Capitan Silver Expands Drill Program With New Permit

Capitan Silver has received a new exploration permit at its Cruz de Plata project in Durango, enabling drilling beyond the 2.5km Jesus María Silver Trend into never-before-tested regional targets across a system now spanning 21km of cumulative mineralized strike. The permit expansion follows the company's 2025 acquisition of Fresnillo concessions, a property-wide MT geophysical survey confirming mineralization to 1.5km depth, and surface samples returning up to 4,291g/t AgEq, collectively supporting the classification of Cruz de Plata as a large-scale intermediate sulfidation epithermal system. With four active rigs and 57 holes pending assay, the development adds to accelerating drill activity across Durango amid Mexico's broader push to streamline mining permits for critical mineral exploration.

Capitan Silver has received a new exploration permit at its Cruz de Plata silver-gold project in Durango, allowing the company to drill beyond the previously permitted 2.5km strike length of the Jesus María Silver Trend and test a series of high-priority regional targets that have never been drilled. The company has also deployed a reverse-circulation (RC) rig exclusively to these new areas, marking an expansion of what is now a 60,000m program with four active rigs on site.

The Cruz de Plata project has undergone a big transformation over the past year. In August 2025, Capitan Silver acquired seven mineral concessions from Minera Fresnillo for US$4 million, increasing its land position in the district by approximately 85% and extending the known silver-gold trend by 1.2km. That acquisition opened access to ground that had not been previously drilled, and it is precisely those concessions that form the basis for the newly permitted targets.

Following the Fresnillo transaction, a surface exploration campaign nearly tripled the known length of mineralized vein structures on the property, from 7km to over 21km of cumulative mineralized strike across multiple veins and structures. Surface grab and chip samples from the newly identified targets have returned results including 4,291g/t AgEq at Casco Norte, 1,337.5g/t AgEq at Jesus Maria East, and 2,268.1g/t AgEq at Jesus Maria Northwest, grades that established the exploration rationale for the current permit application.

In May 2026, a property-wide Mobile Magnetotelluric (MT) geophysical survey delivered interpretive results confirming that the mineralized system extends to depths exceeding 1.5km, identified vertical continuity in key structures, and pointed to additional targets at depth. The survey reinforced the company's thesis that Cruz de Plata represents a large-scale intermediate sulfidation epithermal system.

New Targets, Proven Method

The newly permitted areas allow Capitan to test targets that outcrop to the east, northwest, and north of the Jesus María Silver Trend. The Jesus María trend itself sits along a contact between carbonaceous siliciclastic sediments and a granodiorite intrusive, a contact that, according to the company's geological model, wraps around the western perimeter of the intrusive in a C-shaped pattern totaling more than 8km of cumulative strike. When radial and cross-cutting structures are included, including the Peñoles Fault, Gully Fault, El Casco, El Tubo, and La Providencia structures, the total system reaches 21km.

For the new target areas, Capitan is applying the same RC-first drilling approach that it used in its 15,000m program in 2025 to expand mineralization along strike close to the surface. Alberto Orozco, CEO, Capitan Silver, said the method allows the company to test multiple targets faster and at lower cost than diamond drilling, with the intent to follow up RC success with core drilling to define new zones and test depth potential.

"The RC drilling of these new target areas will follow on the proven exploration method Capitan applied in 2025 to expand the Jesus María trend on strike," Orozco said. "I believe using RC, which allows us to drill more metres in a shorter period of time and for a considerably lower cost, is the most intelligent and capital efficient approach to drill test these new targets, as risk is minimized."

Pipeline and Upcoming Results

With four rigs currently active, three diamond core rigs and one RC rig now exclusively assigned to the new targets, Capitan Silver is running one of the more intensive drill programs among junior silver explorers in Mexico. The company has 57 drill holes with assays pending: 31 core holes and 26 RC holes, with results arriving on a rolling basis.

The pace of drilling reflects a broader pattern of accelerating exploration activity in Durango and across Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental corridor. Pacifica Silver received authorization to drill up to 153 new sites at its Claudia Silver-Gold project in Durango in early 2026, while Guanajuato Silver outlined a record 75,000m drill program for 2026 across its five wholly owned underground mines. Minister of Economy Marcelo Ebrard has also signaled that the federal government intends to streamline pending drill permits in 2026 to support large-scale exploration and meet rising global demand for critical minerals.

For Capitan Silver, the coming weeks will be a key test of whether the system-wide geological thesis developed over the past year translates into drill results beyond the Jesus María trend. The company has CA$20 million raised to advance the program, a land package that has grown substantially through the Fresnillo acquisition, and a permit framework that now covers the full extent of the targets it has identified.