Rugby Update

Surface Sampling on the Cobrasco East Porphyry Discovery Yields up to 5.4% Copper and 1.4g/t Gold

Vancouver, B.C., Oct. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rugby Resources Ltd. (“Rugby” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: RUG) is pleased to report that recent sampling on the Cobrasco East Porphyry has yielded significant copper, gold and silver values in outcrop and float samples. The discovery (see News Release dated July 11, 2023) is located approximately 2 kilometres (“km”) east southeast of the Cobrasco Central drilling area in Colombia. Mapping indicates the new porphyry has a surface area of approximately 2 km² (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Cobrasco East copper porphyry float and outcrop zone showing relationship to stream sediment samples, Cobrasco Central drilling area and copper soil grid geochemistry.

Click here for high resolution image

Highlights

• Assays were received for 49 float and outcrop rock samples at Cobrasco East. Assays range up to 5.38% copper, 1.40g/t gold and 121g/t silver (see Table 2 Assay Summary below).
• Mineralisation occurs within an area of approximately 2 km².
• The host rock is a fine grained tonalite (felsic intrusive) with brecciation, sulphide copper and locally oxidised copper mineralisation (Figure 2).
• The area is coincident with a large magnetic-low (Figure 3).
• Cobrasco East mineralization has higher gold and lower molybdenum values compared with the Cobrasco Central Porphyry mineralised corridor, inferring a different intrusive centre (Figure 4).
• Grid-spaced sampling and mapping is planned to define the extent of mineralisation as the discovery falls outside the existing grid soil sampling program.
• Age dating for the Cobrasco copper molybdenum porphyry indicates the system was emplaced in the Eocene, some 40-42 million years ago. This is similar to the giant Escondida and Quebrada Blanca porphyries in Chile and the Cascabel porphyry in nearby Ecuador. These porphyries are located in the western cordillera copper porphyry belt which extends from Chile in the south to Panama in the north.
  
  

Francisco Montes, Rugby’s Cobrasco Project Manager stated, “Fundamental field work is paying dividends with new areas being defined that urgently merit follow-up work ahead of drill testing. With every field campaign completed by my team, the project grows in stature. From my experience this points towards multiple porphyry deposits and very significant upside’’.

Chairman Yale Simpson stated “We believe Rugby is in the process of defining multiple porphyry copper discoveries that, in due course, will contribute to Colombia achieving its goal of being a global contributor to copper production. Copper is essential for all clean energy projects, no matter what technology is adopted. Rugby continues to make progress towards securing a major international mining company as a partner. Our goal is to very significantly advance the exploration and development of Cobrasco”.