Aztec Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: AZT, OTCQB: AZZTF) announced an expansion of its drilling program at the Tombstone Property in southeastern Arizona, increasing the total meters from 7,500 to at least 8,500, with the program now expected to extend into the first quarter of 2026. The company has completed 34 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes and 495 meters of core drilling to date, with 21 RC holes awaiting geochemical analysis at the Bureau Veritas Laboratory.
The expanded program comprises 7,000 meters of RC drilling and a minimum of 1,500 meters of core drilling. The core drilling portion has resumed, with drillhole TC25-03 (target TR24-13) advancing to 465 meters total depth. Core drilling is also expected to test deeper AMT targets identified under the Bisbee formation in thick Paleozoic carbonate formations. Aztec previously identified large, strong conductive bodies through NSAMT surveys (Zonge International, 2020).
Analytical turnaround times are expected to improve as Bureau Veritas has added staff and completed equipment repairs. The company expects additional results within 30 days. Drill samples are collected every 1.52 meters from RC chips and core, with analysis by Bureau Veritas using 30-gram fire assay. Quality assurance-quality control procedures include certified blanks, standards, and duplicates.
The main target of the current drilling is to test shallow, bulk tonnage, potentially heap leachable, mesothermal gold-silver oxide mineralization adjacent to and below the historic Contention pit. Future drilling may follow strike and dip extensions into the sulfide zone, where historical production reached 300 meters depth (Greeley, 1984). The Tombstone project covers much of the historic silver district, which produced an estimated 32 million ounces of silver and 250,000 ounces of gold from 1878 to 1939.
Host rocks are primarily clastic sediments of the Cretaceous Bisbee Formation, underlain by approximately two kilometers of Paleozoic carbonates that host the Hermosa-Taylor zinc-lead-silver deposit of South32, located 60 km southwest (M3 Engineering, 2014). Aztec believes the historic silver mines may be part of a larger mesothermal system with CRD mineralization below.
The company holds an 85% interest in the Tombstone Property Joint Venture. The drilling program expansion reflects positive results from earlier drilling and the potential for discovery of mesothermal and CRD mineralization. Aztec continues to evaluate the district as highly prospective for gold-silver and base metal deposits.
