Andina to start 3,000 m drill program at Piuquenes

Executive Summary

• Andina Copper Corp. is accelerating its 2025-2026 exploration program at the Piuquenes porphyry copper-gold discovery in San Juan, Argentina, focusing on advancing the Piuquenes Central and Piuquenes East discoveries.
• The company has announced an initial 3,000-meter diamond drilling program scheduled to commence in early January 2026, targeting extensions of the Piuquenes East discovery and new geophysical anomalies.
• Comprehensive surface exploration is underway, including a full-property soil geochemistry grid (600 samples), drone magnetics, deep-penetrating magnetotellurics (MT), and induced polarization (IP) surveys to refine drill targets.

Key Details

• Drilling Program:
  • Approximately 3,000 meters of diamond drilling planned for the first week of January 2026.
  • Drilling expected to continue through April 2026.
  • Primary focus: Expanding on the Piuquenes East discovery and testing a parallel magnetic (MVI) geophysical anomaly.
  • Targeting extensions of mineralization approximately 200 meters below the PIU06-2025 discovery hole.
• Previous Drill Intercepts (Referenced from April 30, 2025 release):
  • Hole PIU06-2025: 208 meters at 0.31% Cu, 0.13 g/t Au, 1.24 g/t Ag (from 292 m).
  • Including: 98 meters at 0.49% Cu, 0.16 g/t Au, 1.26 g/t Ag (from 292 m).
• Surface Geochemistry:
  • Large-scale soil sampling program covering >2,000 hectares.
  • 600 samples collected on a systematic 100 m x 100 m grid.
  • Samples analyzed by ALS laboratories for gold and multielement geochemistry.
  • Assay results expected in January 2026.
• Geophysical Surveys:
  • Drone Magnetics: Full property coverage, ~103 line km at 200 m line spacing. Designed to define magnetic centers and structural controls.
  • Magnetotellurics (MT): 116 stations on a 400 m x 400 m grid, investigating depths up to 2,000 m. Preliminary results expected in January 2026.
  • Induced Polarization (IP): Five lines totaling seven line km at Piuquenes East. A follow-up IP program is planned for February 2026.
• Strategic Context:
  • Piuquenes is located immediately adjacent to Aldebaran Resources' Altar project (preliminary economic assessment stage).
  • The project lies within the Central Andes Miocene belt, a prolific copper-gold corridor hosting major deposits like Los Azules, Los Pelambres, and El Pachon.
  • Objective is to delineate additional porphyry centers and reduce geological risk through integrated exploration techniques.

Notable Quotes

• "Andina Copper is entering a catalyst-rich period with strong, exploration driven news flow being generated across all three of our projects. The 2025 to 2026 field season is well under way at Piuquenes, exploration is continuing at pace at Cobrasco and follow-up exploration will shortly commence at Mantau. With significant concurrent programs running across our highly compelling project portfolio, 2026 promises to be an exciting time for Andina Copper shareholders." — Joseph van den Elsen, President and CEO