Cordoba 51% Earn-in Completed, 2026 Perseverance Arizona Porphyry Exploration Program Announced

Executive Summary

• Bell Copper and joint venture partner Cordoba Minerals approved a 2026 exploration program comprising 1,700 meters of drilling at the Perseverance Copper Project in Arizona.
• Cordoba's earn-in period has concluded without acquiring additional interest, finalizing the project as a 51/49 joint venture (Cordoba 51%, Bell Copper 49%).
• The program focuses on deepening three existing drill holes to test for supergene copper enrichment beneath leached caps, alongside a new single hole (K-24) to evaluate stacked magnetotelluric and fault targets.

Key Details

• JV Status: Cordoba's earn-in ended without earning additional interest; the Perseverance Copper Project is now a 51/49 joint venture.
• Program Scope: 1,700 meters of diamond drilling approved for the 2026 exploration program.
• Budget & Funding: Total program budget is approximately US$1.7 million; Bell Copper is responsible for funding 49% of the costs.
• Hole K-23 Deepening: Deepening from current 590m to 1,100m total depth. Originally terminated in a hematite-stained leached cap after drilling through young valley fill gravels and thick basalt.
• Hole K-19 Deepening: Deepening from current 420m to 1,100m total depth. Previously hit Laramide age granite porphyry at 250m (heavily stained by hematite/goethite) and terminated in hydrothermal breccia with pyrite/sphalerite. A 2017 Quantec Geophysics IP survey indicated strong chargeability (sulphide mineralization) immediately below the termination point.
• Hole K-13 Deepening: Deepening from current 424m to 900m total depth. A 525m step-out from K-19 that also stopped in hematite/goethite stained leached cap with strong chargeability below termination.
• New Hole K-24: Drilling a single hole to test two stacked targets: (1) a broad magnetotelluric (MT) resistivity low (Eastern MT Anomaly) potentially indicative of conductive sulphides, and (2) the faulted top of the Wheeler Wash porphyry root zone, an analogue to the chalcocite blanket discovery at Bell's Big Sandy project.
• Timeline: Drilling is contingent on permit approvals and is not expected to commence until late Q3 2026.
• Project Location & Land Package: Located in Arizona's Copper Triangle (~50 miles NNW of Freeport McMoRan's Bagdad Mine, ~19 miles SE of Kingman, AZ). Land package comprises over 19,000 acres.

Notable Quotes

• Timothy Marsh, President & CEO, Bell Copper: "Bell Copper is pleased to have Cordoba Minerals, under freshly motivated leadership, as a partner in the exploration of the Laramide porphyry system at Perseverance. Like our Big Sandy copper discovery 30 kilometers to the south, Perseverance offers the opportunity of a globally significant copper discovery in the stable jurisdiction of Arizona. Having future exploration costs at Perseverance reduced by 51% while gaining access to the talent of Cordoba's team is a big win for Bell's shareholders."
• Quentin Markin, Interim CEO, Cordoba Minerals: "With the successful closing of the Alacrán sale now behind us, we are turning our attention to identifying new opportunities for Cordoba while also moving forward with Perseverance. This year's program with Bell Copper will deepen 3 existing drill holes that show the potential for supergene copper enrichment... Our goal is to identify the potential for a high-grade copper deposit at Perseverance that can be mined by similar underground mining methods to the Santa Cruz deposit that is currently being developed by Cordoba's majority shareholder, Ivanhoe Electric Inc., at Casa Grande south of Phoenix."