Buen Retiro

Buen Retiro Project

Summary

The Buen Retiro Copper Project (“Buen Retiro”) is an iron-oxide-copper-gold (“IOCG”) exploration and development project. The properties are clustered around, and include, an historical open pit mine called Manto Negro that was previously operated by Sociedad Punta del Cobre S.A (“Pucobre”). The project is situated close to the Candelaria deposit in the Punta del Cobre iron-oxide-copper-gold (“IOCG”) district of Copiapó, Chile. 

High grade copper oxide ore was mined from 2005 to 2009 at Manto Negro and trucked 60 km to Pucobre’s processing plant in Copiapó. The Manto Negro open pit is 43 km southwest of Candelaria, 35 km from the coast, and 5 km from the Pan American Highway and high voltage transmission lines. 

Buen Retiro has a wealth of information, including assay data from 28,290 m of historic drilling records; core and data from approximately 26,000 m of drilling completed from December 2023 through to July 2026 ; and raw and interpreted data from multiple geophysical surveys including mag, IP, and passive seismic ANT. 

In 2023 land tenure across the Properties was consolidated and the first ever systematic review and subsequent exploration of the wider Buen Retiro Project area was conducted. The concessions, totalling 13,840 ha, are held through two distinct option agreements with local parties.

Exploration and resource-definition drilling are ongoing, and the Buen Retiro Project has advanced to a resource-definition stage, with a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate and Pre-Feasibility Study underway in connection with a proposed Heap Leach operation. Extensive drilling to date has confirmed IOCG-style copper mineralization at Buen Retiro, and the Company continues to evaluate the project's broader sulphide potential.

Location and Setting

The Buen Retiro Project is located approximately 60 km south of Copiapó in northern central Chile. The area is known for its copper mineralisation and mining culture. A series of iron oxide Cu-Au (+/- Co) deposits of varying sizes are located within a ~20 km x 5 km, north-south elongated, Punta del Cobre belt to the south of Copiapó. The district includes the Alcaparrosa, Carola, Española, Punta del Cobre, Santos, Socavón Rampa and Trinidad deposits and the much larger Candelaria deposit. The Candelaria operation is owned by Lundin Mining with 2026 production guidance of 135,000-145,000 tonnes of copper and 77,000-87,000 ounces of gold¹.  As of December 31, 2025 (Lundin Mining 2025 Mineral Resource and Reserve Estimates) the Candelaria mineral resources were (after 25 years of mining) still over a billion tonnes of total measured and indicated mineral resources.

Work Summary

Starting in 2023, Ptolemy Mining Ltd carried out IP and Magnetic geophysical surveys, and Phase 1 diamond drilling at Buen Retiro. Drilling of holes 1-14 yielded a median intersection across of 27 m @ 0.55% Cu as of October 2024. In March 2025, Ptolemy Mining Ltd was incorporated in Fitzroy Minerals. Although deemed ‘historical’ information according to TSX rules, the work carried out by ‘Ptolemy Mining Ltd’ was actually done by the current Fitzroy Minerals team using the same QA/QC protocols, and all of the core and data is seamlessly integrated into the system.

In April 2025, Fitzroy Minerals continued with drilling and geophysical surveys. A Phase 2 drill program consisting of diamond drilling, reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling, and down-the-hole (“DTH”) drilling was carried out, reaching drill hole number BRT-DDH045. In 2026, Phase 3 drilling was started, and is expected to comprise 22,000 meters of diamond and RC drilling. In addition, metallurgical test work for the Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) is ongoing, and an Ambient Noise Tomography (“ANT”) geophysical survey has been completed.

As the drill program expands, Fitzroy aims to delineate sufficient material in the Measured and Indicated Resource categories (as such terms are defined under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”)) to provide a robust life-of-mine production plan for the Heap Leach project, and inclusion in the PFS. Additional definition drilling aims to delineate Inferred Resources that may represent a source of future plant feed subject to conversion to higher-confidence resource classifications through subsequent drilling.

In parallel, metallurgical test work will evaluate the impact of mineralogy, alteration intensity, and host lithology on copper extraction kinetics and heap performance; acid consumption; leach cycle duration; possibilities for enhanced copper recoveries from higher-grade material; and flexibility in having staged development scenarios.

Results

Results from exploration at Buen Retiro points to shallow, potentially leachable mineralization situated close to existing infrastructure and only a short distance from several operating electro-winning plants. Fitzroy Minerals has confidence that the project can be developed in the near-term and is carrying out appropriate work streams to reach that goal.

