Aztec Minerals Corp. announced plans to resume drilling at the Contention open pit gold-silver target in the famous Tombstone Silver Mining District located in southeastern Arizona early this year. The planned 2,500m core drilling program is expected to be a continuation of the prior, very successful, 2020-21 Reverse Circulation (RC) drill programs, and will be focused on expanding the oxide gold-silver (Au-Ag) mineralization in width and to depth.

Every one of the 44 drill holes in 2020-21 programs intersected shallow oxidized Au-Ag mineralization over substantial widths, several drill holes encountered visible gold, and all drill holes bottomed in mineralization, indicating the main mineralized zones are still open to depth as well as laterally. Aztec holds a 75% JV interest in the Tombstone property which includes many of the original patented mining claims in the district. The planned drilling program was designed with data obtained from surveys and modelling completed over 2022, following the conclusion of Aztec's previous RC drilling program in late 2021.

Aztec has recently completed an ortho-topo drone survey to construct detailed maps, surveyed all drill hole collars from 2020-21, sampled for Terraspec alteration analysis half of the North Contention pit, completed Terraspec analysis on all the 2020-21 RC chips, and advanced the construction of a wire-frame 3-D Leapfrog model of the historic, extensive, underground mine workings, with drilling, mineralization, geology, alteration, geophysics, and multi-element geochemistry. The planned Tombstone core drilling program is expected to consist of 10 - 12 holes at approximately 225m depth as inclined step-outs along the 900m length of the Contention pit to both sides (East, West) and at depth, with a target of potentially expanding the volume of the known Au-Ag mineralization. The core drilling program is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2023 for a period of 60 days and is subject to available funds and Tombstone JV management committee approval.

Planned drill core diameters are PQ, HQ and NQ to 225m, noting that multiple core diameters will be required to complete through the historic underground mine workings. To date the review of exploration data has defined the following target types for exploration at Tombstone: Shallow, bulk tonnage, "heap leachable"-type mineralization typical of Tombstone, composed of mesothermal Au-Ag oxides associated with the enrichment of sediment hosted mineralization on favorable horizons and structures, and with crosscutting, mineralized Qfp dikes and sills, mesothermal veins and hydrothermal breccias. This is the target type of Aztec's exploration focus since 2019.

Sub-water table (below ~200m depth) extensions of the typical Tombstone Au-Ag mineralization, composed mostly of secondary enrichment minerals and focused by the same horizon and structure types as the extensively mined shallow deposits above. Deeper, high grade, "Taylor"- style carbonate replacement silver-lead-zinc-copper-gold deposits (CRD) in the extensive carbonate section (~ 2 kms estimated thickness) below the Bisbee formation. The potential for a mineralized porphyry-type deposit as a source of the Tombstone mineralization.

Data obtained from the core drill holes is expected to supplement the previous, shallow RC drilling by providing extensive knowledge of geological relationships and testing at the depth of the water table and below the Contention system across its width and along its length. Notably, Aztec's previous drilling terminated above the water table where typically the enrichment of Ag occurs, and that the main host horizons of the Tombstone district are found at this depth in the Contention target. Upon the completion of diamond drilling, Aztec plans additional work including: Examining multi-element results for correlative, spatial, and geologic relationships.

Terraspec analysis of the drill core. Detailed mapping of the Contention Open Pit, accompanied with Terraspec. Update the drilling data into the Leapfrog model, and update known district drilling, geology (lithology, structural, alteration, mineralogy, mineralization age-dating), geophysics, geochemistry, and UG workings to identify mineralization trends to help target the shallow and deep-CRD drilling.

Examine the possibility of using seismic geophysics for identifying the overthrusts, faults and folding in the carbonates at depth. Potential 43-101 compliant resource estimation. Tombstone 2020-21 Drilling Highlights: TR21-22: 2.44 gpt Au and 66.56 gpt Ag (3.39 gpt AuEq) over 65.5m; TR21-10: 1.39 gpt Au and 56.40 gpt Ag (2.20 gpt AuEq) over 96.0m; TR21-03: 5.71 gpt Au and 40.54 gpt Ag (6.28 gpt AuEq) over 32.0m; TR21-13: 1.80 gpt Au and 36.90 gpt Ag (2.33 gpt AuEq) over 70.1m; TR21-17: 1.73 gpt Au and 56.20 gpt Ag (2.53 gpt AuEq) over 64.0m; TR21-08: 2.09 gpt Au and 47.1 gpt Ag (2.76 gpt AuEq) over 39.6m; TR21-18: 0.76 gpt Au and 20.61 gpt Ag (1.05 gpt AuEq) over 64.0m; TR20-02: 0.94 gpt Au and 42.1 gpt Ag (1.60 gpt AuEq) over 77.7m; TR20-03: 0.77 gpt Au and 25.2 gpt Ag (1.07 gpt AuEq) over 97.5m.