Copper Giant Signs Strategic Mining Area Contract with Colombia's National Mining Agency
Signed at a national ceremony, Colombia's ANM called a "historic event"; one of five companies to secure contracts in Colombia's national copper tender
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 26, 2026 /CNW/ -- Copper Giant Resources Corp. ("Copper Giant" or the "Company") (TSXV: CGNT) (OTCQX: CGNRF) (FRA: 29H0) announces that its wholly owned Colombian subsidiary, Libero Cobre Ltd, has signed a Special Exploration and Exploitation Contract with Colombia's Agencia Nacional de Minería ("ANM") for the Chaparral block (Block 39), an area of 1,614.73 hectares in the municipality of Chaparral, Department of Tolima. The block was awarded by ANM Resolution VCT 3177 of August 24, 2026 under the ANM's national tender of Strategic Mining Areas for copper, gold and associated minerals, and the contract was signed on October 9, 2026 at a national signing ceremony that the ANM described as a "historic event" for mining investment in Colombia. Copper Giant is one of five companies to hold a contract from the tender, and was qualified at Type C, the highest of the ANM's three capability tiers, for a block that required Type B.
Highlights
- Selected by the Colombian State: Copper Giant signed its contract with the ANM on October 9, 2026. Five companies hold contracts from the national tender; the others include one of the world's largest mining groups as well as established Colombian producers.
- Signed at a national ceremony: the ANM made the October 9 signing a national event, which it described as a "historic event" for mining investment in Colombia, attended by Luis Francisco Madriñán Valderrama (Vice Minister of Mines), Juan Camilo Valencia González (ANM President), and Andrea Mayorquín (Tolima Director of Mines and Energy). Nine contracts were signed that day across the ANM's mining tenders.
- Qualified at the highest tier: Copper Giant is one of eight companies the ANM qualified at Type C, the highest of three capability tiers, alongside several of the world's largest mining companies. Four of those eight hold contracts. Block 39 required Type B.
- A multi-year State process: the Colombia State reserved the Chaparral area in 2022, completed territorial screening and concertation with the municipality, declared the block in June 2025, opened the tender in December 2025, awarded the block on August 24, 2026 and signed the contract on October 9, 2026.
- Ground the national geological survey ranked highest: four of the five sectors the Servicio Geológico Colombiano ("SGC") identified as being of high mineral potential in the Chaparral district fall within Block 39.
- Mocoa is unchanged: the Company's work program and priorities at Mocoa are unaffected.
"Colombia put its highest-potential copper ground into a national process, set one qualification standard, and applied it to everyone from the majors down. We were certified at the top tier of that standard. Eight companies met that standard, including some of the largest miners in the world. Four came away with contracts, and we are one of them. The process opened under one government and the award came under the next, which tells you where copper now sits in this country. We have worked in Colombia for years by doing what we said we would do, community by community. That is what earns a company the right to compete for ground like this. Mocoa remains our priority and our program there is unchanged." – Ian Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer.
The tender process
Of the nine contracts signed at the October 9, 2026 ceremony, eight were under this tender. Registration of the contract in the Colombian National Mining Registry is complete. The tender was opened on December 15, 2025 and completed by the ANM under the administration that took office on August 7, 2026. At the signing ceremony, the ANM's President said the agency had been instructed by the President of Colombia "to generate the greatest prosperity for the people of Colombia," and called for "more mining, more development" across the country's regions. The signing has quickly followed the framework for cooperation on critical-minerals supply chains signed by Colombia and the United States on September 8, 2026.
The ANM defined Block 39 by Resolution 1701 of 20 June 2025, as one of a package of Strategic Mining Areas approved by Agreement 005 of 27 November 2025 of the ANM's Board of Directors. Terms of reference were adopted by Resolution 3356 of 11 December 2025, and the process was opened by public notice on December 15, 2025.
