Aguia Resources Limited Provided update the market on recent copper exploration activity undertaken in the Rio Grande Copper Belt, where a new highly prospective target, "Cota", was identified 35 km from current Copper Project (Andrade): Initial rock scout sampling undertaken by Aguia were analysed at the ALS Laboratory and returned results up to 3.72% Copper for the Cota target. This brings Aguia's portfolio in the Rio Grande Copper Belt to 11 copper targets and one copper deposit, which is the Andrade Copper Project, where now have a Measured and Indicated Copper Resource that was announced to the market on 9 February 2023. The initial geological reconnaissance and rock sampling were undertaken on tenements that Aguia acquired in late 2020, bringing the number of targets identified from this acquisition to four.

Cota is located 15 km from the previously identified Seival and Lagoa Parada targets. The Rio Grande Copper Belt includes over 100 copper occurrences registered in the Brazilian Geological Survey database that are hosted by a variety of volcanic and sedimentary rock types, which underwent hydrothermal alteration, developing veins, stringers and sulphides dissemination that are usually associated with copper minerals and minor content of silver and/or gold. The Rio Grande Belt has hosted one historical copper mine known as Camaqua.

The now-exhausted copper mine included the Uruguai and the São Luiz orebodies, which were hosted by sedimentary rocks. The mine is located in the municipality of Caçapava do Sul, 40 km southeast of the Andrade Project. Mining was initiated in 1901 and operated until 1996, not continuously.

About 22.5 Mt of ore grading 0.76% copper were mined underground and in an open pit, producing 171,396 tons of copper, 4.5 tons of gold and 38 tons of silver 1 . After its closure, there was no major copper exploration investment in southernmost Brazil until Aguia initiated exploration in 2018. Most of the copper exploration programs have focussed on northern and northeast Brazil.

The general consensus is that, in all likelihood, the Rio Grande was the western portion, and the Kalahari was the eastern portion of the same copper belt before the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean, which separated South America from Africa. Aguia's geological team shares this view, and this, together with other observations and assessments, has led to Aguia staking extensive copper tenement holdings in the Rio Grande Copper Belt. The main similarities between the belts are the geology of the host rocks, which are of similar nature and ages, and both belts line up in any tectonic reconstruction of the Gondwana Supercontinent.

Another key similarity between the belts is the metallic content of the mineralisation, which are typically copper deposits associated mostly with silver and minor gold content. The Kalahari belt has received continuous exploration investments in the past 50 years that resulted in about 30 discoveries of copper deposits. The company have previously highlighted the similarities between the two copper districts in an announcement issued on 27 October 2021.

The Cota Target is located 35 km to the southwest of the Andrade Project and is surrounded by other copper assets. Initial geological mapping shows that the Cota Target is associated with the contact between volcanic rocks with a fine-grained granite intrusion. Copper occurs as disseminations in the matrix of the volcanic rock and filling fractures.

The main copper mineral is malachite and minor azurite, reflecting the weathering at surface of possible pristine copper minerals at depth. Initial reconnaissance and geological mapping returned a rock assay grading 3.72% copper and over-limit assays for silver (>100 g/t). In December 2020, Aguia was granted 24 new exploration permits, which expanded the Company's land position within the Rio Grande Copper Belt by 375 km².

The company subsequently announced the identification of three new copper targets there, namely, Salso, Piquiri and Estuque. The company's new target Cota is the fourth Target to be identified there. The other eight copper assets were announced before 2020, and all of them were summarised in the June 28th 2019, announcement (Operational Update).

The Company has continued to stake areas in the Rio Grande Copper Belt. Aguia's total land copper position is now 1,550 sq kilometres.