Rugby Resources discovers copper mineralization at Cobrasco, Colombia

Rugby Resources Ltd. [RUG-TSXV] provided an update on exploration progress at its 100%-owned Cobrasco copper project, Colombia.

Highlights: Continued reconnaissance field exploration has been conducted over the northern of the two Cobrasco IHS-08005X tenement blocks. Field evidence indicates the presence of a cluster of mineralised porphyries.

Field work has discovered strongly mineralized porphyry float samples approximately 2 km southeast of the drilling area. This is outside and east of the known porphyries demonstrated by Rugby’s 2022 auger sampling program.

Auger sampling north of the area drilled has extended the copper-molybdenum geochemical anomaly to the north of that defined previously.

Environmental and Community programs have been expanded.

Field work continues on the Cobrasco Project, including geological mapping and reconnaissance soil and rock chip sampling. Environmental work continues and includes both soil and vegetation categorization work. The focus is to identify and document areas with limited forest cover and relatively good access for future drill sites. This work was conducted by independent environmental experts.

Francisco Montes, Rugby’s Cobrasco Project Manager, who led our geologic team’s latest reconnaissance program stated: “My team has been continually surprised by the sheer extent of porphyry copper mineralization evident on surface exposures within the northern tenement block. This is exemplified by numerous new mineralized outcrops defined within areas of known geochemical anomalism, as well as new areas in the far north where we extended the auger sampling over the zone with the highest molybdenum values located to date. Molybdenum grades are typically found to be elevated directly overlying or central over a buried porphyry system and this occurrence may represent another porphyry system located north of our recent drilling which produced potential economic grade mineralization. Mapping has also delineated a strong lithocap alteration in an area some 2 km west of drilling where we believe older volcanic rocks mask another mineralized porphyry at modest depth, coincident with magnetite depletion evident in our airborne magnetic surveying. Although this area was auger sampled with depressed geochemistry, we would not expect elevated geochemistry at surface within this volcanic sequence. Furthermore, some 2 km east from our drilling, significant chalcocite/malachite breccia and porphyry float was located over an extent of some 300 metres, totally outside the area originally thought to have potential for hosting porphyry mineralization. The field evidence collected to date points towards the northern Cobrasco tenement hosting an extensive copper-molybdenum porphyry complex with multiple porphyries, and we will continue to expand our systematic geochemical sampling and geophysical programs to capture this potential.”

Over 600 additional soil samples were collected during the current campaign, taking the total number to 793 samples. The program has delineated a significant copper-molybdenum anomaly where elevated “C” horizon geochemical values are similar to other global tier 1 porphyry copper deposits. The Cobrasco copper-molybdenum porphyry system is well defined for future drill testing.

An additional 79 rock chip samples were collected at Cobrasco North, mostly within the soil sampling grid. Outcrops are limited however due to dense vegetation cover and intense weathering of the altered porphyry. Regardless, the reconnaissance team located some outcrops of highly mineralized copper porphyry.

Rugby is currently exploring mechanisms for financing ongoing drilling. Whilst that proceeds, Rugby continues to advance fieldwork to evaluate and enhance our knowledge of the Cobrasco porphyry system.

The Volador social and environmental teams commenced a new “Social – Environmental Program” in conjunction with the Tutunendo Cristo Rey Technical School. The project has three main components:

The Colombian Cobrasco project is located in the western cordillera belt which hosts large scale copper molybdenum mines in Chile, Peru, and Panama (and more recent significant projects discovered in Ecuador). This belt has not been subjected to modern exploration in Colombia.