program in 2021 for the Cervantes porphyry gold-copper property in Sonora, Mexico. Aztec (65%) and Kootenay (35%) recently formed a 65/35 joint venture ("JV") and the JV Management Committee met last week to review and approve the following Phase 1 and 2 exploration programs for 2021.

The JV plans to start work in the 1^st quarter on a Phase 1, CAD$85,000 program of soil and rock sampling and geological mapping (525 soils and 150 rocks will be analyzed) to extend the 100 meter (m) by 100m geological and geochemical grid to the north, west and east boundaries of the property. Mapping will focus on detailed lithological, structural, and alteration mapping of the California, California North, and Estrella targets. View: Cervantes Proposed Phase 1 Sampling and Mapping Plan

Subject to the Phase 1 results and available funds, the JV plans to initiate a Phase 2, CAD$1.05 million, 22 hole, 5,000 m reverse circulation ("RC") drill program late in the 3^rd quarter. Four main targets will be tested. View: Cervantes Proposed Phase 2 RC Drilling Plan

1. At the California target, where Aztec previously discovered extensive porphyry gold-copper mineralization (drill intercepts up to 0.77 gpt gold over 160m), the JV will drill 14 infill and step-out holes at a 50m spacing to expand and define the area of mineralization, followed by two 500m deep holes to test the depth extent of the strong IP chargeability anomaly
2. At the California North prospect, one hole will test the coincident IP chargeability/gold-copper-molybdenum anomaly
3. At the Jasper prospect, one hole will test the outcropping copper mineralization and copper-molybdenum anomaly
4. At the Purisima East target, four holes will test the high grade gold mineralization in the Glory Hole mine working and coincident IP chargeability and gold-copper-molybdenum anomaly within a breccia along the rim of a porphyry intrusion

The primary objectives of the two phase 2021 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 copper-gold porphyry sulfide mineralization underlying the oxide cap, test for north and west extensions of the California mineralization at California North and Jasper, and assess the breccia potential of Purisima East.

Aztec CEO Simon Dyakowski commented "Success in our 2021 exploration program will build our confidence in the potential to advance the project to an initial open pit resource and elevate the profile of the Cervantes project in a region that has both porphyry copper and heap leach gold production in Mexico."

Cervantes Project Overview
Cervantes is a highly prospective porphyry gold-copper-molybdenum property located in southeastern Sonora state, Mexico. The project lies 160 km east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico within the famous Laramide porphyry copper belt approximately 265 km southeast of the Cananea porphyry copper-molybdenum mine (Grupo Mexico). Cervantes also lies along an east-west trending gold belt 60 km west of the Mulatos epithermal gold mine (Alamos Gold), 45 km west of the La India mine (Agnico Eagle), and 40 km northwest of Santana gold deposit (Minera Alamos). View: Cervantes Project Location Map

• Large well-located property (3,649 hectares) with good infrastructure, road access, local town, all private land, water wells on property, grid power nearby
• Seven prospective mineralized zones related to high level porphyries and breccias along an 7.0km east-northeast corridor with multiple intersecting northwest structures
• Distinct geophysical anomalies, California target marked by high magnetic and low resistivity anomalies, high radiometric and chargeability anomalies responding to pervasive alteration
• Extensive gold mineralization at California zone, 118 soil samples average 0.44 gpt gold over 900 m by 600 m area, trench rock-channel samples up to 0.47 gpt gold over 222m
• Already drilled the first discovery hole at the California zone, intersected gold oxide cap to a classic gold-copper porphyry deposit, drill results up to 0.77 gpt gold over 160 m
• Excellent gold recoveries from preliminary metallurgical tests on drill core from California zone; oxide gold recoveries in bottle roll tests range from 75% to 87%
• California geophysical anomaly wide open laterally and at depth, IP chargeability strengthens and broadens to >500m depth over an area 1100 m by 1200 m
• Three-Dimensional IP Survey conducted in 2019 extends strong chargeability anomalies to the southwest covering Estrella, Purisima East, and Purisima West, coinciding well with alteration and Au-Cu-Mo soil geochemical anomalies, all undrilled.

