Recent RC results and the first core drilling under the historic Contention Mine underpin the exploration potential of gold and silver explorer Aztec Minerals in Arizona.
Aztec Minerals Reports More Strong RC Results from Tombstone
Aztec Minerals (TSX-V: AZT; OTCQB: AZZTF) has presented the next drilling results from the ongoing exploration program on its Tombstone project in southeastern Arizona. A total of 40 RC drillings and one core drilling have been completed in 2025 so far, with further results still pending.
The current report focuses on seven RC drill holes from the area of the historic Contention Mine, which expand the existing shallow silver-gold mineralization both in depth and to the east and west. At the same time, the final multi-acid digestion (MA) analyses are now available for drill hole TR25-17, which was already reported in November 2025 – with even higher silver contents than in the preliminary fire assays.
TR25-17, which was drilled in the previously little-explored Head Center Area in the northern part of the Contention target, intersected a wide zone of 57.8 meters averaging 5.16 g/t gold and 39.1 g/t silver from a depth of 9.1 meters, including a high-grade section of 4.56 meters with 58.5 g/t gold and 173.1 g/t silver. The mineralization zone thus begins near the surface.
Strong Silver-Gold Sections in the Central and Eastern Contention Area
The new RC results show that the oxidic silver-gold mineralization in the Contention area extends over large thicknesses and has good continuity. All seven drill hole now reported intersected mineralized zones.
Particularly noteworthy is drill hole TR25-14, which was drilled in the central part of the Contention area. It intersected two mineralized intervals:
- 86.6 meters averaging 38.17 g/t silver equivalent (AgEq) – corresponding to 0.214 g/t gold and 23.19 g/t silver – from 21.3 meters depth, including
- 15.2 meters with 118.42 g/t AgEq (0.811 g/t gold, 61.68 g/t silver);
- as well as 9.1 meters with 10.6 g/t AgEq from 124.6 meters.
On the eastern side of the main target, TR25-10 hit 72.9 meters with 28.37 g/t AgEq (0.192 g/t gold, 14.92 g/t silver) from the surface, including 10.6 meters with 70.65 g/t AgEq (0.485 g/t gold, 36.71 g/t silver). Aztec Minerals thus confirms a near-surface, broad oxide zone that would be significant for a potential open-pit mine.
Aztec Minerals Expands Contention Mineralization in Depth and Area
A central role in the current campaign is played by drill hole TR25-9, which was drilled from the west side across the Contention area towards the east. The hole intersected three mineralized zones, including 164.2 meters with 16.74 g/t AgEq (0.014 g/t gold, 7.31 g/t silver) from 109.4 meters, with the borehole ending in mineralization.
Overall, more than 76% of the 273.6 meter borehole length was characterized by mineralized intervals. TR25-9 is also the deepest RC drilling of the campaign to date (final depth 274.4 m at -60° inclination) and remained in oxidized, mineralized rocks until the end of drilling.
The new results from TR25-9, TR25-10 and TR25-14 support Aztec Minerals’ interpretation that the silver-gold mineralization in the Contention area continues both laterally and in depth and is currently not limited. The indicated thicknesses are apparent drill hole lengths, the actual true thicknesses can – depending on geometry and angle of incidence – be between approximately 30 and 100% of this.
Aztec Minerals Tests Deeper CRD Targets Below the Historic Contention Mine
Parallel to the RC campaign, Aztec Minerals also began core drilling in 2025 to test possible sulfidic CRD deposits (Carbonate Replacement Deposits) in the underlying carbonate rocks below the known oxide zone.
The first core drilling TC25-03 in the north of the project area was drilled to the target depth of 694 meters. The samples have already been sent to the laboratory for geochemical analysis.
A second core drilling TC25-04 is currently testing the southern AMT target area, which is based on strong conductivity anomalies from NSAMT measurements. At the end of December, the drilling depth was 341.5 meters, still around 350 meters above the modeled upper edge of the conductivity body.
The deep core drillings aim to intersect the conductive zones identified by Aztec Minerals in the up to 2 kilometer thick Paleozoic carbonate sequences – the same rocks that also host the large Hermosa-Taylor zinc-lead-silver deposit of South32 around 60 kilometers southwest.
The drilling work is supported by a detailed 3D geology and pit model that integrates historical underground structures, known oxide mineralization and geophysical data to better understand the extent of the Contention system.
Tombstone Project: Historical Silver District with Modern Exploration
Aztec Minerals holds 85% of the Tombstone project, which covers 663 hectares and most of the historic silver district of Tombstone in Arizona. The district is known for high-grade, oxidic silver-gold veins, breccias and CRD bodies, from which an estimated 32 million ounces of silver and 250,000 ounces of gold were mined between 1878 and 1939.
Geologically, the mineralization is primarily hosted by clastic sediments of the Bisbee Formation, which are underlain by thick carbonate packages between about 50 and 300 meters depth. Aztec Minerals interprets the historic Contention Mine as part of a larger mesothermal system in which near-surface oxidic silver-gold zones could be linked to deeper sulfidic CRD deposits.
Since 2017, the company has systematically carried out mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical measurements. The RC drillings of the years 2020 to 2025 have significantly expanded the shallow, potentially large-volume oxide mineralization in the area of the Contention pit and left it open in all directions. The current campaign – so far 6,887 meters of RC drilling in 40 holes – aims to outline this picture more precisely and at the same time test the first deep CRD targets.
With the now available results and further pending analyses from RC and core drilling, Aztec Minerals remains, in our view, clearly on a growth course with its Tombstone project – both in terms of the shallow silver-gold oxide mineralization and with regard to the deeper CRD potential below the historic Contention Mine.
