See the mine for 905 meters in a row! The resource potential of the Auro Metals gold and copper mine was once again hammered, and the second phase of drilling enabled long-term growth

As global mining capital continues to pursue high-quality copper-gold assets, large, shallow, and highly continuous porphyrous deposits have become scarce targets. Auro Metals Inc. (TSX-V: AURO; OTCPK: AURFF) is a typical example of this trend.

On September 15, Auro Metals Inc. reported another major exploration advantage, and its first phase of drilling at the Santa Barbara copper and gold mine achieved another breakthrough result. The latest 3 boreholes have all been stable, and DSB-68, the core drill hole has set a historical exploration record for the project. It has continuously seen 905.22 meters of ore, with an average gold grade of 0.60 g/ton and a copper grade of 0.12%. Combining many previous drilling breakthroughs in high-grade mining sections, the project thoroughly verified the core characteristics of the project's “thick, continuous, deep open” world-class porphyry deposits, and opened up new room for imagination in the scale of resources.

“The borehole DSB-68 achieved the best results, and the ore was still visible until the 1,282-meter final hole, fully confirming the potential for continuous extension of mineralization deep. The DSB-69 and DSB-70 drilled holes respectively verified the openness of downslope mineralization and high quality deep enrichment characteristics. The latest drilling data continues to confirm the large mineralization scale and excellent mineralization stability of the Santa Barbara copper and gold mine.” Auro Metals CEO Victor Feng said that the first phase of the drilling project has completed a total of 22 drilling holes, with a total depth of 11047.35 meters. Currently, the test results for 17 holes have been disclosed, and the remaining 5 drilling data will be announced one after another.

At the same time, the company announced the successful completion of the first phase of 10,000 meter drilling, and the second phase of 20,000 meter deep drilling will be fully launched. With the launch of the second phase of the drilling project, the project's resource expansion, grade upgrade, and reserve upgrade logic will continue to be strengthened. As a target for high-quality copper and gold exploration in South America, the company has ushered in a clear valuation reshaping window.

New and old achievements resonate, and scarce endowments of high-quality resources have once again been confirmed

According to the announcement, all 3 holes are located in southern Santa Barbara, and this area is the core area of the project's porphyry mineralization system. Consistent with the drilling design ideas previously announced in the first phase, the purpose of this drilling is to verify the continuity of mineralization between sections of historical drilling, while also exploring the extension of mineralization along the upward slope, downward slope, and depth of mineralization.

Laboratory results showed that drilled DSB-68 obtained 905.22 meters of continuous copper-gold mineralization in the range of 56.5 meters to 961.72 meters, with an average gold grade of 0.60 g/ton and a copper grade of 0.12%. The final depth of the drilling hole reached 1,282 meters, making it the deepest and longest drilling hole in the project so far, and the final hole still has weak mineralization. It clearly confirms that the deep part of the ore body is not sealed at all, completely breaking the original resource boundary perception, and greatly increasing the overall development value of the deposit.

The remaining two boreholes also performed brilliantly, forming a verification pattern of multi-point flowering. The DSB-70 borehole drill obtained a 262.5-meter continuous section, with an average gold grade of 0.71 g/ton, of which the deep 100.45-meter high-grade section had a gold grade of 1.01 g/t; the DSB-69 drill hole successively drilled two stages of continuous mineralization at 103.05 meters and 200.55 meters, including a 57.83 meter ultra-high grade section, with a gold grade of up to 1.06 g/ton. The high and low grade mining sections are clearly stratified, continuous and stable, which fully confirms the project's top resource endowment.

More importantly, this latest breakthrough is not a single accident benefit, but rather a continuation of continuous exploration and implementation of the project since 2026. Multiple batches of drilling data form a complete logical closed loop, thoroughly verifying the scarcity of the project. In June of this year, the drilled DSB-54 drilled a 705-meter ultra-long section, with an average gold grade of 0.61 g/ton and 0.1% copper grade, of which the 235-meter core high-grade section had a gold grade of 1.00 g/t; in July, DSB-59 drilled a 625-meter continuous thick section with an average gold grade of 0.64 g/ton and a copper grade of 0.1%; in August, DSB-61 drilled a 496.5 meter ultra-long section, with an average gold grade of 0.76 g/ton and 0.12% copper grade, of which 212.5m high grade core The grade of gold in the mine section reached 1.12 g/ton.

