Mr. Simon Dyakowski reports

AZTEC EXPANDS DRILLING PROGRAM AT THE TOMBSTONE PROJECT, ARIZONA

Aztec Minerals Corp. has provided an update to the continuing Tombstone property reverse circulation and core drilling program in southeastern Arizona. The 2025 drilling program has completed 34 RC drill holes, and 13 drill holes have been reported (please see new releases dated Aug. 14, Sept. 23 and Oct. 31, 2025). The drilling program has completed 5,960 metres of RC drilling and 495 m of core drilling to date. The company currently has 21 RC drill holes awaiting geochemical analysis at the Bureau Veritas Laboratory.

Drilling program expansion

The company also announces that the Tombstone property joint venture management committee met recently and approved an expansion of the drill program from 7,500 metres to at least 8,500 metres. The expanded program comprises 7,000 metres of RC and a minimum of 1,500 metres of core drilling, and is expected to extend into the first quarter of 2026.

Analytical turnaround time update

Aztec has been advised that sample backlogs and turnaround times for geochemical analysis at the Bureau Veritas laboratory are expected to improve with the recent addition of staff and recently completed analysis equipment repair. The company expects to receive additional analytical results within the next 30 days.

Core drilling update

The core drilling portion of the program has resumed, and has currently advanced 282-metre to 465-metre total depth in the drill hole TC25-03 (target TR24-13). Core drilling is also expected to continue to test to depth the previously identified AMT target under the Bisbee formation in the thick Paleozoic carbonate formations below by re-entering the core drill holes. Aztec has previously identified several large, strong, conductive bodies underneath the historic gold-silver district through NSAMT (natural-source audio frequency magnetotelluric surveys) anomalies.

Quality assurance/quality control statement

Drill samples are collected every 1.52 m from RC chips and every 1.52 m from sawing the core drill holes. The samples are analyzed by Bureau Veritas for gold with a 30-gram sample size using the method FA430 followed by MA300. Bureau Veritas is independent of the company and of the qualified person. Overlimits, when present, are analyzed by MA370 or FA530.

The company uses quality assurance/quality control as a standard part of its sampling-assaying assessments in conjunction with its exploration sampling programs. Samples and their collection are controlled by an industry standard conforming QA/QC program including all drill holes containing certified blanks, standards and duplicates.

The samples are being regularly shipped to and received by the Bureau Veritas mineral laboratory in Hermosillo, Mexico, for geochemical analysis. The QA/QC for the drilling programs has been evaluated and found to have good results.

Tombstone project overview

Aztec Minerals holds a 85.0-per-cent interest in the Tombstone property joint venture, which includes most of the original patented mining claims in the main district, as well as some recently acquired properties.

The main target of the current drilling is to continue testing the shallow, bulk tonnage, potentially heap leachable, mesothermal gold-silver oxide mineralization adjacent and below the previously mined Contention pit by stepout drilling. Future drilling is expected to focus on follow-up on the current program's results. It is anticipated that possible targeting could include strike and dip extensions of the shallow oxide mineralization, and move along those trends deeper into the sulphide zone as historically there was significant production to 300-metre depth.

The Tombstone project is located 100 kilometres southeast of Tucson, Ariz., and covers much of the historic Tombstone silver district. Tombstone is renowned for its high-grade, oxidized, silver-gold mesothermal stringer lode veins, hydrothermal breccias and manto carbonate replacement deposit orebodies that were mined in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The historic silver production in the Tombstone district from 1878 to 1939 was estimated at 32 million ounces and 250,000 ounces of gold.

The district geology consists of a mix of shallow-level, oxidized gold-silver and base metal deposits related to CRD and skarns hosted in folded and thrusted sediments, intrusive dikes and lode veins, as well as the underexplored, sulphide versions located below the water table.

Host rocks to the mineralization are primarily the clastic sediments of the lowest portion of the Cretaceous Bisbee formation. Between 50 and 300 metres in depth, the Bisbee is underlain by approximately two km thick of the same Paleozoic carbonate formations that host the 110-million-tonne Hermosa-Taylor zinc-lead-silver deposit of South32 located 60 km southwest of Tombstone.

Aztec believes that the historic silver mines at Tombstone could be related to a much larger mesothermal system with CRD mineralization below the old mines. Since 2017, Aztec has completed geological mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical surveying to identify the most prospective areas for Au-Ag mineralization around and below the Contention open pit, and CRD zinc-lead-copper-silver-gold mineralization below the entire district. Aztec management views the district as highly prospective for the discovery of mesothermal and CRD mineralization.

Summary Tombstone project highlights

• Well-located property on patented (33) and unpatented (73) claims (663 hectares/1,639 acres) covers much of the historic Tombstone silver mining district, great infrastructure, local town, road access, full services, water and power.
• Historic silver district produced 32 million ounces of silver and 250,000 ounces of gold from 1878 to 1939 in high-grade, oxidized, silver-gold-lead-zinc-copper vein, breccia and CRD deposits, and small open-pit heap leach production in late 1980s.
• Drilling by Aztec in 2020-2024 has demonstrated that the Contention pit target has significant, shallow, oxidized Au-Ag bulk tonnage mineralization, which is open in all directions.
• Multiple other prospective targets in Cretaceous and Paleozoic rocks related to major northwest and north-northeast-trending structures hosting porphyritic intrusions crosscutting a possible caldera ring structure.

Aztec has not verified these historic results and is not relying on them. Aztec has in its possession the historic drill logs, maps and reports, but does not have any information on the quality assurance or quality control measures taken in connection with these historical exploration results.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Allen David Heyl, BSc, CPG -- AIPG No. 11277, vice-president, exploration, of Aztec, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Heyl supervises the Tombstone exploration programs. Mr. Heyl has verified the data, which included a review of the sampling, analytical and test methods underlying the data, information and opinions disclosed herein.

About Aztec Minerals Corp.

Aztec is a mineral exploration company focused on two emerging discoveries in North America. The Cervantes project is an emerging porphyry gold-copper discovery in Sonora, Mexico. The Tombstone project is an emerging gold-silver discovery with high-grade CRD silver-lead-zinc potential in southern Arizona. Aztec's shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange (symbol AZT) and on the OTCQB (symbol AZZTF).

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