Copper Giant Announces the 2026 Exploration Plan, Targeting 23,000 metres of Drilling, the Largest Drilling Program in the History of The Mocoa Project
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 17, 2026 /CNW/ - Copper Giant Resources Corp. ("Copper Giant" or the "Company") (TSXV: CGNT) (OTCQB: LBCMF) (FRA: 29H0) is pleased to announce its 2026 Exploration Program, which is anticipated to be the Company's largest drilling campaign to date at the Mocoa Project, located in Putumayo, Colombia. Mocoa is a Jurassic age porphyry Cu-Mo deposit. Drilling to date has delineated continuous copper and molybdenum mineralization from surface to depth exceeding 1,000 vertical metres. This year's program comprises approximately 23,000 metres of high-impact, cost-effective directional drilling and is designed to significantly advance the project toward the level of technical confidence required to support a future Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") level evaluation. The primary objectives of the 2026 drill program are to expand the current Mineral Resource Estimate1 ("MRE") footprint, test new district-scale targets, and potentially upgrade Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated category.
Highlights of the proposed 2026 Exploration Plan:
- Approximately 23,000 metres of planned drilling, representing an increase of more than 80% compared to the 2025 drilling campaign, marking the Company's largest exploration program to date and supporting advancement toward PEA-level project evaluation.
- Fully funded, balanced, flexible, and cost-effective exploration program, designed to dynamically allocate drill metres across multiple high-priority objectives:
1. MRE Footprint Expansion: Step-out drilling aimed at expanding the current Mineral Resource Estimate1 ("MRE") footprint toward the margins of the porphyry system, where geological limits remain undefined. With the objective of improving overall grade, priority will be placed on under-drilled areas within the constrained MRE shell, as well as on extending the three recognized high-grade zones.
2. Regional Target Testing: Drill testing of multiple priority targets surrounding the Mocoa porphyry to evaluate district-scale growth potential.
3. Resource Conversion: Strategic in-fill drilling targeting areas that may support future mine planning scenarios in a potential PEA with the goal of converting approximately 30–50% of Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated category.
"Mocoa has now firmly passed the billion-tonne1 Inferred Resource Estimate threshold, establishing it as one of the very few independent, near-surface copper-molybdenum systems of true global scale. Our 2026 program is designed to turn that exceptional scale into the project-level confidence we need as we advance toward a PEA later this year. We have an experienced team, the capital, and a strong reputation across local, regional, and national levels built on respect and responsibility. With multiple catalysts ahead in a copper market that is clearly tightening, we look forward to showing what Mocoa can deliver as a meaningful development asset for the energy transition and beyond". – Ian Harris, President & CEO.
"The 2026 campaign is the most integrated drilling program ever at Mocoa, with approximately 23,000 metres planned and two rigs already operating at full capacity. We're preparing to add a third rig soon to accelerate target testing. Our focus is clear: expand the deposit footprint, potentially convert 30–50% of Inferred resources to Indicated in areas of the deposit, and drill-test priority targets such as La Estrella and Piedralisa. In parallel, we're advancing geotechnical and metallurgical programs to support robust PEA-level assumptions." – Edwin Naranjo Sierra, Vice-President of Exploration.
1 For further information refer to NI 43-101 Technical Report, entitled "Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for The Mocoa Project, Putumayo Department, Colombia", dated January 8, 2026, prepared by Michael Dufresne (P.Geo, P.Geol, MSc), Warren Black (MSc, P.Geo), Kevin Hon (BSc, P.Geo) and Chester de Leon (P.Eng), with an effective date of December 23, 2025. |
2026 Exploration Program Details
The Company has commenced its 2026 drilling campaign with two drill rigs currently operating at full capacity on site. The fully permitted program is designed to complete approximately 23,000 metres of high-impact, cost-effective drilling, including the use of directional drilling techniques to improve targeting efficiency and minimize surface disturbance. Also, the Company is able to operate continuously throughout the year, allowing for flexibility in drill sequencing and the ability to adapt the program in real time based on geological results. The following sections describe each major objective for 2026.
