Mr. George Ogilvie reports

ARIZONA SONORAN CONTINUES TO DEFINE NEAR SURFACE MINERALIZATION AT MAINSPRING

Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc. has released the first 16 drill holes (19,219 feet; 5,858 metres) from an infill drilling program at MainSpring, within the 100-per-cent-owned Cactus project in Arizona. Drilling is infilling the shallow mineralization to the southern end of the area, in support of a potential open-pit design. An open-pit design using the inferred category resources is being evaluated for inclusion within the pending preliminary economic assessment (PEA), expected in Q3 2024.

The MainSpring infill drill program is reducing drill spacings from 500 ft (152 m) to 250 ft (76 m) to upgrade the pending MainSpring mineral resource classification from inferred to an indicated category, financed by the company. Additionally, the geology team is concurrently conducting an inferred drill program at Cactus West. The Cactus West program is focused on expanding the known primary sulphide mineral resource and financed by Nuton Technologies, as part of the option to joint venture agreement announced Dec. 14, 2023.

Highlights:

• Near-surface mineralization within 100 m of surface in southern MainSpring; infill drilling at 250 ft (76 m) drill spacings;
• ECM-230 (interval includes 0.1 ft (0.03 m) of missing core): 827 ft (252 m) at 0.30 per cent total copper (CuT) of continuous mineralization:
  • 461 ft (141 m) at 0.45 per cent CuT, 0.36 per cent Cu TSol (total soluble copper) and 0.001 per cent Mo (molybdenum) (enriched), including:
    • 60 ft (18 m) at 1.68 per cent CuT, 1.60 per cent Cu TSol and 0.001 per cent Mo.
• ECM-236: 383 ft (117 m) at 0.39 per cent CuT of continuous mineralization:
  • 41 ft (13 m) at 0.23 per cent CuT, 0.20 per cent Cu TSol and 0.002 per cent Mo (oxide) -- 65 m from surface;
  • 275 ft (84 m) at 0.46 per cent CuT, 0.41 per cent Cu TSol and 0.002 per cent Mo (enriched).
• ECM-231: 498 ft (152 m) at 0.28 per cent CuT and 0.24 per cent Cu TSol (enriched), including:
  • 56 ft (17 m) at 0.43 per cent CuT, 0.40 per cent Cu TSol and 0.001 per cent Mo;
  • 49 ft (15 m) at 0.71 per cent CuT, 0.66 per cent Cu TSol and 0.001 per cent Mo.

Note: True widths are not known.

George Ogilvie, Arizona Sonoran's president and chief executive officer, commented: "ASCU continues to demonstrate itself as a lower-risk copper developer, with a short time frame to construction decision and the potential to benefit from this copper cycle. Our prefeasibility study issued in February of this year set a solid foundation, from which our team is building opportunities and optimizations, while assuming current and realistic economic assumptions. Specifically, MainSpring's shallow low-grade mineralization is supportive of a potential open-pit immediately south of Parks/Salyer. Our pending PEA will explore this potential, as well as a first look at the potential impacts of heap leaching the Cactus mine primary sulphides using the Nuton leaching technologies.

"We are a unique emerging brownfields developer working towards a construction decision in the near term. While the team integrates the several new opportunities presented to us through the continued expansion of our porphyry system, we remain focused on the goal of advancing Cactus to a construction decision and presenting a solid mine plan with low execution risk."

Integrated preliminary economic study

The integrated preliminary economic study is on schedule and on budget for completion in Q3 2024. The study will explore two mining scenarios, which will assume the same inputs utilized within the February, 2024, prefeasibility study (PFS) (see press release dated Feb. 21, 2024, or the company's SEDAR+). The purpose is to demonstrate the economic potential of MainSpring, and a first look at the potential economic uplift from Nuton Technologies. The two scenarios will be outlined as:

• Scenario 1: Oxides and enriched material from Cactus West, Cactus East, Parks/Salyer, MainSpring and the stockpile;
• Scenario 2: Scenario 1, and the inclusion of primary sulphides from all sources of material, using the Nuton leaching technologies.

Drilling and geology recap

The indicated drilling at MainSpring began immediately following the completion of the inferred drilling program and is infilling the 500 ft (152 m) spaced holes to 250 ft (76 m). Drilling began where mineralization is closest to surface (as shallow as 140 ft (43 m)) to define an indicated shallow starter pit. The inferred drilling shows that copper grades increase, and mineralization thickens to the north and northwest into the gap between MainSpring and Parks/Salyer, additionally depth to bedrock also increases to the north and northwest. Infill drilling is expected to continue to the north and northwest to push the potential starter pit in those directions. The lower copper grades at MainSpring are expected and coincide with remnant enriched, oxide and primary mineralization within predominantly leach cap. Copper grades, mineralization thickness and mineralization continuity are all expected to increase north and west from MainSpring into the gap zone.

Quality assurance/quality control

Drilling completed on the project between 2020 and 2024 was supervised by on-site Arizona Sonoran personnel who prepared core samples for assay and implemented a full QA/QC program using blanks, standards and duplicates to monitor analytical accuracy and precision. The samples were sealed on site and shipped to Skyline Laboratories in Tucson, Ariz., for analysis. Skyline's sample prep, analytical methodologies and quality control system complies with global certifications for quality ISO9001:2008.

Technical aspects of this news release have been reviewed and verified by Allan Schappert, CPG No. 11758, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc.

Arizona Sonoran's objectives are to become a mid-tier copper producer with low operating costs and to develop the Cactus and Parks/Salyer projects, which could generate robust returns for investors and provide a long-term sustainable and responsible operation for the community and all stakeholders. The company's principal asset is a 100-per-cent interest in the Cactus project (former Asarco, Sacaton mine), which is situated on private land in an infrastructure-rich area of Arizona. The company is led by an executive management team and board, which have a long-standing record of successful project delivery in North America complemented by global capital markets expertise.

We seek Safe Harbor.