Fitzroy shares advance on Chilean copper drilling results
Fitzroy Minerals Inc. [FTZ-TSXV, FTZFF-OTCQ, C3Y-FSE] shares advanced on Friday after the company released an update on its exploration progress at the Buen Retiro and Caballos copper projects in northern Chile.
The shares rose 6.6% or $0.025 to 40.5 cents and currently trade in a 52-week range of 73 cents and 20 cents.
The Buen Retiro project is at a pre-resource, advanced exploration stage of development. It is situated close to the Candelaria deposit, owned by Lundin Mining Corp.’s [LUN-TSX; LUMI-Sweden], in the Punta del Cobre iron-oxide-copper gold (IOCG) district of Copiapo. High grade copper ore was mined from 2005 to 2009 at the Manto Negro open pit and trucked 60 kilometres to a processing plant in Copiapo. Fitzroy has said it aims to leverage potential future cash flow from a proposed Buen Retiro heap leach copper operation to fund the continued exploration for major copper deposits in Chile with minimal dilution.
As previously reported in a news release on January 13, 2026, in the north area of the Buen Retiro project, drilling has identified a copper-sulphide mineralized trend extending for approximately 1.0 kilometre north of the historical Manto Negro Mine, hosted within a volcanic sequence dominated by andesitic rocks, interbedded with volcanic breccias and tuffs.
In its latest press release, Fitzroy said infill drilling is underway to allow for a maiden mineral resource estimate ahead of a pre-feasibility study. Meanwhile, the company said drill hole BRT-DDH045 has returned 384 metres of 0.22% copper from 4.0 metres, including 94 metres at 0.33% copper from 30 metres.
Drill hole BRT-DDH-044 intersected a series of low-grade intersections but returned 10 metres of 0.30% copper from 142 to 152 metres. Separately, infill drilling with two diamond drill rigs started in February and approximately 160 metres of HQ diamond core is being drilled per day. Drill holes 46 to 60 have been completed and are being logged and cut, with samples sent for assay on an ongoing basis.
“Drill hole 45 intersected copper in two distinct mineralizing styles in the North area of the Buen Retiro property,’’ said Fitzroy President and CEO Merlin Marr-Johnson. “It is also located three kilometres north-northeast of the high-grade copper oxide mineralization in the Southwest area,’’ he said. “Combined with large, coincident geophysical anomalies, there is now compelling evidence that Buen Retiro is a major copper system.’’
The Caballos project covers 18,000 hectares of concessions at an average altitude of 2,200 metres and is located 210 kilometres from Santiago.
At Caballos, an airborne geophysical survey has been completed and interpretation is ongoing. Phase two drilling is scheduled for later in the year once the geophysical data is integrated in the company’s geological model.