Royal Road resumes Colombia drilling and sees potential for underground gold-copper-silver mine

Royal Road Minerals has resumed drilling at its Guintar project in Antioquia, Colombia, with results pointing to the potential for a large-scale underground gold, copper and silver mine.

Royal Road Minerals has placed Colombia back at the center of its growth strategy after resuming drilling at its Guintar-Aleman-Margaritas project in Antioquia, where the latest results point to a mineralized system with the potential to support a large-scale underground mining operation.

The Canadian junior, listed on the TSX-V under the symbol RYR, said hole GUI-DD-028 intersected 76 metres grading 2.1 grams per tonne gold, 0.4% copper and 7.9 grams per tonne silver from a depth of 45 metres. The company said the results are part of a 2,500-metre exploration campaign, its first drilling program at the project since 2022.

The new campaign is aimed at further defining the size and geometry of the Guintar system, which Royal Road considers a key asset within its international portfolio alongside projects in Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

New drill results strengthen mining potential in Antioquia

In addition to hole GUI-DD-028, the company released results from GUI-DD-031, which returned 15 metres grading 1 g/t gold, 0.6% copper and 11.3 g/t silver from 130 metres depth. Royal Road said mineralization was continuous from surface to the end of the hole, reaching 193.7 metres, and remains open at depth.

These results support the interpretation of a gold-copper-silver porphyry-skarn system, overprinted by higher-grade quartz-carbonate veins that may enhance the project’s overall economic profile.

Royal Road Minerals CEO Tim Coughlin said a reinterpretation of the geology and the reprocessing of historical data using mining-constrained cut-offs have significantly improved the company’s understanding of the deposit.

According to the company, it is now outlining a mineralized system extending from surface over an area of more than 2 square kilometres and to depths exceeding 500 metres, a geological setting consistent with a meaningful bulk-tonnage underground mining scenario.

Guintar project in Colombia gains momentum as a gold, copper and silver asset

The Guintar-Aleman-Margaritas project is located around 50 kilometres east of Medellin, in one of Colombia’s best-known mining regions. Antioquia hosts several producing gold mines and multiple advanced exploration projects, reinforcing the district’s geological appeal.

Royal Road said Guintar hosts gold-copper-silver porphyry-skarn systems and sheeted vein gold mineralization with a combined surface footprint of more than 8 square kilometres. That scale, together with the continuity of mineralization seen in drilling, leaves room for further expansion.

The company acquired the Guintar and Margaritas projects from AngloGold Ashanti in 2019 as part of a broader Colombian licence package. Since then, it has advanced both exploration work and regulatory and permitting processes, which explains the pause in drilling before the latest campaign resumed.

Royal Road aims to expand its footprint in Colombia mining

Royal Road says it is currently the largest title holder in Colombia, with more than 1,800 square kilometres of combined mining concessions and applications. That position gives the company a significant platform for growth in one of Latin America’s most prospective mining jurisdictions.

Before the current campaign, AngloGold Ashanti and Royal Road had drilled a combined 43 diamond holes for 13,700 metres, with more than half of those holes ending in mineralization. That technical history supports the view that Guintar could emerge as one of the more promising underground development assets in the company’s portfolio.

The restart of drilling comes at a time when investors remain focused on new gold and copper projects in Colombia, two commodities that continue to attract attention for both their safe-haven appeal and their strategic importance in electrification and the energy transition.

Royal Road shares slip, but Guintar stands out as a strategic project

Despite the positive drilling update, Royal Road Minerals shares were down 2.7% in Toronto on Wednesday morning, trading at C$0.18, amid broader market weakness following higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

At that level, the company had a market capitalization of about C$53 million, with its shares trading in a 12-month range between C$0.085 and C$0.255.

Beyond the market reaction, the latest results at Guintar strengthen Royal Road Minerals’ case for advancing toward a more robust resource definition stage in Colombia. In a mining market still searching for projects with scale, continuity and exposure to gold, copper and silver, the Antioquia asset is beginning to stand out as an increasingly relevant development story.