Andina Copper Corporation (TSX-V: ANDC) announced today that diamond drill assays from holes PIU12 and PIU13 at the Piuquenes North target in San Juan, Argentina, have confirmed a new porphyry copper-gold system. The discovery, detailed in the company's July 8, 2026 news release, underscores the growing potential of the Piuquenes district, which now hosts three porphyry centres adjacent to Aldebaran Resources Inc.'s Altar copper-gold project.
Drillhole PIU13 intersected 468 meters grading 0.50% copper, 0.30 g/t gold, and 3.04 g/t silver from 700 meters depth, including a higher-grade interval of 164 meters at 0.70% Cu, 0.44 g/t Au, and 4.19 g/t Ag from 924 meters. Mineralization is hosted within a multiphase porphyry system spanning from 664 to 1,168 meters downhole, featuring intense quartz vein stockwork and potassic alteration with chalcopyrite and bornite, consistent with a high-temperature porphyry core. Gold is a significant co-product, with lesser silver credits.
Drillhole PIU12, collared approximately 600 meters east-northeast of PIU13, intersected shorter intervals of mineralization within a pre-mineral porphyry, interpreted as the periphery of the system. It returned 14 meters at 0.38% Cu, 0.12 g/t Au, and 1.81 g/t Ag from 864 meters. The modest grades in PIU12 support the potential for higher-grade mineralization immediately to the north, as the targeted magneto-telluric (MT) geophysical anomaly, measuring approximately 800 by 700 meters, remains largely untested.
Andina Copper's President and CEO Joseph van den Elsen stated: “We are extremely pleased with the results from our first drillholes at Piuquenes North. High-grade Cu-Au values from PIU13 confirm a new discovery, proximate to the high-grade, near surface Cu-Au mineralization at Piuquenes Central. Significantly, only a fraction of the large geophysical anomaly has been tested, and we are now designing the next phase of drilling to expand on what is potentially a significant new porphyry discovery along the emerging San Juan Miocene belt.”
The Piuquenes district now comprises three recognized porphyry systems: the newly discovered Piuquenes North, and the previously identified Piuquenes East and Piuquenes Central. These lie immediately north of the Altar copper-gold porphyry project (Aldebaran Resources Inc.) and within the San Juan Miocene porphyry belt, which hosts other major deposits such as El Pachon (Glencore) 30 km to the south, the operating Los Pelambres copper mine (60% Antofagasta plc) in Chile, and Los Azules (McEwen Copper) 50 km to the northeast. Mineralization on adjacent or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization at Piuquenes.
The deep low-resistivity MT anomaly targeted by PIU12 and PIU13 has been demonstrated to correspond with a broad, mineralized multiphase copper-gold porphyry system. The anomaly remains open to the north, north-northeast, and at depth. Andina Copper plans to integrate final assay results with updated geological logging into a refined three-dimensional model to design a follow-up drill program targeting down-dip and along-strike extensions. Priority will be given to testing the north-northeast continuation and untested depth extent of the MT anomaly.
The company's qualified person, Gustavo Zulliger, a Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG CPG 11165), has reviewed and approved the technical information. Drill core samples were analyzed at ALS Minerals in Lima, Peru, with rigorous QA/QC protocols including certified reference materials, blanks, and duplicates. The results confirm the reliability of the data, marking a significant step forward for Andina Copper in the emerging San Juan porphyry belt.