From 625 meters and 705 meters to the current breakthrough of 905 meters, the mineralization length of the project was continuously refreshed, and high-grade sections were frequently concentrated. Judging from industry benchmarks, the world's mainstream large-scale porphyry copper-gold mines generally have the characteristics of “large ore size but low grade”, and the Santa Barbara project has the triple advantages of extremely large ore thickness, stable continuity, and deep high quality concentration. It breaks the industry's conventional endowment shortcomings and is a very scarce high-quality resource, which has also become a key catalyst for project value revaluation.

The pace of exploration has been fully accelerated, and the dual logic of resource upgrading and reserve expansion has been implemented

Up to now, the first phase of the 2026 drilling project for the Santa Barbara copper and gold mine has been successfully completed. A total of 22 holes have been completed, with a total advance of 11047.35 meters. Currently, the test results for 17 holes have been disclosed, and the remaining 5 drilling data will be released one after another to continue to provide performance catalyst.

“The first phase of drilling successfully achieved the three core goals: comprehensively verifying historical exploration results, cryptographically estimating the drilling density in the resource area, and obtaining fresh cores to support subsequent metallurgical tests.” Victor Feng mentioned that the second phase of the company's 20,000-meter drilling project has been fully launched. Through the addition of three kilometer drilling rigs, the overall drilling depth and operation efficiency of the project have been greatly improved. Based on the key characteristics of multiple deep holes in the first phase, the second phase of drilling will focus on three core directions: attacking deep extension areas of the ore body, filling in known gaps in the ore body, epitaxial exploration and verifying historical geophysical exploration and new target areas defined by surface sampling, completing the largest and deepest exploration operations in the history of the project, and continuously promoting a leapfrog upgrade in the project's resource level.

With the commencement of the second phase of the drilling project, Santa Barbara is expected to continue to produce more large, high-grade new sections, continue to promote resource upgrading, and bring more surprises to the capital market.

Location and asset advantages are prominent, and there is plenty of room for reshaping the company's valuation

The Santa Barbara gold and copper mine is a large porphyrous gold-copper high-quality asset acquired by Auro Metals (formerly South American Tin Tincorp Metals Inc.) in May of this year, holding 52 square kilometers of exploration rights. The project is located in the Zamora copper-gold metallogenic belt in southeastern Ecuador. This metallogenic belt is one of the world's top gold-copper mining areas, bringing together a number of large-scale ongoing mines and advanced development projects, and has excellent metallogenic geological conditions.

In terms of resource volume, according to the NI43-101 standard mineral resource estimation (MRE) report disclosed by the company on April 9, 2026, using the net smelting return (NSR) of 25 US dollars/ton as the boundary grade, the total amount of proven and estimated resources for the project was 235 million tons, including 128 tons (4.11 million ounces) of gold, with a grade of 0.54 g/ton; 224,000 tons of copper, grade 0.10%. The equivalent weight of converted alloy is 134 tons (4.3 million ounces), and the grade is 0.57 g/ton. At the same time, preliminary beneficiation test data verified the economic viability of the project. The gold recovery rate was as high as 85.5% and the copper recovery rate reached 19.6%. It is at a good level among similar porphyry deposits, and has solid economic development value, providing solid support for subsequent development cost control and profit release.

Looking at commodity fundamentals, the new energy industry continues to boost industrial copper demand. Gold's safe-haven properties have been stable for a long time, copper-gold symbiotic assets have both growth flexibility and cyclical advantages, and valuation fundamentals are solid. In this round of exploration, the project has repeatedly discovered an ultra-long continuous mineralization period, breaking through market expectations and continuously repairing the market's perception of the value of the project, which has brought many surprises to the capital market. However, the major landing of the 905.22-meter ultra-long complete mine section has fully realized the potential of the project's super-large porphyry deposit. The company's valuation revaluation logic has been further consolidated, and there is plenty of room for upward restoration.

The market's pricing logic for Auro Metals is shifting from pure exploration targets with high uncertainty to growing mining companies with a clear path to value realization. Auro Metals' asset value revaluation will also usher in a new starting point as the test results of the remaining 5 boreholes are revealed one after another; the second phase of 20,000 meter deep drilling continues to produce new thick, high-grade ore segments; the implementation of metallurgical test results and the upgrading of project resources.