Mr. Ian McMullan reports

ARIZONA SONORAN ENGAGES AUSENCO TO LEAD THE CACTUS AND PARKS/SALYER PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY AND APPOINTS VICTOR MORAILA AS CHIEF ENGINEER

Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc. has engaged Ausenco Pty. Ltd. out of Tucson as lead engineer to deliver an integrated prefeasibility study (PFS) at the Cactus and Parks/Salyer project by early 2024. The project, on private land, is a brownfields site with in-place infrastructure and is accessible via highway, 45 miles south of Phoenix, Ariz. Additionally, the company is pleased to announce the appointment of Victor Moraila as chief engineer, joining as the company transitions into a United States-based copper developer.

George Ogilvie, Arizona Sonoran president and chief executive officer, commented: "As ASCU emerges as a mid-tier copper developer, we are thrilled to welcome the depth of experiences of both Victor and Ausenco; each rooted in quality and value-driven projects. Victor's surface mining experience will be invaluable in optimizing the projects, complementing our existing underground mining experience, and Ausenco is an elite firm whose expertise involves all project areas extending to geology, mining, infrastructure and financial modelling. Looking forward, ASCU is bolstering the technical services team, necessary team to deliver domestically produced copper into the U.S. copper supply chain, from the third-largest independent copper deposit in the U.S."

Ian McMullan, Arizona Sonoran chief operating officer, commented: "The PFS will be the platform to consider significant copper production scale via a process design of heap leach and SXEW. We see the further opportunity to continue scaling the project pending the success of the Nuton program, and any future exploration success along the mine trend."

Prefeasibility study

Ausenco will initially review the Cactus draft PFS and incorporate into the new rescoped PFS, which includes Parks/Salyer. The study will explore a simple heap leach operation, targeting a potential of 50,000 tons per annum of LME Grade A copper cathode from an on-site solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) plant. Mineralized material will be sourced from four deposits initially, including Stockpile, Cactus East, Parks/Salyer and Cactus West. Pending a successful metallurgical program with Rio Tinto's Nuton Technologies, and a subsequent commercial agreement, Arizona Sonoran and Ausenco will layer in the primary sulphides as a fifth source of mineralized material for the SXEW plant. In addition to its own technical staff, Ausenco will lead a technical consultant team comprising Samuel Engineering, AGP Mining Consultants, Stantec, MineFill Services, Clear Creek Associates, and Call & Nicholas Inc.

As part of the PFS work for the project, Arizona Sonoran and Ausenco have agreed to complete trade-off and optimization studies and detailed mine production scenario analysis, in conjunction with AGP Mining, around the following areas:

• Mineralized material sources from an open-pit expansion (Cactus West), underground development (Cactus East and Parks/Salyer) and the existing Stockpile;
• Ore handling, storage and agglomeration;
• Leach pad design and operation;
• Acid storage, consumption and handling;
• Solvent extraction and electrowinning;
• Existing and new infrastructure (as required);
• Preliminary design of access roads in co-ordination with mine access roads;
• Preliminary design and location of mine support facilities;
• Mine and geotechnical design.

Timing

A PFS detailing the oxide and enriched mineralized material is projected to take approximately 10 months to complete, with results currently expected in the fourth quarter of 2023. Based on the results of current metallurgical testing with Nuton, layering in the primary sulphide material into the mine plan would extend delivery into early 2024.

Chief engineer appointment

Mr. Moraila brings 18 years of practical mining experience, including invaluable open-pit and heap leach operations experience in mid-tier and large-tier operations in the U.S. and Mexico. He has been instrumental in mine planning, developing and implementing life-of-mine plans for mine execution success. Most recently, Mr. Moraila was chief mine engineer for Nevada Gold Mine's Long Canyon mine and, prior to that, mine operations superintendent for SSR Mining's Marigold mine. He joins Arizona Sonoran's technical team during the design, optimization and detailed engineering of the Cactus and Parks/Salyer deposits that includes Graeme Hendricks, senior engineer, Dan Johnson, project director, and Greg Phillips, project process superintendent.

About Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc.

Arizona Sonoran, an Arizona copper developer, has an objective to become a mid-tier copper producer with low operating costs and to develop the Cactus and Parks/Salyer projects that 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. Contiguous to the Cactus project is the company's 100-per-cent-owned Parks/Salyer deposit that could allow for a phased expansion of the Cactus mine once it becomes a producing asset. 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.

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