Soil Grids and Drill Plans Shape the Next Phase of Copper…

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- USA News Group News Commentary - Copper was one of 10 new minerals added to the U.S. Geological Survey’s final 2025 List of Critical Minerals in November 2025, and across the Americas, copper and gold companies sit at very different stages. In southeast Ecuador, a developer has completed a funding package; in Colombia, an explorer has drilled below its maiden Mineral Resource; and a royalty company has extended copper and gold royalties in Chile. In Loja Province, southern Ecuador, an explorer has laid a soil grid over its copper-gold porphyry target and says the results give it a defined area within which to select targets for its first planned drill holes, subject to surface access and permits. Companies mentioned in today’s commentary include: Salazar Resources Limited (OTCQB: SRLZF) (TSXV: SRL) (FSE: CCG), Solaris Resources Inc. (NYSE: SLSR) (TSX: SLS), Collective Mining Ltd. (NASDAQ: CNL) (TSX: CNL), OR Royalties Inc. (NYSE: OR) (TSX: OR), Centerra Gold Inc. (NYSE: CGAU) (TSX: CG).

Key Takeaways

A coherent copper-in-soil anomaly, still open: soil sampling at the 100%-owned Monja Project in Loja Province, southern Ecuador, has defined a coherent 1.9 km by 0.9 km copper-in-soil anomaly at a 200 ppm Cu threshold, open to the northwest and southeast, where the grid is being extended.
Rock samples up to 2.76% Cu: newly reported selective rock samples returned up to 2.76% Cu, 0.71 g/t Au, 28.8 g/t Ag and 9 ppm Mo (sample 51760), and all nine Monja rock samples above 1% Cu, including four reported in April and June (51584, 200101, 51744 and 200079), also returned between 0.42 and 1.15 g/t Au.
A grid that is 64% complete: 482 of the 752 planned sampling points have been collected, and the company plans to complete the remaining 270, extending the grid to the northwest and southeast to follow the copper anomaly where it remains open.
A first drill test planned: up to approximately 3,500 meters in four holes is planned from the first quarter of 2027, subject to surface access and permits, and the permits required for drilling are in process.

A Soil Grid Over a Porphyry Target

Salazar Resources Limited (OTCQB: SRLZF) (TSXV: SRL) (FSE: CCG) is a Canadian junior exploration company focused on the discovery and development of mineral deposits in Ecuador. Its 100%-owned Monja Project is a 9,088-hectare copper-gold porphyry project comprising two licences in Loja Province, southern Ecuador. The company announced the identification of a high-priority copper-gold porphyry target at Monja on April 8, 2026, with a central core measuring approximately 2 km by 1 km and a best rock-chip result of 4.77% Cu, 1.12 g/t Au, 19.5 g/t Ag and 74 ppm Mo. On June 30, 2026, it reported rock samples grading up to 1.71% Cu, 0.99 g/t Au, 10.3 g/t Ag and 162 ppm Mo, together with an initial 23-sample soil survey in which 16 samples (70%) exceeded 100 ppm Cu.

The company has now reported the results of the detailed soil geochemical sampling program, covering 482 of the 752 planned sampling points (64%) completed during its summer work program. The survey uses a 100 m by 100 m sampling grid, oriented in a northwest-southeast direction and centered on the copper-gold porphyry target. The 482 points collected include the 23 samples reported on June 30, 2026.

According to the company, the program has defined a coherent 1.9 km by 0.9 km copper-in-soil anomaly at a 200 ppm Cu threshold, open to the northwest and southeast. That threshold, approximately the 81st percentile of the data, is a working threshold selected by Salazar, based on the experience of its geologists, to separate anomalous copper values clearly from background. Copper results range from 3 ppm to 2,242 ppm, and 92 soil samples returned 200 ppm Cu or more. New grid samples returned up to 1,884 ppm Cu (sample 250245); the highest soil value to date, 2,242 ppm Cu, is from the initial 23-sample soil survey reported on June 30, 2026.

The company says copper, zinc and manganese exhibit well-established distributions typical of a porphyry system, with a central copper dispersion surrounded by halos of zinc and manganese. It also says the copper-in-soil anomaly is comparable in size to the approximately 2 km by 1 km core reported on April 8, 2026 and larger than the approximately 1.5 km by 0.5 km porphyry-related alteration footprint reported on June 30, 2026.

