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Fortuna Mining Corp. (NYSE: FSM | TSX: FVI) said it has entered into an earn-in agreement with Qstone Inc., a private Guyanese company, under which Fortuna can earn up to a 70% interest in the Quartzstone Project. The project is described as a large land package covering 29,600 hectares in the greenstone belt of north central Guyana.
Fortuna’s Quartzstone Project is located approximately 120 kilometers west of Georgetown and 35 kilometers northwest of G Mining’s Oko West project. The company said the project hosts an orogenic gold system along the contact between a granitoid complex and Lower Proterozoic greenstone rocks within the Guyana Shield.
Local geology includes granitoids, metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, cut by a west-dipping, north-south striking thrust and shear zone extending over 26 kilometers. Gold mineralization is hosted in quartz-tourmaline-carbonate veins and breccias within a high-strain corridor up to 100 meters wide along the principal north-south shear and associated northeast-trending structures.
Fortuna said historical drilling has tested only about 5 kilometers of the 26-kilometer shear zone within the concession area. It also noted that several geochemical anomalies along northeast-southwest trending cross-structures remain untested and will be prioritized.
Fortuna reported that a total of 183 diamond core drill holes, totaling 23,190 meters, were completed between 2010 and 2017. Drilling along a five-kilometer corridor identified multiple zones of high-grade near-surface gold mineralization. The release states that drill highlights are provided in an appendix, with full details and assay results referenced in Appendix 1.
Fortuna said its initial exploration program is budgeted at approximately US$5.5 million. The program will focus on advancing priority targets already defined at Quartzstone and generating additional targets along the 26-kilometer main shear zone.
Planned work includes airborne magnetic surveys to develop a detailed structural framework, supported by high-resolution satellite imagery and digital elevation modelling. Field activities will include infill geochemical sampling, auger drilling, and detailed geological and regolith mapping over prospective geophysical targets and known anomalous areas.
An initial 5,000-meter diamond drilling program is planned to test historical targets and workings, as well as priority structural corridors along the main contact and northeast-trending intersections.
Under the agreement, Fortuna may earn an initial 51% interest in the Quartzstone Project by completing a minimum of 60,000 meters of drilling within four years, while paying all license fees and funding related expenditures. Upon exercising the first option, Fortuna will form a joint venture with Qstone.
Fortuna may earn an additional 19% interest—bringing its total interest to 70%—by solely funding a feasibility study within three years of exercising the first option, while continuing to pay all license fees.
Fortuna said that upon signing the earn-in agreement, it paid Qstone a non-refundable cash option premium of US$5 million.
The release also states that, in addition to royalties payable to the State on gold production, the Quartzstone Project is subject to a 4.5% net smelter returns royalty in favor of a prior owner, which may be repurchased at a price to be determined by the parties at any time.
Fortuna described sampling and preparation procedures for the historical diamond drilling program. Drill holes began with PQ-sized diameter (85 mm core) and were reduced to HQ diameter (63.5 mm core) on intersecting fresh rock. Core was logged and marked for sampling using standard one-meter lengths or geological boundaries, then cut into equal halves. One half was stored in the core box at the project site; the other half was sampled, catalogued, sealed in bags, and stored at the site until shipment.
Samples were prepared by WBDG at the in-house sample preparation facility at the Quartzstone camp, dried and crushed to 95% passing a 10-mesh screen, then rifled to 500 grams and pulverised to 80% passing a 150-mesh screen to produce a final 50-gram pulp sample.
Prior to 2013, pulps were transported to Loring Laboratories Ltd. in Georgetown, Guyana, or Acme laboratory in Santiago, Chile. The release states that assays used fire assay with a 50-gram charge and atomic absorption spectroscopy finish, with re-assay by fire assay using a gravimetric finish if results were greater than 1.0 g/t Au.
For the 2013 program, Fortuna said Acme Laboratory in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and ALS Laboratory in Lima, Peru, were used. Acme assayed samples using the bulk leach extractable gold method, with solvent residue assayed by standard fire assay with atomic absorption spectroscopy finish using 50-gram sample charges. ALS used bulk extended leach cyanide with 1-kilogram sample charges.
Since 2015, Fortuna said Activation Laboratories Canada (Actlabs), with a laboratory in Georgetown, Guyana, analyzed samples using fire assay with gravimetric finish and leachwell 500-gram sample charges. In 2016, Actlabs was used for re-analysis of rejects using leachwell 500-gram sample charges. The 2017 drilling was analyzed at Actlabs in Georgetown using metallic screens and fire assay with gravimetric finish.
Quality control procedures included systematic insertion of blanks, duplicates, and sample standards into the sample stream, along with laboratory quality control samples.
Fortuna said Paul Weedon, Senior Vice President, Exploration for Fortuna Mining Corp., is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (Membership #6001). The release states that Mr. Weedon reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in the release.
Fortuna said Mr. Weedon conducted a site visit to the Quartzstone Project in June 2025, examining mineralized drill core intervals and visiting surface exposures of mineralization. It also said discussions were held with geology staff regarding historical sampling and analytical techniques underlying the drilling data.
To verify the data, Fortuna said original assay certificates were compared to the database and independent sampling of core was performed, confirming the presence of gold in randomly selected mineralized intervals. The release states there were no limitations to the verification process.
Fortuna characterized the earn-in agreement as a staged path to unlock the Quartzstone Project’s potential through systematic exploration and drilling. The company’s near-term focus is an initial US$5.5 million exploration program and a planned 5,000-meter diamond drilling campaign to test historical targets and structural corridors.
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