Aztec Minerals (TSX-V: AZT, OTCQB: AZZTF; WKN: A2DRF0) has presented further results from its ongoing 2025/26 RC drilling program at the Tombstone Project in southeastern Arizona. The current announcement focuses on five additional Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes, which, according to the company, intersected several wide intervals of oxide gold-silver mineralization. Of particular importance: step-out drilling aims to geologically link the previously separate target areas “Contention” and “Westside” and significantly expand the mineralized system laterally.
Aztec Minerals (TSX-V: AZT; OTCQB: AZZTF) reports that 53 RC drill holes and five core drill holes have been completed so far as part of the program. 13 additional RC holes have been drilled but not yet fully evaluated. The results now published are from the last five RC drill holes of 2025 and focus on the southern part of the Contention Zone and targets in the Westside area.
Aztec Minerals: Step-Out Drilling Connects Contention Main and Westside
Aztec Minerals highlights TR25-34 as a key drill hole. The hole was drilled in the northern part of the project and was intended as a step-out to both the Westside and back to the main “Contention Main” zone. According to the company, TR25-34 delivered several mineralized intervals from surface to near the bottom of the hole. The most significant interval is 40.2 meters averaging 1.09 g/t AuEq (0.99 g/t gold and 6.9 g/t silver). Within this zone, a higher-grade sub-interval of 4.6 meters with 9.86 g/t AuEq (9.57 g/t gold and 20.43 g/t silver) was reported.
For the project, this drill hole is particularly relevant because it is expected to support the transition between the known structures of the Contention Zone and the Westside Anticline. In this context, Aztec Minerals speaks of a “unification” of the target areas, which were previously considered separate zones. The drill hole reached a depth of 243.9 meters and, according to the company, contains a total of five mineralized intervals.
TR25-33, drilled on the previously unmined strip of land between the historic Contention pits (“Main” and “South”), is also expected to support continuity along the more than one-kilometer-long trend. Aztec Minerals reports several oxide zones for TR25-33, including 42.6 meters with 0.452 g/t AuEq (0.257 g/t gold and 11.5 g/t silver). Notably, the hole ended in mineralization, indicating potential extensions at depth and to the west.
Westside Delivers Wide Oxide Intervals – 250-Meter Step-Out
In the Westside area, TR25-36 is of particular interest. Aztec Minerals reports 44.1 meters with 0.86 g/t AuEq (0.221 g/t gold and 44.64 g/t silver) here. This includes a higher-grade interval of 6.1 meters with 3.72 g/t AuEq (0.905 g/t gold and 197.37 g/t silver). This hole also ended in mineralization, according to the company, and is open “in all directions.”
The classification as a step-out is noteworthy: TR25-36 was positioned more than 250 meters west of the previous drilling from 2024, thus representing a significant lateral extension of the known system. Together with TR25-35 and TR25-36, Aztec Minerals sees an extension of the known mineralization by approximately 250 meters. From this, the company infers a possible mineralization width of up to approximately 500 meters in this area – a statement primarily based on the spatial distribution of the step-out hits.
All five RC drill holes now reported by Aztec Minerals intersected gold and silver mineralization. The company also points out that the stated interval lengths are “apparent thicknesses”; the true thicknesses in the project area can range from 30% to 100% of the reported values, depending on the drill angle and geometry.
Tombstone Project 2025/26: RC Drilling Plus Deep Core Drilling
The Tombstone Project is located approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Tucson and covers a large part of the historic Tombstone Silver District. Aztec Minerals states that it holds an 85% interest in the joint venture, which covers both patented and unpatented claims. Historically, the region was primarily known for silver; Aztec refers to historical production figures of 32 million ounces of silver and 250,000 ounces of gold (1878–1939), but emphasizes that it has not independently verified these historical figures.
Strategically, Aztec Minerals is pursuing two main directions in the current program: Firstly, the shallow-dipping, oxide gold-silver zones around the former Contention mining area are to be extended laterally and at depth through RC drilling. Secondly, RC pre-collars and core drilling are being used to test deeper target models that aim for carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) types, as well as skarn and breccia mineralization.
Regarding the status of core drilling, Aztec Minerals reports that deep hole TC25-04 in the southern NSAMT (Natural-Source Audio-Frequency Magnetotellurics) target had to be prematurely terminated at 831.7 meters depth due to unstable borehole conditions. According to the company, retrograde exoskarns and hydrothermal breccia veins were encountered in this hole; geochemical analyses are still pending. The currently active drill hole TC26-02 is testing an NSAMT target in the southwest and has already intersected skarn formation and sulfides.
Beyond exploration, Aztec Minerals also announced a personnel change: Adam Buchanan has been appointed Director of Communications via a consulting agreement. The agreement runs for three months, provides for a fee of US$5,000 per month, and the granting of 250,000 stock options – subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.
For the Tombstone Project, the new RC results are particularly significant because they support the spatial connection of the oxide gold-silver mineralization between Contention and Westside and at the same time provide indications of an increasing width of the system. In parallel, the deep core drilling could prospectively substantiate additional, previously only indirectly defined mineralization styles beneath the historic district – once the pending analyses are available.