Libero Cobre Ltd was qualified by the ANM at Type C by Resolution 200-491 of 15 April 2026, which became final on April 17, 2026. The Company's offer for Block 39 was filed on July 21, 2026 and was found by the ANM's evaluation committee to comply with the requirements of the terms of reference.
No acquisition payment was payable to the ANM for the award of Block 39. Under the contract, the Company has committed to a minimum exploration program for the block, and the economic terms of its offer are an additional economic consideration of 1.5% and a social consideration of 2.0%, each payable on production and in addition to statutory royalties. An annual surface canon is payable during the exploration stage, at 50% of the canon in the first and second years, 75% in the third and fourth years and 100% thereafter. The terms of reference provide for an initial technical evaluation stage of one year, extendable by one year, during which investment counts toward the Company's commitment and the Company may terminate the contract before entering the exploration stage without penalty.
The Chaparral block
The Chaparral block comprises 1,614.73 hectares in the municipality of Chaparral, Department of Tolima, on the eastern flank of Colombia's Central Cordillera. The block lies approximately 306 km NE of the Mocoa project and 85 km from Ibagué, the capital city of the Department of Tolima, and is reached by paved roads from Ibagué.
The Chaparral block lies within the Chaparral metallogenic district, which the SGC places in the Ibagué - Mocoa metallogenic subprovince, a Jurassic magmatic arc domain of the Central Cordillera. Geology within and around the block is dominated by the Ibagué Batholith, together with the Saldaña and Amoyá formations and the Ícarco Complex. Northwest-southeast and northeast-southwest lineaments are interpreted as controls on intrusion and hydrothermal circulation.
The information available to the Company for the block comprises regional and local geological mapping, stream sediment and soil geochemistry, rock geochemistry, and airborne magnetic and radiometric survey data, compiled from the SGC's published evaluation of the mineral potential of the Chaparral district.
That work describes disseminated and micro-veinlet pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, sphalerite, pyrrhotite and magnetite, and hydrothermal alteration zoned from a potassic assemblage of secondary biotite, K-feldspar and magnetite, through sericitic and silicic assemblages, to a peripheral propylitic assemblage of chlorite, epidote and actinolite; a zonation the SGC describes as compatible with a porphyry-style system. Stream sediment geochemistry returns copper values above 300 ppm and molybdenum above 5 ppm, with Cu–Mo–Ag–Au associations and peripheral Pb–Zn haloes, and local maxima at La Salina and Quebradagrande. Airborne radiometric data show potassium highs and low thorium/potassium ratios coincident with those anomalies, consistent with hydrothermal potassic alteration. Magnetic modelling indicates kilometre-scale, subvertical intrusive bodies at approximately one to three kilometres depth.
Taken together, these datasets describe a coincident geochemical, alteration and geophysical footprint across the eastern part of the district, in the La Salina – Quebradagrande – Astilleros corridor. The Company's initial interpretation is that any mineralized center associated with this footprint would lie at depth, and that surface geochemical tenor is therefore not an appropriate measure of the target.
No mineral resource or mineral reserve has been estimated on the Chaparral block, and no historical estimate exists for it. The Company has not carried out exploration on the block. The information described above was published by the SGC, was not prepared by or under the supervision of the Company and has not been independently verified by the Company or by its Qualified Person.
Next steps
The Company's offer included an exploration program for the block, prepared against the work requirements set out in the terms of reference of the tender. That program is the Company's contractual work commitment under the Special Exploration and Exploitation Contract, and the Company intends to carry it out. Field activities on the block are subject to registration to the environmental, social and other approvals required to conduct exploration in the Department of Tolima. The Company's work program at Mocoa is unchanged.
Qualified Person and Technical Notes
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Edwin Naranjo Sierra, FAusIMM, Vice-President of Exploration of Copper Giant Resources Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Mr. Naranjo Sierra is not independent of the Company. The Qualified Person has not independently verified the information published by the SGC.