MRE Footprint Expansion
Dedicated expansion drilling will target areas beyond or at the edge of the current resource limits, utilizing step-out holes to test portions of the porphyry system where the limits of mineralization remain unconstrained. Drilling to date has delineated continuous copper and molybdenum mineralization from surface to depth exceeding 1,000 vertical metres. Mineralization at Mocoa remains open laterally and at depth, providing a meaningful opportunity to increase both the scale and overall metal endowment of the system. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending the three high-grade zones, which represent important drivers of future value within the broader porphyry system.
Regional Target Testing – District-Scale Growth Potential
In parallel with MRE-focused drilling, the Company will continue to drill test priority targets located outside the current MRE footprint. These targets are considered drill-ready and are interpreted to represent potential additional porphyry centers within the broader Mocoa district, highlighting the long-term district-scale exploration upside of the project. Testing these targets is intended to evaluate the potential for satellite or standalone mineralized systems that could complement the Mocoa deposit and enhance future development optionality (Figure 1).
Resource Conversion - Increasing Confidence for PEA-Level Evaluation
A key objective of the 2026 drill program is the conversion of approximately 30–50% of the current Inferred Mineral Resources¹ to the Indicated category, an important step in advancing the Mocoa Project toward PEA-level technical and economic evaluation. Increasing the proportion of Indicated resources enhances geological confidence and supports the level of data required to support mine planning assumptions and economic analysis. Drilling will focus on strategically selected in-fill zones within the existing MRE footprint that are characterized by wider drill spacing, where geological continuity has already been demonstrated. The Company will utilize high-impact, cost-effective directional drilling techniques to efficiently increase data density and maximize geological information per metre drilled, while minimizing surface disturbance and overall drilling costs.
Continue project derisking
The 2026 exploration program also advances several key project de-risking initiatives, including:
- Early-stage engineering studies, such as:
- Geotechnical studies to support future mine design, slope stability assessments, and infrastructure planning.
- Hydrogeological studies aimed at developing a comprehensive hydrogeological model for the main area of operations.
- Advanced metallurgical testing, focused on:
- Expanded mineralogical characterization.
- Comminution testing and grind-size optimization.
- Flotation response and copper–molybdenum separation.
- Concentrate quality assessment.
- Laboratory-scale tailings characterization.
- Expanded environmental baseline monitoring, increasing spatial coverage and data density to strengthen environmental datasets and support future permitting and development activities.
Qualified Person and Technical Notes
Edwin Naranjo Sierra, Vice-President of Exploration for Copper Giant, is the designated Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. Mr. Naranjo holds an MSc. in Earth Sciences and is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM). Mr. Naranjo is not independent of the company.
Mineralized zones at Mocoa are bulk porphyry-style zones and drilled widths are interpreted to be very close to true widths.
Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Inferred Mineral Resources will be upgraded to an Indicated or Measured category.
Copper Giant operates according to a rigorous Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) protocol consistent with industry best practices. Core diameter is a mix of HQ and NQ depending on the depth of the drill hole. Diamond drill core boxes were photographed, sawed, sampled and tagged in maximum 2-metre intervals, stopping in geological boundaries. Samples were bagged, tagged and packaged for shipment by truck from Copper Giant's core logging facilities in Mocoa, Colombia to the ActLabs certified sample preparation facility in Medellin, Colombia. ActLabs is an accredited laboratory independent of the Company. Samples are processed in the Medellin facilities where they are analyzed for copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, zinc and lead by 4-Acid digest Atomic Absorption (AA) analysis. The sample pulps are air freighted from Medellin to the ActLabs certified laboratory in Guadalajara, Mexico, where they are analyzed for a suite of 57 elements using 4-Acid digest and ICP-MS. In order to monitor the ongoing quality of assay data and the database, Copper Giant has implemented QA/QC protocols which include standard sampling methodologies, the insertion of certified copper and molybdenum standard materials, blanks, duplicates (field, preparation and analysis) randomly inserted into the sampling sequence. QA/QC program also includes ongoing monitoring of data entry, QA/QC reporting and data validation. No material QA/QC issues have been identified with respect to sample collection, security and assaying.
