In mineral exploration, two things rarely show up on the same property: the bulk-tonnage scale of a copper porphyry, and the eye-popping per-tonne grades of a high-grade gold vein. One is a long-life, low-grade engine; the other is a smaller, richer prize. Salazar Resources Limited (TSXV: SRL) (OTCQB: SRLZF) (FSE: CCG) has just reported results suggesting it may have both on a single, wholly owned concession in one of the world's most prolific copper-gold belts.
High-Grade Headline: Yumi Vein System
On June 1, 2026, Salazar reported rock-chip sampling of up to 100 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 1,000 g/t silver from the Yumi vein system at its 100%-owned Tarqui Concession in southeastern Ecuador. These high-grade precious-metals results sit right alongside a large, district-scale copper-molybdenum porphyry that was previously drilled under an earn-in by mining giant BHP. It is the kind of combination that gives a junior two distinct ways to win on one piece of ground.
The numbers that grab attention come from the Yumi gold-silver epithermal vein system, where Salazar's own recent rock-chip sampling returned exceptional grades. One sample assayed 80.9 g/t gold and 824 g/t silver; a second came back at greater than 100 g/t gold and greater than 1,000 g/t silver, with over-limit analysis still pending — meaning the true values could be even higher once the lab re-runs them at a wider range. Beyond those two standouts, 13 additional samples returned between 1.0 and 17.9 g/t gold across a vein system roughly 100 metres in length.
Two caveats matter and Salazar discloses them plainly. First, these are rock-chip and grab samples taken at surface, which are selective by nature and are not necessarily representative of the grade of any mineralization at depth — they point to potential, not to a resource. Second, the highest result is an over-limit pending value, not a confirmed assay. What the sampling does establish is that a high-grade epithermal system is present and worth drilling. The company notes the mineralization is consistent with low- to intermediate-sulfidation epithermal systems similar to Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte deposit, located about 48 kilometres to the south — a useful geological analogue, not a statement of equivalence.
Bulk-Tonnage Engine: BHP-Drilled Porphyry
Underpinning the gold story is the larger copper-molybdenum porphyry system at Tarqui, defined by a 1.8-kilometre by 1.0-kilometre copper-molybdenum surface anomaly, with rock samples running up to 1.64% copper and soils up to 1.00% copper. The system has the kind of pedigree juniors rarely get to point to: it was drilled under a 2019–2022 earn-in agreement by BHP Billiton, following earlier work by Luminex Resources in 2018. That historical program included thirteen drill holes that confirmed porphyry mineralization.
Two of those historical holes frame the scale. TARQ1D returned 0.33% copper-equivalent over 186 metres, sitting within a much longer 682-metre interval grading 0.22% copper-equivalent. TARQ4D returned 0.34% copper-equivalent over 218 metres, with higher-grade sub-intervals up to 0.54% copper-equivalent. These are early-stage porphyry intercepts rather than a defined resource, but they confirm a real, drill-tested system that Salazar says remains open at depth and along its margins — leaving significant exploration upside. That a super-major spent the money to drill it is itself a form of validation that the target is district-scale.
