Camino Announces Exploration Results at Los Chapitos and Further Exploration Plans in Peru

Rhea-AI Summary

Camino Minerals (CAMZF) has announced exploration results from its Los Chapitos copper-silver project in Peru. The company completed a 996.7m drilling campaign at the Pampero prospect, bringing total drilling at Los Chapitos to 27,624m. Key findings include copper grades up to 0.5% and silver 3.15 ppm at 157.6m depth at drill hole DCH-118. Surface sampling revealed copper grades up to 3.8% and 4.0 ppm silver.

The company, along with partner Nittetsu Mining, plans to continue drilling in the second half of 2025. The exploration focuses on two main mineralized trends: La Estancia and Diva. Notable results from surface sampling at Sombrero Blanco showed 78% of samples with copper grades above 0.1%, while Katty sampling revealed 100% of samples with copper grades exceeding 0.3%.

Positive

• Surface rock chip sampling showed promising results with copper grades up to 3.8% and 4.0 ppm silver
• Partnership with Nittetsu Mining Co. strengthens exploration capabilities
• Large exploration area of over 220 square kilometers with multiple copper-mineralized showings
• Strategic location in established copper-silver metallogenic belt near operating mines

Negative

• Drilling results show relatively modest copper grades (up to 0.5%) compared to surface sampling
• No mineral resource defined yet, with results remaining conceptual in nature
• Most drilling (94%) concentrated in one trend, leaving other areas largely unexplored

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / May 6, 2025 / Camino Minerals Corporation (TSXV:COR)(OTC PINK:CAMZF) (WKN: A116E1) ("Camino" or the "Company") is pleased to announce exploration results at its Copper-Silver stratabound Los Chapitos copper project ("Los Chapitos" or the "Project"), including drilling and additional mapping, trenching, and sampling along both the La Estancia and Diva copper mineralized trends. The Company is targeting large-scale disseminated manto-type copper-silver mineralization to support resource delineation studies at Los Chapitos. Camino and its partner Nittetsu Mining Co., Ltd. ("Nittetsu") plan to commence the next phase of drilling in the second half of 2025. The Los Chapitos copper project is located near the coastal city of Chala in the department of Arequipa in Peru.

Juan Carlos Castelli, Consulting Geologist from Chile, said "the Los Chapitos property is inside the northern continuation of the metallogenic Cu-Ag belt defined in Northern Chile, with operating mines such as Michilla, Las Luces, and others. We are working with Camino and Nittetsu on an aggressive exploration program, led by geological mapping and sections interpretations, geochemistry and magnetometry focused to drill the best target areas to increase the known resources in order to make a new economic copper discovery", (Figure 1).

Yoshikazu Fujimoto, Senior Geologist at Nittetsu, stated that "the geological work that we are completing at Los Chapitos is an effort to focus our exploration taskforce on bulk mineralized targets and to screen a very large land position of over 220 square kilometers that has many copper-mineralized showings."

"To make new copper discoveries, we've got to step out and continue to drill untested prospects. The geology at Los Chapitos indicates tremendous prospectivity and notably, Rio Tinto has staked ground adjacent to our claims, so we've got to put the drill where the bulk copper potential exists and keep drilling. We plan to continue drilling in the second half of 2025 at new discovery targets" said Jay Chmelauskas, CEO of Camino. "Camino is pursuing two value creation fronts, developing our permitted Puquios copper mine in Chile, and continuing to exploration drill for new copper discoveries in Peru in 2025," Mr. Chmelauskas added.

The greenfield drilling campaign of 996.7m at the Pampero prospect increases the meters drilled at Los Chapitos to a total of 27,624 m. 94% of the historic drilling meters have been drilled along the Diva Trend, with significant copper intercepts at Adriana, Lourdes, and Diana prospects. After increasing the EIA permitted areas at the Project, Camino is now beginning to drill test new prospective areas, particularly along the La Estancia fault for new copper discoveries (Figure 1 and Figure 2).

Highlights:

• The drilling campaign has validated the Pampero prospect as a Cu-Ag mineral system to support more exploration along the Estancia thick skin fault for economic copper intercepts.

• Copper oxides mineralized in the Pampero area have shown continuity at depth with geochemical results at drill hole DCH-118 with copper grades up to 0.5%, silver 3.15 ppm at a depth of 157.6 m following the main structural control.

• Surface rock chip sampling over 500m at Pampero show geochemical anomalies of copper, with grades up to 3.8% and 4.0 ppm silver, as black and green copper oxides (chrysocolla, tenorite).

