It's Personal Matters, Don't Worry About It Okay

Javier Cordova Unda has temporarily stepped down as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company in order to attend to personal matters. He will continue to serve as the President and a director of the Company. C. Geoffrey Hampson, who currently serves as Executive Chairman of the Company’s Board, will act as interim CEO.

An arrest warrant will be sent to the International Criminal Police Office (Interpol) against Javier Córdova Unda, former minister in the governments of Rafael Correa and Lenín Moreno, to comply with a pretrial detention warrant for alleged illicit enrichment.

The Attorney General's Office opened an investigation against Javier Córdova, former minister in the period of Rafael Correa and Lenín Moreno, in addition to having been Deputy Minister of the Interior and former Deputy Minister of Security and Minister of Mines.

On January 10, 2024, the prosecution hearing was held in the National Court of Justice (CNJ), which was chaired by the Criminal Guarantees Judge Marco Rodríguez Ruiz, who welcomed the elements of conviction exposed by the Prosecutor's Office and ordered as precautionary measures a preventive detention order and the detention of several bank accounts to guarantee the payment of a fine and comprehensive reparation of up to $ 1,141,669.

Under the terms of the Private Placement, FPX will issue 30,104,488 common shares (“Private Placement Common Shares”) in the capital of the Company to SMCL at a price of $0.48 per Private Placement Common Share, for gross proceeds of $14,450,154. Upon completion of the Private Placement, SMCL will own 9.9% of FPX’s issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis.

The Claims

The claims to be purchased (see Figure 1) total 1,226 hectares and cover a zone of outcropping quartz-carbonate veins in Nicola volcaniclastic rocks with high-grade sphalerite and gold mineralization. Grab samples collected by Vizsla Copper contain up to 26.8% Zn and 9.01 g/t Au over thicknesses estimated to be 0.2 metres, summarized in Table 1 below.  No known drill holes have been completed in the area and Vizsla Copper will complete detailed geological, ground geophysical and surficial geochemistry surveys to develop drill targets.

These claims will be acquired from an arms-length vendor for 200,000 common shares of Vizsla Copper. The claims will be subject to a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty, of which Vizsla Copper has the right to purchase 1.0% (one-half) for $1.0 million in cash. The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”), and should close in the coming weeks.

Sample ST116183 assayed 21.5 oz/t AuEq or 667.40 gpt AuEq (636.00 gpt Au, 1690.00 gpt Ag, 7.96 % Cu, 2.22 % Pb) and comes from a 30 cm wide quartz vein with 15 % chalcopyrite, 7 % pyrite, and 1 % galena hosted in a strongly silicified porphyritic andesite within the Hazelton Volcanics. It was collected in an outcrop consisting of a 15 meter wide stockwork zone that contains at least 10 veins with strong quartz-sulphide mineralization. The stockwork of veins is vertical and strikes north-south where it is exposed for about 50 meters of strike before being covered by overburden on either side; it remains open. It is hosted within a broader shear zone that can be traced for >500 meters in a north-south direction with 400 metres of vertical relief and remains open.

The geophysics team and drill contractor are expected to arrive at the Albert Lake property on or about January 29th.   Drilling is expected to commence during the first week of February.  Drilling will focus on the Tremblay-Olson Claims area, approximately two km southwest of the historic Rottenstone Mine, where the Company has identified a very robust time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) conductor (see Press Release August 14, 2023) occurring on the eastern flank of a very robust multi-element-in-soil anomaly (see Press Release January 17, 2023).  The 4-week drill program is anticipated to include between five and seven drillholes for a total of 2,000-2,500 meters.