Completion Of Inaugural Drill Campaign At Red Top Porphyry Copper Exploration Project

VANCOUVER - Zacapa Resources reported the completion of its inaugural drill campaign at its Red Top Porphyry copper exploration project in the Superior Mining district. Initial drilling at the Red Top project has revealed an exciting new discovery of a quartz monzonite porphyry intrusive cut by copper-bearing veins occurring in association with low-temperate quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP) alteration. This style of QSP alteration is consistent with alteration peripheral to the center of a porphyry copper intrusive system and is typically low in overall copper grade1. Thus the observations from RT-21-001 displaying copper-bearing veins in association with a distal alteration assemblage are encouraging, especially considering that the Resolution copper deposit 8 kilometers southeast displays copper-rich zones within its QSP alteration halo2,5. Based on this early success the planned 2-3 hole, 3,000 meter drill program was rapidly expanded to 6 holes and 5,000 meters. The final two holes RT-22-005 (920 meters) and RT-22-006 (817 meters) were completed in April and May respectively. This expansion of the drill program was done in conjunction with additional staking, geologic mapping, hyperspectral remote sensing, and airborne magnetic and MT geophysical surveys to aid in vectoring towards the core of the intrusive system (see February 23, 2022, March 10, 2022 news releases). Porphyry style veins, predominantly with similar QSP alteration assemblages were encountered over significant thicknesses in each drill hole with varying abundance of veins containing copper, lead, zinc, and molybdenum sulfide minerals. Assay results from RT-21-001 and RT-22-002 have been received and confirm the presence of elevated Cu, Pb, Zn, Mo, Au, and Ag within discrete vein sets, although none of the intercepts are considered to be ore grade x width intercepts that would be considered economically significant. The presence of copper-sulfides within the distal QSP alteration assemblage is an encouraging similarity to the mineral system at Resolution. Assays from the remaining four drill holes are pending and the full incorporation of all the new data sets is in progress.

The Red Top porphyry copper project is located in the Superior Mining District. The Red Top project area exhibits widespread porphyry style alteration with locally intense alteration spanning approximately 3.5 kilometers by 1.5 kilometers. These intensely altered areas of quartz-sericite, as well as zones of pyrophyllite and illite are analogous to assemblages associated with mineralization at the upper levels of the Resolution deposit. This alteration and mineralization at Red Top are interpreted as the expression of the upper levels of a now moderately tilted porphyry system that has only seen limited historical exploration and no previous drilling within the target area. Zacapa is one of the only exploration companies drilling for porphyry copper in southeast Arizona.