• The geology at Pamperoexhibits chlorite-smectite alteration bands linked to copper mineralization increasing the opportunity for discoveries at Sombrero Blanco, the Company's next prospect to the southeast along the La Estancia Fault.

• More exploration work has been undertaken along the established Diva Trend to generate step-out drilling targets at prospects such as Katty, Diana, and Lourdes that have demonstrated significant copper intercepts in previous drilling campaigns.

Figure 1. Locations of main copper exploration trend and targets.

Camino's recent drilling campaign strategy has targeted prospects along the untested copper trend of the La Estancia fault that spans over 12 kilometers in NW-SE direction, parallel to the Diva Trend. New exploration targets at Sombrero Blanco along the La Estancia Fault were geochemically sampled and geologically mapped as potential next drilling targets, while historic exploration targets like Katty, Diana, and Lourdes within the Diva Trend were geologically reinterpreted and resampled to potentially expand the known copper zones. The Company also plans to continue drilling campaigns and surface mapping along the Diva, La Estancia and Atajo Trends to expand known mineralized zones with many prospective targets (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Los Chapitos project portfolio.

Greenfield drillholes at Pampero were located more than 10 km to the north-west from the known copper mineralization in the Adriana copper zone (Figure 1). The program was designed to test buried copper stratabound mantos located near the copper-controlling structures like the Diva Fault Trend. In this first drilling phase at the La Estancia Fault, a total of 10 drillholes were completed to depths from 38 meters to a maximum of 200.4 meters for a total of 996.7 meters drilled (Figure 3). Drilling results are summarized in Table 1.

At Pampero, alteration and mineralization are controlled by the La Estancia fault and secondary north west and north south trending faults. This set of structures acted as feeders, while the volcanic rocks of the Chocolate Formation acted as receptors. Camino has been prioritizing their exploration in this volcanic sequence, which has the potential to host large-tonnage copper deposits. The program successfully identified or extended oxide copper mineralization northwest of the La Estancia fault, along the Pampero area (Figure 1).

Figure 3. Geology and drillholes at the Pampero prospect

Between December 2024 and March 2025, rock chips were sampled at Katty and Sombrero Blanco in sub-outcrops and outcrops along handmade trenches (sampling between 1m to 2m).

At Sombrero Blanco, 205 samples were taken with 78% of their total copper grades higher than 0.1% Cu (copper) and maximum grades of 0.06ppm Au (gold) and 12.0ppm Ag (silver), the chip sample V717989 over 1 m of sampling reached grades of up to 2.75% Cu and 0.42 ppm Ag in copper oxides like malachite, chrysocolla, and copper wad (Photo 1 and Figure 4).

At Katty, 25 samples were taken with 100% of their total copper grades higher than 0.3% Cu and maximum grades of 0.1ppm Au and 26.8ppm Ag, the chip sample V713818 over 2m of sampling reached grade up to 2.86% Cu and 26.2 ppm Ag in copper oxides like malachite, chrysocolla, and copper wad (Photo 2).

Photo 1. Left: Camino team sampling at Sombrero Blanco. Right: close-up of the mineralization in the trenches, green copper oxides (brochantite-malachite).

Photo 2. Left: Camino team sampling outcrops at Katty. Right: close-up of the sampling site, occurrence of green copper oxides (malachite-chrysocolla).

Figure 4. Geology and geochemistry of North Sombrero Blanco

Table 1. Summary of Drill Results March 2025, Los Chapitos Copper Project, Peru

HOLE ID	EASTING (GPS..)	NORTHING (GPS..)	AZIMUTH	DIP	LENGTH (M)	FROM	TO	WIDTH (M)	GRADE (% Cu)	GRADE (ppm Ag)	AREA
DCH-113	563776	8270443	210	-46	150.0	91.0	92.5	1.5	0.14	0.87	Pampero Norte
DCH-114	563775	8270443	270	-60	90.0	Traces Copper no more than 839 ppm and Ag 1.09 ppm					Pampero Norte
DCH-115	563716	8270464	90	-60	100.0	15.3	15.9	0.6	0.11	0.19	Pampero Norte
						31.6	34.4	2.8	0.24	1.38
						42.5	43.7	1.2	0.40	0.99
						83.8	84.6	0.8	0.11	0.23
DCH-116	563782	8270461	270	-70	81.0	Traces Copper no more than 652 ppm, Ag 3.75 ppm and Au 0.082 ppm					Pampero Norte
DCH-117	563697	8270384	90	-60	105.0	38.2	39.9	1.7	0.13	0.62	Pampero Norte
						50.0	51.4	1.4	0.13	0.24
DCH-118	563815	8270321	315	-45	200.4	50.8	52.2	1.5	0.12	0.11	Pampero Norte
						157.6	158.1	0.5	0.50	3.15
						164.4	166.7	2.3	0.27	0.85
						169.7	171.2	1.5	0.33	0.32
DCH-119	563823	8270259	180	-55	85.5	Traces Copper no more than 575 ppm and Ag 0.94 ppm					Pampero Sur
DCH-120	563935	8270208	165	-50	65.0	37.8	39.5	1.8	0.11	0.34	Pampero Sur
DCH-121	563983	8270156	242	-60	81.8	14.6	16.0	1.4	0.13	0.24	Pampero Sur
						78.8	81.8	3.1	0.26	0.53
DCH-122	563784	8270459	90	-50	38.0	Traces Copper no more than 939 ppm and Ag 0.53 ppm					Pampero Sur