Oxides and Sulphides

The depth of oxidation at Buen Retiro is typically 60-100 metres below surface, varying primarily as a function of fracture density, before transitioning into the mixed supergene zone. Three geo-metallurgical domains have been defined based on this zonation: 

1. Higher-Grade Oxide Domain (≥ ~0.5% Cu), associated with the central iron-rich structural corridor and hydrothermal breccias, hosting recoverable copper within limonite and oxide mineral assemblages; 
2. A Lower-Grade Oxide Domain (0.1% to ~0.5% Cu), comprising peripheral stockwork-style oxide copper mineralization;
3. Higher-Grade Mixed Supergene Transition Domain, containing copper oxide together with secondary sulphide mineral assemblages, including native copper, cuprite, and chalcocite. Oxide mineralization is expected to respond favourably to standard leaching conditions, while the mixed supergene domain (owing to the presence of secondary sulphides and native copper) is expected to require chloride-assisted leaching to achieve comparable recoveries.

The Buen Retiro Option

Ptolemy Mining Ltd signed the Buen Retiro Option on July 1, 2023 with a number of vendors. Under the terms of the Buen Retiro Option, Fitzroy Minerals (as successor to Ptolemy) can earn 100% of Buen Retiro by completing four steps prior to the middle of 2028: (i) at least 12,000 metres of drilling, a condition that has already been met; (ii) at least US$7,000,000 invested in "Eligible Expenses" incurred prior to completion of a final NI 43-101 compliant technical report (the "Final Technical Report"), due by mid-2027; (iii) delivery of the Final Technical Report to the Option Holders, comprising an NI 43-101 compliant Pre-Feasibility Study and Measured and Indicated Resource, a report on additional Inferred Resources (leachable material), and an up-to-date report on the Sulphide Potential at Buen Retiro; and (iv) a US$4,000,000 bullet payment to the Option Holders, due by mid-2028 at the latest. Fitzroy anticipates completing all four steps in Q2 2027. Eligible Expenses include a minimum of US$7,000,000 of exploration/technical investment, plus the US$4,000,000 bullet payment, plus approximately US$300,000 of legal fees expected to be incurred in forming the new joint venture operating agreements; for a minimum total Eligible Expense of US$11,300,000, and possibly more.

On completion of the Buen Retiro Option, a 2% Net Smelter Royalty ("NSR") will be assigned to the Option Holders. Fitzroy has the right to buy back 1% of this NSR for US$5,000,000 prior to the start of construction. The Option Holders are Pucobre (50%) and SCMBR S.A. (50%), an arm's length Chilean private company.

Pucobre retains a 30% claw-back right within the Buen Retiro Option concessions, which includes the Heap Leach project as well as the sulphide (hypogene chalcopyrite) potential. Pucobre has indicated its intention to exercise this claw-back right upon Fitzroy's completion of the Buen Retiro Option, anticipated in Q2 2027, though there can be no guarantee this will occur. Under the terms of the claw-back right, Pucobre may acquire a 30% interest by reimbursing 90% of all Eligible Expenses incurred (a minimum of US$10,200,000, and possibly more). Following completion of any claw-back, Pucobre is expected to fund the project on a pro rata basis or be diluted. 

A signed letter of intent (“LOI”) with Pucobre includes a firm offer by Pucobre to provide processing capacity at the Planta Biocobre Electro-Win (“EW”) facility, representing a minimum of 80% of its nominal capacity of approximately 800 tonnes of cathode copper per month. Further, the LOI confirms open-book sharing of operating cost data from Pucobre's nearby mining and processing operations to provide real-world inputs for inclusion in the Heap Leach Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”).

The Sierra Fritis Option

The terms of Fitzroy’s 2025 acquisition of  Ptolemy Mining Ltd also include a separate option agreement for Sierra Fritis. Ptolemy signed the Sierra Fritis Option on October 1, 2023 with an arm’s length vendor. The terms of the Sierra Fritis Option require a US$2,600,000 work program to be carried out within four years (US$500,000 in Year 1, and US$2,100,000 over Years 2 through 4, with no consecutive 12-month period seeing less than US$350,000 of expenditures). Investment to date in this Sierra Fritis Option is US$460,000. In year five, the Sierra Fritis Option can be exercised with a US$50,000 payment. Upon completion of the Sierra Fritis Option, the Company (via  its acquisition of Ptolemy) will own 100% of the Sierra Fritis concessions. The project vendors retain a 2% NSR of which 1% can be clawed back for US$5,000,000 prior to the start of production.

1 - https://www.lundinmining.com/our-portfolio/operations/candelaria/