The Chaparral block is an early-stage exploration property. No mineral resource or mineral reserve has been estimated on the block, and the Company has not conducted exploration on it. The geological, geochemical and geophysical information described in this news release is regional to district in scale, was compiled from sources published by the SGC and has not been independently verified by the Company. Descriptions of favorable geology, hydrothermal alteration, geochemical anomalies or geophysical features are not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Chaparral block. Mineralization at the Company's Mocoa project is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Chaparral block. There is no assurance that exploration on the Chaparral block will define a mineral resource.
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 128,300 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 in Colombia, 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 1,100 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 along several directions and several satellite targets across the broader land package support the interpretation of a district-scale mineralized system.
Mocoa's Mineral Resource Estimate effective September 24, 2026 (the "Updated MRE") comprises Indicated resources of 0.29 billion tonnes (Bt) at an average grade of 0.54% copper-equivalent (CuEq*) (0.33% Cu, 0.038% Mo), 2.13 billion pounds (Blbs) of copper and 0.24 billion pounds (Blbs) of molybdenum; and Inferred resources of 1.60 billion tonnes (Bt) at an average grade of 0.40% CuEq* (0.27% Cu, 0.025% Mo), containing 9.36 billion pounds (Blbs) of copper and 0.89 billion pounds (Blbs) of molybdenum
¹A technical report prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 for the Updated MRE detailed in a press release dated October 14, 2026, prepared by APEX Geoscience Ltd. ("APEX") will be filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company's website by the end of November 2026. |
Notes on the MRE of the Mocoa project
- The MRE was completed by Warren Black, M.Sc., P.Geo., Senior Consultant: Mineral Resources and Geostatistics of APEX. Mr. Black is an independent Qualified Person, as defined by NI 43-101, and is responsible for the completion of the Mineral Resource Estimate, with an effective date of September 24, 2026.
- Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
- The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.
- The Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
- Economic assumptions used include US$4.75/lb Cu, US$25.00/lb Mo, process recoveries of 88% for Cu and 90% for Mo, a US$7/t processing cost, G&A costs of US$1.50/t, and a 3% NSR royalty.
- The constraining pit optimization parameters include a US$2.8/t mining cost for both mineralized and waste material and 50° slopes. Mineral Resources within the conceptual pit shell are reported at a cut-off of 0.15% CuEq*.
- The Underground Mineral Resources include blocks below the constraining pit shell that satisfy the geometric and cutoff criteria of a conceptual block-caving mining scenario. A mining cost of US$25/t, together with the economic assumptions above, supports a cut-off of 0.4% CuEq*. The resource constraint applies a minimum mining unit of 60 m by 60 m by 90 m. Reported tonnage includes below-cutoff "must take" material contained within the potentially mineable shapes.
- CuEq* values are calculated as CuEq (%) = Cu (%) + 5.383 × Mo (%), using a Cu-to-Mo value ratio of 1:5.383 that incorporates metal prices and metallurgical recoveries. The November 2025 Mineral Resource Estimate used a Cu-to-Mo value ratio of 1:5.278.
- Tonnage, grade and contained metal figures are rounded and reported totals may not reconcile exactly due to rounding.
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 Chaparral block, the Company's intention to carry out the exploration program at Chaparral, the timing, completion and results of the technical report for the Updated MRE, are to be considered forward-looking statements. Copper Giant believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, including assumptions regarding the registration of the Special Exploration and Exploitation Contract in the Colombian National Mining Registry; the receipt of the environmental, social and other approvals required to conduct exploration in the Department of Tolima; the availability of personnel, contractors, funding and other resources required to advance exploration; and general economic, market, political and regulatory conditions. 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 risks that the Special Exploration and Exploitation Contract may not be registered or that registration may be delayed, that the approvals required to conduct exploration in the Department of Tolima may not be obtained or may be delayed, that exploration may not define a mineral resource, market prices and volatility in the market price of 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, 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. The forward-looking information in this news release is based on assumptions management considers reasonable as of the date of this news release, and the Company disclaims any obligation to update it except as required by applicable law.
SOURCE COPPER GIANT RESOURCES CORP.
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