Prosper Gold/PGX

Prosper Gold Corp. announced it preparing to begin its drilling program in the coming weeks at its Cypress copper-gold project in north-central British Columbia.

The company has mobilized crews and equipment to prepare access trails and drill pads, it said in a release.

"Crews are currently constructing access trails and drill pads for this highly anticipated winter diamond drilling program," said Chief Executive Officer Peter Bernier. "We are very excited to drill test Target A. It is a 2- by 4-kilometer conductivity anomaly adjacent to a regional fault that coincides with a pronounced magnetic low, representing a very attractive porphyry target."

The Cyprus Project is a district-scale porphyry copper-gold project with several historically defined copper ± gold porphyry prospects and significant historical drill results, including 138.2 meters at 0.55% copper (Cu), Prosper said.

Vancouver-based Prosper said numerous multi-kilometer sized porphyry copper-gold targets were outlined from the Company’s summer 2024 Z‐Tipper Axis Electromagnetic (ZTEM) survey results, including Target A.

The selection of targets was largely based on the coincidence of conductivity highs and magnetic lows, interpreted to be associated with high-level porphyry mineralization

and alteration, the company said.

"Target A is characterized as a 2- by 4-kilometer conductivity high anomaly that extends from just below surface to (a) depth of greater than 500 meters," Prosper said in the release. "This large, pronounced conductivity high anomaly is spatially coincident with a 2- by 3-kilometer magnetic low anomaly that is interpreted to be associated with the intrusion of Eocene-aged, Kastberg Suite or Babine Intrusive Suite felsic rocks, both of which have

been mapped by government geologists within 3 kilometers of the covered target."

These Eocene-aged intrusions are known to be associated, in certain instances, with porphyry copper ± gold mineralization in this region of the Stikine Terrane, Prosper said.

A 'District-Scale' Exploration Project

Cyprus is a porphyry copper-gold project comprising 623 square kilometers of contiguous claims in part of an Eocene porphyry belt. It is on trend with American Eagle Gold Corp.'s (AE:TSXV; AMEGF:OTCQB) NAK Project, 60 kilometers to the south in the same metallogenic belt, Technical Analyst Clive Maund reported in last year.*

Cyprus includes the historical Kaza and Northstar copper prospects and represents a district-scale copper-gold porphyry exploration project, the company said.

At the historical Kaza copper-gold prospect, soil samples up to 5.09 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) and 10,000 parts-per-million (ppm) copper were found, along with surface rock chip samples from 1973 including 0.88% Cu, 15.4 g/t Au and 120 g/t silver (Ag) over 4 meters coinciding with a 2,000-by-600-meter area of high IP chargeability and low magnetic response.

Copper mineralization at the Northstar prospect consists of vein-hosted and disseminated chalcocite and bornite within faulted and fractured andesite, Prosper said. Surface trench sampling results include 23 meters grading 2.1% Cu and historical drilling intercepts including 0.55% Cu over 138.2 meters. Zones of copper mineralization outlined by previous operators at the Northstar prospect are likely driven by a magmatic-hydrothermal system in

the immediate vicinity.

The Big-Time prospect has not seen historical drilling despite the presence of a pronounced copper-bearing area of phyllic alteration that coincides with strong copper-molybdenum geochemistry, high IP chargeability, and northeast trending feldspar porphyry dikes, Prosper said.

'The Best Target We've Seen'

Last year's heli-borne ZTEM survey comprised 3,760 line-kilometers covering 683 square kilometers and collected magnetic and electromagnetic field data that have helped to define structural lineaments and conductive anomalies that may represent mineralization, alteration and widespread veining associated with porphyry copper-gold systems, the company has said.

Out of several targets found through ZTEM, "half a dozen look exceptionally good when you're looking at both the magnetics and the conductivity," Prosper Vice President of Exploration Rory Ritchie told Streetwise Reports last fall.

"If you find one of these, they're worth a lot of money," Ritchie said. It's just that the big ones are few and far between. … (But) we're getting ready to drill the best target we've seen, or I've seen, in a long time."

Drilling was delayed until winter because the swamp's soft overburden needed to be frozen to hold drilling equipment.

'Experienced, Outstanding' Leadership Team

Maund also notes the Canadian exploration company boasts "an experienced and outstanding management team." At Richfield Ventures, Bernier delineated a significant bulk tonnage deposit whose initial resource estimate was 4,200,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated and Inferred categories. New Gold Inc. (NGD:TSX; NGD:NYSE.MKT) acquired Richfield in 2011 for US$550 million.

"The fact that people like Peter Bernier are on the management team of Prosper Gold means that there is a very good chance of it making a significant discovery or discoveries, for the simple reason that if it didn't, he probably wouldn't be there," Maund wrote. "If Peter Bernier can do what he did with Richfield Ventures once, he can do it again."

The Catalyst: The Bedrock of the Energy Transition

Last week, the state copper commission, Cochilco, in Chile, the world's leading copper-producing company, held its price forecast for 2025 steady at US$4.25 per pound and predicted the same for next year, Reuters reported in an article posted by Mining Weekly.

The commission had raised its price from US$3.85 per pound last year and has "kept the projection steady ever since," according to the report.

"These projections are supported by a rise in copper demand from the energy transition, electricity grids and a limited supply," Claudia Rodriguez, Cochilco's interim vice president, said in a statement, Reuters reported, adding that geopolitical tensions also played a role.

"Uncertainty about China's economic recovery, tariffs implemented by the United States and the hardening of monetary policy could limit the demand for copper, affecting its price," Rodriguez said.

With just about every leg of the energy transition depending on copper and its importance as an electrical conductor, the hunt for the red metal "has been accelerating, as companies involved in all parts of the copper supply chain realize the structural supply deficit," wrote Rick Mills, author of the newsletter Ahead of the Herd.

"They understand the need to find sources — existing mines, expansions, brownfield projects, greenfield projects, etc. — and are making deals to acquire the base metal, which is not only essential to electrification and decarbonization but industry in general," Mills wrote.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to the company, 21.3% of Prosper Gold is owned by management and insiders. Of those, CEO Peter Bernier owns 5.2% and Director Jason Hynes owns 0.80%, Reuters reported.

About 16.3% is with institutional investors and the rest is with retail investors.

According to Reuters, the company has about 56.76 million shares outstanding. Its market cap is CA$6.53 million and it trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.08 and CA$0.16.