Final coordinates (East-North-Elevation, metric) taken at the end of the drillhole using GPS model (GPS MAP 64) and measurement of the drill hole trajectory with DeviGyro RG40 STANDARD tool every 5m according to protocol.

The potential quantity and grade of the exploration target expressed in this release is conceptual in nature. The target is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the property and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the exploration target being delineated as a mineral resource.

Sampling and Assay Procedures

During this campaign, 10 drillholes and 230 chip samples were completed. Core has been logged and sampled at the Company's facilities in the town of Chala, 15 km from the project. Industry standard chain of custody and QA/QC practices are followed with samples sent to Lima where they are analyzed by ICP-MS at ALS Chemex Labs' facility. The Camino geological team complied with the written internal QA/QC procedures, where the insertion of blank samples, certified international standards (pulps) and duplicates, met the objectives and acceptable results.

About Camino

Camino is a discovery and development stage copper exploration company. Camino is focused on developing copper producing assets such as Puquios, a construction-ready copper mine in Chile, and advancing its IOCG Los Chapitos copper project located in Peru through to resource delineation and development, and to add new discoveries. Camino has also permitted the Maria Cecilia copper porphyry project for exploration discovery drilling to add to its NI 43-101 resources. In addition, Camino has increased its land position at its copper and silver Plata Dorada project. Camino seeks to acquire a portfolio of advanced copper assets that have the potential to deliver copper into an electrifying copper intensive global economy. For more information, please refer to Camino's website at www.caminocorp.com.

Jose A. Bassan, FAusIMM (CP) 227922, MSc. Geologist, an independent geologist and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this document. Mr. Bassan has reviewed and verified relevant data supporting the technical disclosure.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD /S/ "Jay Chmelauskas" President and CEO

For further information, please contact: Camino Investor Relations info@caminocorp.com Tel: (604) 493-2058

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain disclosures in this release constitute forward-looking information. In making the forward-looking disclosures in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking information in the release includes the prospectivity of future exploration work at Los Chapitos, future planned drilling programs, prospectivity for copper exploration in new targets; expectations for joint ventures and/or strategic partnerships with respect to the Company's properties and the receipt of necessary authorizations and approvals. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking information in this release is subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Such risk factors include, among others, that actual results of the Company's exploration activities may be different than those expected by management, that the Company may not realize the benefits of joint ventures and/or strategic partnerships with respect to the Company's properties, that the Company may be unable to obtain or may experience delays in obtaining any required authorizations and approvals and the state of equity and commodity markets. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Camino Minerals Corp.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

FAQ

What are the latest drilling results from Camino Minerals' (CAMZF) Los Chapitos project?

The latest drilling at Pampero prospect showed copper grades up to 0.5% and silver 3.15 ppm at 157.6m depth in drill hole DCH-118, with surface sampling revealing copper grades up to 3.8% and 4.0 ppm silver.

When will Camino Minerals (CAMZF) start its next drilling phase at Los Chapitos?

Camino Minerals and Nittetsu Mining plan to commence the next phase of drilling in the second half of 2025.

How many meters has Camino Minerals drilled at Los Chapitos?

The company has drilled a total of 27,624 meters at Los Chapitos, with 996.7 meters in the recent Pampero prospect campaign.

What are the main exploration trends at Camino Minerals' Los Chapitos project?

The main exploration trends are the La Estancia and Diva copper mineralized trends, with 94% of historic drilling focused on the Diva Trend.

What were the sampling results from Sombrero Blanco and Katty prospects?

At Sombrero Blanco, 78% of samples showed copper grades above 0.1% Cu, while at Katty, 100% of samples had copper grades higher than 0.3% Cu with maximum silver grades of 26.8 ppm.