Copper and Gold Together in the Rock Samples

On completion of the 2026 summer work program, Salazar had collected a total of 429 rock samples at Monja, mainly rock chip and channel samples, including those reported on April 8 and June 30, 2026; 321 of them are reported for the first time. Of the 429, 157 returned more than 300 ppm Cu and 46 exceeded 1,000 ppm (0.1%) Cu, compared with 64 and 20, respectively, of the 99 samples reported on June 30, 2026. The share of samples above 300ppm Cu fell from 64% to 37% as sampling moved beyond the central zone. The company says these results define a 0.8 km by 0.7 km copper anomaly in rock, located within the broader soil anomaly.

Newly reported selective rock samples returned up to 2.76% Cu, 0.71 g/t Au, 28.8 g/t Ag and 9 ppm Mo (sample 51760); 2.63% Cu, 0.61 g/t Au, 29.2 g/t Ag and 4 ppm Mo (sample 700235); and 2.41% Cu, 0.68 g/t Au, 24.3 g/t Ag and 3 ppm Mo (sample 700444). Gold came with the copper: all nine samples above 1% Cu also returned between 0.42 and 1.15 g/t Au. Separately, 46 rock samples (11%) returned more than 0.25 g/t Au, and the highest gold value in rock, 7.75 g/t Au (sample 700319), carries only 0.30% Cu. Molybdenum is locally anomalous, with 61 rock samples (14%) returning more than 20 ppm Mo, including 881 ppm Mo (sample 700304).

The mineralization is hosted within an intrusive complex of granodiorite, quartz-feldspar porphyry and hydrothermal breccias. Mineralization consists of pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite and magnetite, associated with silica mainly in B- and D-type veins that form intense stockworks and sheeted vein zones. The company says the mineral signatures are consistent with a zoned porphyry system that may represent the upper levels of a preserved system or a structurally telescoped one.

Fredy Salazar, President and CEO, said: “In five months, the soil grid has taken Monja from a handful of encouraging surface samples to a coherent, kilometre-scale copper anomaly with the copper, zinc and manganese zonation we’d expect around a porphyry center. And it’s still open to the northwest and southeast. This is the same systematic, ground-up work that led our team to the Curipamba-El Domo discovery, now under construction. Our focus is on closing out the grid and selecting targets for the first holes ever drilled at Monja, planned for 2027.”

Closing Out the Grid Before the First Holes

The company says the results give it a defined area within which to select targets for the drilling planned at Monja from the first quarter of 2027, subject to surface access and permits. As announced on October 19, 2026, up to approximately 3,500 meters in four holes is planned, designed to test the main copper-gold anomaly, and the company says it will be the first drill test of the porphyry target.

Next steps include completing the remaining 270 sampling points of the designed soil grid, continuing detailed mapping, planning ground geophysical surveys to refine drill targets, working with local communities on surface access, and obtaining the permits required for drilling, which are in process.

A Carried Interest at Curipamba-El Domo

Alongside Monja, the company holds a 25% interest in the Curipamba-El Domo copper-gold project, which it says was discovered by the Salazar team and is currently under construction; the company says that interest is fully carried through to commercial production. Its 100%-owned exploration portfolio also includes the Santiago, Pijilí, El Tigre and Tarqui-Quimi projects across multiple prospective copper-gold belts in Ecuador.

The project operator, Silvercorp Metals Inc., said on November 3 that the construction budget for the project has been updated to US$298.2 million, US$14.6 million above its February estimate of US$283.6 million, and attributed a four-month delay to heavy rain. In a corrected version of that release issued on November 4, Silvercorp said it is now targeting production at El Domo in November 2027, subject to, among other things, weather conditions, and contractor performance. In a November 5 release, Salazar said it is not required to fund any part of the budget increase.

CONTINUED... Read this and more news for Salazar Resources Limited at: usanewsgroup.com

Elsewhere in Copper and Gold

Solaris Resources Inc. (NYSE: SLSR) (TSX: SLS) said on November 9 that it has received the third and final US$50 million tranche under its US$200 million funding package with RGLD Gold AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Gold, Inc. The package was entered into in May 2025 and comprises a gold stream and net smelter return royalty. Solaris describes its flagship asset as the 100%-owned Warintza copper porphyry Project in southeast Ecuador.