About the Mocoa Porphyry System
The Mocoa Project is located in Colombia's Department of Putumayo, approximately 10 kilometres from the town of Mocoa in the country's south. Copper Giant controls more than 132,499 Ha of district-scale tenure through granted titles and applications, covering a significant portion of the Jurassic porphyry belt--an underexplored and highly prospective metallogenic corridor within the northern Andes.
Mocoa was first identified in 1973 through a regional geochemical survey conducted by the United Nations and the Colombian government. Follow-up programs between 1978 and 1983 included geological mapping, IP and magnetic geophysics, surface sampling, drilling, and metallurgical testing. Subsequent drilling by B2Gold in 2008 and 2012 refined the geological interpretation and confirmed the large scale of the system.
The deposit is hosted in Middle Jurassic dacite and quartz-diorite porphyries intruding andesitic to dacitic volcanics of the Central Cordillera, a 30-kilometre-wide tectonic belt that extends into Ecuador and also contains major porphyry systems such as Mirador, Warintza, San Carlos, and Panantza. Mocoa exhibits classic porphyry-style zonation with a potassic core surrounded by sericite and propylitic alteration. Mineralization consists principally of disseminated chalcopyrite and molybdenite, accompanied locally by bornite and chalcocite, and is associated with stockwork veining and hydrothermal breccias.
A distinguishing geological feature of Mocoa is the presence of a fertile magmatic window spanning roughly ten million years, a prolonged and unusually productive interval of magma generation and evolution that is not commonly observed in other Jurassic porphyry systems within the same belt. This extended fertile period provides a compelling explanation for the system's large metal endowment, broad alteration footprint, and overlapping intrusive and hydrothermal events.
The deposit demonstrates more than 1,000 metres of vertical continuity, with multiple intrusive phases, brecciation episodes, and vein generations reflecting a dynamic and long-lived magmatic–hydrothermal evolution, likely influenced by more than one porphyry center. Mocoa remains open in all directions, and several satellite targets across the broader land package support the interpretation of a district-scale mineralized system.
Mocoa's Mineral Resource Estimate1 comprises Inferred resources of 12.7 billion pounds (Blbs) copper-equivalent (CuEq*) at an average grade of 0.51% CuEq*, including 7.7 Blbs of copper at 0.31% Cu and 1.0 Blbs of molybdenum at 0.039% Mo, within 1,120 million tonnes (Mt).
About Copper Giant
Copper Giant Resources Corp. is part of the Fiore Group, a private and well-established Canadian organization known for building successful, high-impact companies across the natural resource sector. Copper Giant was formed with a singular focus: to advance high-quality copper projects beyond resource definition--responsibly, efficiently, and with long-term positive impact.
The Company is led by a team with uncommon experience, having successfully taken some of the few major copper mines developed in the past two decades from discovery through to construction.
Copper Giant's current focus is the Mocoa copper-molybdenum deposit in southern Colombia, one of the largest undeveloped resources of its kind in the Americas. Recent exploration success has revealed potential well beyond its original footprint, highlighting Mocoa as a broader district-scale opportunity--and the catalyst for the Company's name and evolution.
Guided by the values of respect and responsibility, and grounded in its Good Neighbor philosophy, Copper Giant is committed to creating enduring values for all stakeholders and playing a meaningful role in the global energy transition.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding the 2026 exploration program, the outcome of the Company's current resource expansion strategy; other activities and achievements of the Company, including but not limited to: the timing and success for the advancement of the Mocoa Project, the expansion of the Mocoa resource base; are to be considered forward looking. Although Copper Giant believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices and volatility with the Company's common shares, exploitation and exploration successes, uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates, risks of not achieving production, continued availability of capital and financing, processes, permits and filing requirements, risks related to operations in foreign and developing countries and compliance with foreign laws and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements in Colombia, and general economic, market, political or business conditions and regulatory and administrative approvals. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. Copper Giant does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
SOURCE COPPER GIANT RESOURCES CORP.
Additional Information: Ian Harris, Chief Executive Officer, [email protected], +1 303 956 2944; Tetiana Konstantynivska, Vice President Investor Relations, [email protected], +1 778 829 8455
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