🗞️ What This Document Is

This filing is a Form 6-K, which is a report used by foreign private companies that list shares in the U.S. stock market to provide updates on significant events. Essentially, this is a major announcement detailing a strategic expansion for Fortuna Mining Corp. (FSM) into a new, high-potential gold region in Guyana. The core message is that FSM has entered into an earn-in agreement that gives it a staged path to significantly increase its stake in a massive, prospective gold project called Quartzstone.

👉 Why it matters: This announcement demonstrates FSM's aggressive growth strategy by entering the undeveloped, but highly promising, Guyanese gold market.

🏢 What The Company Does

In simple terms, Fortuna Mining is a Canadian precious metals mining company. The company focuses on gold and silver production and emphasizes sustainability across all its operations. Currently, it manages three active mines and holds a wide portfolio of exploration projects.

👉 Key Geography: FSM's operations are global, covering active mines and exploration interests in Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico, Peru, and Senegal, in addition to this new venture in Guyana.

🤝 The Earn-In Agreement with Qstone

The most significant development is the entry into an earn-in agreement with Qstone Inc., which is a private Guyanese company. This agreement is the gateway to the vast Quartzstone Project.

• The Goal: Fortuna has the right to earn up to a 70% interest in the Quartzstone Project, which covers a massive land package of 29,600 hectares in Guyana's greenstone belt.
• The Strategy: This is not a purchase today; it's a phased path. Fortuna will fund its way into ownership. The CEO, Jorge A. Ganoza, confirmed this approach, stating, “The Quartzstone Project... provides Fortuna with a staged path to unlock its potential through systematic exploration and drilling.”
• The Cost: To secure this opportunity, the company paid Qstone a non-refundable cash option premium of US$5 million.

💰 The Staged Path to 70% Ownership

The earn-in agreement is structured in two main stages, which dictates how Fortuna builds its ownership stake over time. This design allows FSM to control the pace of investment and risk.

• Stage One (51% Interest): Fortuna can earn an initial 51% interest by meeting a clear operational goal: completing a minimum of 60,000 meters of diamond drilling within four years. During this period, Fortuna must also pay all license fees and fund all related expenditures.
• Stage Two (70% Interest): To get the final 19% (reaching 70% total), Fortuna must prove out the project by solely funding a feasibility study. This must be done within three years of completing the first stage's option.

👉 The Key Constraint: The Quartzstone Project is subject to a 4.5% net smelter returns royalty in favor of a prior owner. While this royalty is common, it is a key expense that must be accounted for in future profit projections.

🌍 Geological Potential and Location

The project is located in the Guyana Shield, a region globally recognized for its rich history of gold discoveries. This geology offers strong technical support for the company’s expansion plans.

• The Setting: The Quartzstone Project is situated approximately 120 kilometers west of Georgetown. It sits within an orogenic gold system along the contact between granitoid complex and Lower Proterozoic greenstone rocks.
• The Target Zone: The main mineralization is hosted in quartz-tourmaline-carbonate veins and breccias within a high-strain corridor. This corridor can extend up to 100 meters wide along the principal north-south shear zone.
• The Opportunity Gap: While the entire shear zone is 26 kilometers long, historical drilling has only tested about 5 kilometers, leaving vast, untested potential.

🔬 Historical Drilling Highlights

The historical data underpinning the project is highly encouraging. Over a period from 2010 to 2017, a total of 23,190 meters of diamond core drilling were completed, generating multiple zones of high-grade gold mineralization.

• Exceptional Grades: Specific drill highlights demonstrate significant gold concentrations. For example, drill hole DQS-016 recorded high-grade gold up to 89.90 g/t Au over a width of 5.6 meters from 23.0 meters.
• Proof of Concept: Other historic finds, like DQS-070 (up to 19.33 g/t Au) and DQS-088 (up to 101.58 g/t Au), confirm the existence of multiple, proven high-grade deposits.

🗺️ Planned Exploration and Next Steps

With the land package secured, Fortuna has concrete plans to advance its knowledge of the site. This initial exploration is designed to test historical targets while mapping out the larger, unexplored areas.

• Budget and Focus: The initial exploration program is budgeted at approximately US$5.5 million. The work will focus on advanced structural mapping and hitting the most prospective geological areas.
• Planned Activities: Planned work includes:
  • Airborne magnetic surveys to build a structural map of the area.
  • High-resolution satellite imagery and digital elevation modeling.
  • Field programs like infill geochemical sampling and auger drilling.
  • An initial 5,000 meter diamond drilling program to test both historical workings and the main structural corridor.

🧐 Technical Quality and Assurance

Given the value of the data, the filing dedicates significant attention to the rigorous quality control (QA/QC) that has been applied to the data. This detail signals scientific credibility to potential investors.

• The Audit Trail: All historical diamond drilling (DD) cores were processed through detailed protocols, including logging, cutting, and preparation in-house.
• Expert Validation: The scientific and technical information contained in the release was reviewed and approved by Paul Weedon, a Qualified Person, who conducted a site visit in June 2025.
• Verification: Mr. Weedon confirmed the integrity of the data by comparing original assay certificates to the database and performing independent sampling, finding no limitations in the verification process.

🌐 Corporate Background and Structure

Fortuna Mining Corp. is a well-established player in the gold industry. While the Guyana deal is headline news, the company has a broader and diversified operational footprint that provides stability.

• Core Business: The company operates and explores in several major global mining jurisdictions.
• Operating Areas: Its current portfolio includes active mines and exploration interests across Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico, Peru, and the Diamba Sud Gold Project in Senegal.

📅 Investor and Contact Information

For those interested in the details or following the progress of the project, several key contacts and informational resources are provided.

• Investor Relations: Carlos Baca is the designated contact for investor information.
• Company Website: For more information on the company's mission, readers can visit www.fortunamining.com.

---

🧠 The Analogy

Think of the Quartzstone Project like a giant, partially mapped-out gold mine. Fortuna isn't buying the mine outright; instead, they are buying a highly promising "golden ticket" to earn ownership. The earn-in agreement means they must continually fund new explorations—like sending specialized geological teams to map the unexplored edges of the property—and only when they prove the gold is exactly where they think it is, do they get to claim the majority of the mine's ownership.

🧩 Final Takeaway

Fortuna Mining is committing significant capital to secure a major stake in a high-potential gold deposit in Guyana. The transaction is structured as a multi-stage earn-in, requiring them to systematically fund massive drilling programs to prove the economic viability of the 29,600-hectare property and achieve majority ownership.