Copper Giant Resources has mobilised a third drill rig to the Mocoa copper-molybdenum project in Colombia, following the decision by the National Mining Agency (NMA) to allow the integration of two titles into a single concession.
The unification of FJT131 and FJT 141 creates a new exploration stage for the Vancouver-based company which is expected to accelerate drilling rates to test high-priority targets across the district.
Copper Giant CEO Ian Harris said NMA's decision helps secures the long-term development of Mocoa at a "scale this system deserves".
"It is a clean unified title, no forestry reserve overlap, and three rigs now drilling," he said. "This outcome reflects a collaborative process with Colombian institutions and our confidence in the regulatory environment."
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The addition of a third rig marks a key transition from resource definition to systematic testing of new porphyry centres beyond the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) footprint. The 2026 programme is targeting about 23,000m, an increase of more than 80% on the 2025 campaign, marking the largest drilling programme in the project's history.
Edwin Naranjo Sierra, Copper Giant's vice-president-exploration, said: "The addition of a third drill rig reflects the confidence we are building in the broader Mocoa system.
"Targets like La Estrella and Piedralisa are supported by strong geological, geochemical, and geophysical signatures but have never been drilled. This phase is about testing that potential directly, while our two existing rigs continue expanding and upgrading the current resource. Together, this positions us to advance Mocoa as both a large deposit and a broader district-scale system."
Kluane Drilling, as primary contractor, carried out drill campaigns from 2022 using a KD-1000 man-portable diamond drill, a modular rig designed for deep drilling and which was suited for the steep topography and limited access conditions at Mocoa. But since February, the company has been using Aziwell's proprietary AziDrill system (pictured above), which can drill multiple daughter holes from a single mother hole.
"The implementation of directional drilling at Mocoa marks an important technical evolution for the project," said Sierra. "As we move into the largest drill programme in our history, our focus is not only on metres drilled, but on drilling smarter."
The first directional daughter holes (MD-059 and MD-060) were completed from mother hole MD-057 in early April, with the company subsequently announcing assay results that "validated and locally exceeded" the current resource model.
The company said MD-060 returned 285m of 0.61% CuEq, including 68m of 0.97% CuEq starting at 249m, ending in mineralisation. Hole MD-059 returned 198m of 0.63% CuEq including 141m of 0.71% CuEq starting at 355m. And MD-058 intersected mineralisation in an area previously modelled as waste, including 92m over a recently discovered microdiorite porphyry phase within 448m starting at 273m.
For Aziwell, the engagement reflects a broader shift in how complex exploration projects are executed.
"Projects like Mocoa show why directional drilling is becoming a key part of modern exploration, helping operators reduce cost per target while improving decision-making and minimizing environmental footprint," said Nils Ivar Iversen, CEO of Aziwell.
The Mocoa Project, in Colombia's Department of Putumayo, is about 10km from the town of Mocoa, in the country's south and covers a132,499Ha area controlled by Copper Giant. The property covers a significant portion of the Jurassic porphyry belt – an underexplored metallogenic corridor within the northern Andes.
Mocoa's MRE comprises inferred resources of 12.7 billion pounds of copper-equivalent at an average grade of 0.51%, including 7.7blbs of copper at 0.31% and 1.0blbs of molybdenum at 0.039% within 1120mt.