California Target
In 2017-18, Aztec completed a Phase 1, 17 diamond core hole drill program, totaling 2,675 meters (m) (see news release dated June 26, 2018). Phase 1 drilling tested the California target 900m by 600m gold-in-soils anomaly that averaged 0.44gpt covering hydrothermal breccias within a quartz feldspar porphyry stock intruding Paleozoic siliciclastic sediments.

The Phase 1 drill program consistently intersected an oxidized gold cap to a porphyry-type gold-copper-silver system at California, including multiple 100+ meter widths of exceeding 0.40 gpt gold, spanning an 800-meter length and a 200-meter breadth, to a maximum vertical depth of 150 meters. The area tested by drilling represents only 30% of the surface gold soil anomaly.

Mineralization at the California zone is open in all directions. Highlights of the 2017-18 Phase 1 drill program are as follows:

• 160m @ 0.77 gpt gold incl 80m @ 1.04 gpt gold, 0.11% copper in 18CER010
• 139m @ 0.71 gpt gold incl 20m @ 2.10 gpt gold, 0.16% copper in 17CER005
• 118m @ 0.63 gpt gold incl 43m @ 1.18 gpt gold, 0.16% copper in 17CER003
• 122m @ 0.60 gpt gold incl 62m @ 0.88 gpt gold, 0.06% copper in 18CER007
• 170m @ 0.42 gpt gold incl 32m @ 0.87 gpt gold, 0.06% copper in 18CER006

Preliminary metallurgical tests on California drill cores were conducted in 2019 (see news release dated March 12, 2019). Drill core samples were grouped into 4 separate types of mineralization: Oxide 1, Oxide 2, Mixed Oxide/Sulfide and Sulfide. The preliminary results of bottle roll tests showed excellent potential for heap leach gold recovery, as follows:

• 85.1% recovery on 2.0mm material and 94.3% on 75-micron material in sample Oxide 1
• 87.7% recovery on 2.0mm material and 94.2% on 75-micron material in sample Oxide 2
• 77.9% recovery on 2.0mm material and 89.0% on 75-micron material in sample Mixed Oxide/Sulphide
• 51.2% recovery on 2.0mm material and 78.7% on 75-micron material in sample Sulphide

Additional Targets

• Purisima East - outcropping gossans, altered and mineralized diatreme breccias and porphyry intrusions marked by a 700m by 600m geochemical soil anomaly in 193 samples that average 0.25 gpt gold, a small historic ‘glory hole' mine where rock chip sampling returned high-grade mineralization up to 44.6 gpt gold.
• Estrella - outcrops of gossan and sulfides in silicified Paleozoic sediments near quartz porphyry dikes with rock chip samples up to 3.9 gpt gold and 2,010ppm copper.
• Purisima West - a mirror image of Purisima East in size and type of gossans, altered and mineralized breccias and intrusions in association with gold and copper soil anomalies.
• Jasper - 2017 trenching returned skarn/replacement-type mineralization up to 0.52% copper and 0.62 gpt gold over a 92.4 m length.
• California North - coincident IP chargeability and gold-copper-molybdenum soil geochemical anomalies may be a north extension of the California target
• Other targets - porphyry alteration and geochemical soil anomalies mark the Jacobo and Brasil prospects but more work is required to expand and define these targets

Joey Wilkins, B.Sc., P.Geo., is the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this news release.

"Simon Dyakowski"
Simon Dyakowski, Chief Executive Officer

Aztec Minerals Corp.
Aztec is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large polymetallic mineral deposits in the Americas. Our core asset is the prospective Cervantes porphyry gold-copper property in Sonora, Mexico. The historic, district-scale Tombstone properties host both bulk tonnage epithermal gold-silver as well as CRD silver-lead-zinc mineralization in Cochise County, Arizona. Aztec's shares trade on the TSX-V stock exchange (symbol AZT) and on the OTCQB (symbol AZZTF).

For more information, please contact:
Simon Dyakowski, CEO or Bradford Cooke, Chairman
Tel: (604) 619-7469
Fax: (604) 685-9744
Email: simon@aztecminerals.com
Website: www.aztecminerals.com

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SOURCE: Aztec Minerals Corp.