Vancouver, Canada – March 26, 2018 - Aztec Minerals Corp. (AZT: TSX-V, OTCQB: AZZTF) recently participated in a Mexican government land lottery and was awarded two new mineral concessions covering approximately 3,149 hectares adjacent to the Cervantes property in Sonora, Mexico.  Combined with the 500 hectares currently under option from Kootenay Silver, Aztec’s land position at Cervantes has now expanded more than six fold to 3,649 hectares.

The new mineral concessions cover six historic mineral prospects and/or gossan zones that represent high priority porphyry-type targets elsewhere in the Cervantes district.  The Jacobo and Purisima prospects are situated southwest of the California zone at Cervantes along part of an 7.5 kilometer (km) long, northeast-trending structural corridor; the El Tigre gossan zone lies south of California and Brasil zones along a north-south trending lineament; and the PS, RA and La Verde prospects straddle the California prospect along a northwest trending linear. (view map here)

President and CEO Joey Wilkins commented, “This major land acquisition substantially expands the upside potential of our Cervantes porphyry gold-copper project.  Not only does it cover possible extensions of the outcropping California zone gold-copper mineralization now being drilled, it also covers six other gold-copper-molybdenum prospects and/or gossan zones related to porphyry intrusions.  We plan to map and sample these areas this year after completion of the current Phase 1 drill program.”

Purisima Prospect

Purisima is an undrilled, historic prospect/gossan zone that outcrops 2.5 km southwest of the California zone and consists of two 750 meter (m) X 750 m diatreme breccia bodies.  They are composed of volcanic, intrusive, and sedimentary fragments with peripheral sedimentary breccias cemented by specularite+/-barite. Historic chip sampling of the eastern breccia returned two separate 2 m intervals assaying 44.6 grams per tonne (gpt) gold and 5.9 gpt gold.  Several grab samples by Kootenay ranged from 0.10 to 0.36 gpt gold with anomalous tungsten values throughout.  Quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusions with anomalous copper-molybdenum values and phyllic alteration flank the west side of the breccias.

Jacobo Prospect

Jacobo is a sill-like body of feldspar-biotite-quartz porphyry measuring 1.7 km long by 350 m wide hosted in sedimentary rocks. Limited historic rock chip geochemical results have a porphyry copper-molybdenum signature. 

RA and PS Prospects

These two targets have seen limited mapping and sampling but several rock chip samples contain highly anomalous gold, copper, arsenic, bismuth, and tungsten. The PS zone is centered on a small north-south quartz vein with visible gold and grab samples up to 243 gpt Au. The RA target is exposed along road cuts with grab samples that contain up to 3.9 gpt Au, 0.21% Cu, 660ppm W, 17,300 ppm As, and 160ppm Bi.

El Tigre Prospect

The El Tigre target is a 2.0 x 2.0 km Aster satellite anomaly containing anomalous silica and iron oxide, but never sampled by Aztec or Kootenay.

La Verde Prospect

The La Verde prospect has some old mine workings but no mapping or sampling have been conducted.

The Phase 1 drill program at the California zone on the Cervantes property is now on hole #11 and continues to intersect porphyry-type gold-copper mineralization in every hole.  The Cervantes Property is held under an option to purchase agreement with Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSX-V:KTN) whereby Aztec can acquire up to 100% interest in the property in two stages.

Tombstone Project Option Approved by Baroyeca Shareholders and TSX Venture Exchange 

Aztec also announces that Baroyeca Gold & Silver has received approval for the option and joint venture agreement on their Tombstone properties with Aztec Minerals from both their shareholders and the TSX Venture Exchange (see prior news release). The Company is currently developing its 2018 exploration plans for the Tombstone property, which will include geological mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical surveys to prioritize targets for drilling.

Qualified Person (QP)
The technical information in this news release was prepared, reviewed, and approved by Aztec Minerals Corp’s qualified person (QP), Joey Wilkins, President and CEO. The historic grab and chip samples are not, to the best our knowledge, compliant with NI43-101 nor verified by the QP and should not be relied upon.

About Aztec Minerals – Aztec is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large porphyry gold-copper deposits in the Americas. Our first project and core asset is the prospective Cervantes gold-copper property in Sonora, Mexico. The second project is the district-scale historic Tombstone properties in Cochise County, Arizona. Aztec’s shares trade on the TSX-V stock exchange under the symbol AZT and on the OTCQB under the symbol AZZTF.

Contact Information - For more information, please contact:
Neil MacRae, Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel: (604) 685-9770
Fax: (604) 685-9744
Email:  neil@aztecminerals.com
Website: www.aztecminerals.com

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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward?looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding Aztec’s anticipated performance in 2018 and the future, including receipt of regulatory approval of the Option Agreement, the exercise of the option on the Tombstone properties, the planned exploration activities on the Cervantes and Tombstone properties, receipt of assay results from drilling on the Cervantes property, the completion of further drilling on the Cervantes property, and the timing and results of various activities. The Company does not intend to, and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Aztec and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to precious and base metals prices, operating or technical difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities; risks and hazards of mineral exploration, development and mining; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company’s title to properties.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company’s exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.