Fitzroy Minerals Drills 21.84% Copper at Buen Retiro, Tenorita Trend Extended to 1.9 Kilometres

• Shallow infill drilling at Tenorita returned 8.8 metres grading 3.70% copper from 30 metres downhole.
• Within that interval, 1 metre graded 21.84% copper, the highest sample recorded from drilling at Buen Retiro to date.
• An extension hole in the northeast of Tenorita returned 105.0 metres grading 0.74% copper from a depth of 58.0 metres.
• A newly identified area of mineralization between the Manto Negro and Nativo areas returned 83.0 metres grading 0.46% copper from 69.0 metres.
• Reverse-circulation drilling extended the main mineralized trend within Tenorita by 200 metres, taking it to 1.9 kilometres along strike.
• Fitzroy Minerals has completed 92 diamond drill holes for 16,376 metres at Buen Retiro since the start of February 2026.

Company Overview

Fitzroy Minerals (TSXV: FTZ | OTCQX: FTZFF | FSE: C3Y) is a copper-focused exploration and development company with assets in the Americas. Its portfolio includes the Buen Retiro Copper Project near Copiapó, Chile; the Caballos Copper and Polimet Gold-Copper-Silver projects in Valparaiso, Chile; the Taquetren Gold Project in Rio Negro, Argentina; and the Caribou Project in British Columbia, Canada.

Four Rigs Working at Buen Retiro as 2026 Drilling Passes 16,000 Metres

Fitzroy Minerals has completed 92 diamond drill holes for 16,376 metres at Buen Retiro since the start of February 2026, and is targeting 22,000 metres of drilling across the year. Four rigs are working on the project in Copiapó, Chile: 1 diamond rig on copper sulfides in the Ortuzar area, a second on a zone of copper oxide mineralization at Manto Negro, a third on the northeast extension of Tenorita, and a reverse-circulation rig on regional exploration targets.

The results announced cover 20 drill holes, 5 of which were geotechnical holes with no significant intersections. The reported intervals are estimated to be 80% to 90% of the true thickness.

Highest Grade on Record from Shallow Tenorita Infill Drilling

The best grade came from a short-hole program designed to define the grade of material in the upper portions of the Tenorita zone, and to better define resources that would be extracted early in the mine plan. From 30 metres downhole, roughly 21 metres below surface, the hole intersected 8.8 metres grading 3.70% copper, including 2.8 metres at 11.35% copper from 36 metres. The 1-metre interval from 37 metres, graded at 21.84% copper, is the highest sample recorded from drilling at Buen Retiro to date.

President and Chief Executive Officer of Fitzroy Minerals, Merlin Marr-Johnson, places that grade close to the surface:

"Drill hole BRT-DDH095 intersected the highest grade recorded on the Project to date, almost 22% Cu, at approximately 26 metres vertical depth below surface. The drill hole ended in 5.81% Cu mineralization (on hitting a void) at 38.8 metres, within a wider interval grading 3.70% Cu from 30 metres."

Drilling stopped when the hole hit a void created by artisanal miners.

Extension Hole Adds 105 Metres at 0.74% Copper in the Northeast

An extension hole targeting mineralization above a historical hole in the northeast of Tenorita returned 105.0 metres grading 0.74% copper from 58.0 metres depth, including 12.0 metres at 3.01% copper from 75.0 metres. The same hole returned a further 8.0 metres at 0.99% copper from 114 metres and 8.0 metres at 0.95% copper from 152 metres.

The intercept extends the eastern part of the Tenorita area 100 metres to the north. A hole collared to the west intersected little visible mineralization, and assays for it are pending.

New Mineralization Between Manto Negro & Nativo

A hole on the boundary between the Manto Negro area to the north and the Nativo area to the south tested ground beneath a historical intersection of 112 metres at 0.25% copper from 57 metres. It returned 83.0 metres grading 0.46% copper from 69.0 metres, including 49.0 metres at 0.68% copper from 72.0 metres and 14 metres at 1.15% copper from 104 metres.

Another hole in the reported batch returned 31 metres grading 0.96% copper from 16 metres, including 5 metres at 1.81% copper and 7 metres at 2.28% copper.

Reverse-Circulation Drilling Takes the Main Trend to 1.9 Kilometres

A step-out exploration hole testing the southeastern extension of Tenorita was aborted after it failed to pass through a fault zone. The reverse-circulation rig then re-targeted the same zone, passed the fault, and intersected native copper and chalcocite, a copper sulfide mineral, at a depth of 239 metres. 

Assays for that hole are pending, but the drill hole confirms the extension of the main mineralized trend within Tenorita by a further 200 metres, bringing the trend to 1.9 kilometres along strike. Fitzroy Minerals reports that new exploration targets are being identified across the property as drilling progresses.

Resource Definition & Data Quality

Fitzroy Minerals is directing most of its effort toward defining measured and indicated resources ahead of a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Buen Retiro. Samples are prepared and analyzed at the ALS-Patagonia laboratory in Copiapó, and quality assurance and quality control samples inserted by the company make up about 12% of primary core samples.

Marr-Johnson connects the drill-out schedule to the company's production ambition:

"The team aims to complete the drill-out of the Tenorita area in August, to stay on track with our stated aim of production in early 2028."

A visual review of the standards and blanks inserted by the company, along with the laboratory's own quality control data, was completed by the company and found no significant issues.

Next Steps

Fitzroy Minerals is targeting a further 6,000 metres of drilling at Buen Retiro in 2026. Two of the diamond rigs are expected to leave the site in September at a data cut-off, allowing time for logging, assaying, and inclusion in the MRE. In the fourth quarter of 2026, the company will run 2 rigs at the project, with the reverse-circulation rig dedicated primarily to shallow regional exploration targets and the diamond rig to deep targets.

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