Tombstone's oxide system just got wider. Aztec Minerals reported on October 22 that nine reverse circulation holes from its 2025–2026 program at the Tombstone property in southeastern Arizona all intersected oxide gold-silver mineralization — and that step-outs have extended the known footprint about 190 metres west of the North Extension target.
- All nine holes hit. Holes TR26-45 to TR26-53 each intersected multiple mineralized zones. Six of them (TR26-45 to TR26-49 and TR26-51) stepped out about 90 to 190 metres west of the North Extension holes reported on September 2, 2026.
- Headline interval: TR26-45 returned 115.8 metres at 0.52 g/t gold and 8.11 g/t silver (0.67 g/t AuEq) from 51.8 metres, including 12.2 metres at 1.49 g/t gold and 12.2 metres at 1.23 g/t gold.
- Higher-grade western hits: TR26-49 returned 30.5 metres at 0.70 g/t gold and 24.62 g/t silver (1.15 g/t AuEq) from 82.3 metres, including 12.2 metres at 2.26 g/t AuEq; TR26-51 returned 7.6 metres at 1.84 g/t gold and 35.64 g/t silver (2.49 g/t AuEq) from 12.2 metres, including 3.0 metres at 6.03 g/t AuEq.
- From surface: TR26-48 returned 24.4 metres at 0.76 g/t gold and 14.59 g/t silver (1.02 g/t AuEq) from surface, including 6.1 metres at 2.28 g/t AuEq.
- Still open, still pending: mineralization remains open to the west, north and at depth, and assays are pending for a further 22 RC holes (TR26-54 to TR26-75).
- Maiden resource timing: the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate, being prepared by APEX Geoscience Ltd., is expected in November 2026 — and it will incorporate drill results only up to TR26-44, so none of these nine holes is in it.
The same plumbing as the historic Contention mine
Aztec says the North Extension mineralization shows the same controls as the Main Contention zone: variably altered, mineralized dioritic dikes channeling strongly mineralized hydrothermal breccias, cut by quartz fissure lodes, through Bisbee Group and lower carbonate sediments. In plain terms, the western step-outs are not finding a different kind of system — they are finding more of the historic Tombstone system, in oxide material, over broad widths.
CEO Simon Dyakowski pointed to TR26-45's more-than-115 metres of continuous mineralization and to the higher-grade intervals in TR26-49 and TR26-51 on the western side of the target, and said the pending holes plus this round will guide follow-up work in 2027, to be planned once the maiden resource is complete.
The honesty box
Intervals are reported drilled lengths from RC drilling; the release does not state true widths, so treat the long intervals as downhole lengths, not true thickness. Gold equivalents use a 55:1 silver-to-gold ratio, adjusted from a 59.2:1 price ratio (average US$4,817/oz gold and US$81.36/oz silver, January 1 to May 1, 2026) for metallurgical recoveries of 81.5% for gold and 75.9% for silver from third-party testing of RC pulps — change the prices or recoveries and the AuEq grades change; the underlying gold and silver grades are reported separately above for that reason. Several intervals cross or end at historic workings that were not sampled (TR26-45 ends at a working at 167.0–169.5 metres; TR26-48 includes an unsampled working and 1.5 metres of no recovery), so those gaps are not mineralization. There is no mineral resource yet at Tombstone — the November estimate is the maiden one, it excludes this batch, and drill-defined oxide mineralization is not a reserve.
What to watch
The 22 pending holes, delivery of the maiden resource estimate in November 2026, and how much of this western extension makes it into a later resource update and the 2027 follow-up plan.