Aztec Minerals (AZT.V) has provided an exploration update to the market as the company is gearing up to start a 2,000 meter Reverse Circulation drill program on the Tombstone project in Arizona. The drill program will consist of 12 holes and is budgeted at C$0.9M.
The drill program is designed to expand the currently known mineralization horizontally and down dip beyond the holes that were drilled in the 2020-2023 drill campaigns at the Contention Pit. Additionally, and this is what we are looking forward to, Aztec Minerals will also start drilling the Westside area where there is shallow bulk tonnage gold-silver mineralization present. The Westside also hosted areas with historical production as that zone was mined in the past with a focus on underground, higher grade mining while Aztec Minerals will focus on the shallow mineralization. The drill program will help to get a better understanding of that target while also providing a potential size indication. As all drill locations are located within the patented claim block, the timeline to get drill permits is very short and that definitely is a big help to the company.
As Aztec Minerals has been spending more money on Tombstone than its joint venture partner, the stake of the JV partner has now diluted to 22.3% which means Aztec now owns 77.7% of the asset. We anticipate the JV partner will be diluted further after the completion of the current 2,000 meter drill program and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Aztec reaching 80% ownership before too long.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Aztec Minerals. Aztec is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer.