Matthew Rowlinson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Solaris, commented: “Receipt of the final tranche completes the US$200 million Royal Gold funding package and materially strengthens our liquidity as we advance Warintza’s social, permitting and technical workstreams. The package has provided substantial capital without an equity issuance while preserving strategic flexibility.”

Collective Mining Ltd. (NASDAQ: CNL) (TSX: CNL) reported on November 10 assay results from four directional diamond drill holes targeting the Ramp Zone of the Apollo deposit, part of its fully funded 2026 drilling program at the Guayabales Project in Caldas, Colombia. The deepest hole, APC171-D3, intersected 44.55 m at 5.75 g/t AuEq (5.58 g/t Au, 8 g/t Ag), including 21.40 m at 11.06 g/t AuEq (10.78 g/t Au, 15 g/t Ag), from 1,274 m below surface within the Mineral Resource, and 79.80 m at 2.02 g/t Au from 1,727 m below surface, extending Ramp Zone mineralization to approximately 370 m below the Mineral Resource and more than doubling its known vertical extent to approximately 720 m. The company said construction of its planned 3-kilometer underground exploration adit is expected to commence this month.

Ari Sussman, Executive Chairman, commented: “Every one of these four holes found gold beneath and outside the Mineral Resource, with the deepest hole extending the Ramp Zone several hundred meters further down.”

OR Royalties Inc. (NYSE: OR) (TSX: OR) reported third-quarter 2026 results on November 11, saying that with 63,734 GEOs earned over the first nine months of 2026, it remains on track for approximately the mid-point of its 2026 guidance of 80,000 to 90,000 GEOs. During the quarter, the company closed the $15.0 million extension of its 1.0% copper and 3.0% NSR gold royalties on Hot Chili Limited’s Costa Fuego project to the adjacent La Verde project in Chile.

Jason Attew, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We also remain on track for approximately the mid-point of our 2026 guidance, even after absorbing the Barnat pit disruption at Canadian Malartic. More importantly, 2026 is the year our development pipeline turned into production: Dalgaranga, Cuiú Cuiú and Amulsar have all poured first gold in 2026, taking the portfolio to 25 producing assets.”

Centerra Gold Inc. (NYSE: CGAU) (TSX: CG) reported third-quarter 2026 results on October 29, with consolidated gold production of 75,429 ounces, including 44,070 ounces from the Mount Milligan Mine and 31,359 ounces from the Öksüt Mine, and copper production of 12.8 million pounds at Mount Milligan. The company said Kemess has the potential to become its second long-life gold-copper asset in British Columbia.

President and CEO Paul Tomory commented: “This quarter’s results reflect consistent execution at our operations. Mount Milligan delivered a fourth consecutive quarter on plan and remains on track to achieve its 2026 production guidance.”

Track the Signals Before the Crowd

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Article Source: Salazar Resources Limited news releases dated November 12, November 5, October 19, June 30 and April 8, 2026.

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Cautionary Note Regarding Exploration Results and Technical Information. Monja is an early-stage exploration project. Monja has not been drill tested: the Company describes the planned program as the first drill test of the porphyry target, the program has not commenced and remains subject to surface access and permits, and the permits required for drilling are in process. No mineral resource has been reported at Monja. Rock samples are selective by nature and may not be representative of the mineralization on the property, and sample widths are not true widths. Soil geochemical anomalies are exploration indicators only and are not necessarily indicative of the presence, grade or continuity of mineralization at depth, and follow-up exploration may not confirm the extent or continuity of the anomalies described. The geochemical work presented is preliminary and interpretive in nature. The 200 ppm Cu anomaly threshold is a working threshold selected by Salazar, based on the experience of its geologists, and the soil program is not complete, with 482 of the 752 planned sampling points collected. Information about the Curipamba-El Domo construction budget and schedule is as reported by its operator, Silvercorp Metals Inc., which has stated that there can be no assurance that production will commence when targeted. According to the Company, the scientific and technical information in its November 12, 2026 news release has been reviewed and approved by Kieran Downes, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, who is independent of the Company; the Qualified Person has not reviewed or approved this article. Results and disclosures of other companies referenced in this article are as reported by those companies and are not indicative of results at any Salazar Resources Limited property. Readers should review the Company’s filings on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this article.

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