RUGBY TO COMMENCE EXPLORATION AT COBRASCO COPPER PROJECT EXPLORATION PRIORITY TO SHIFT FROM SALVADORA, CHILE

Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rugby Mining Limited (“Rugby” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: RUG) reports that in response to the opening up of the Cobrasco copper-molybdenum project to exploration, including drilling, the Company will defer drilling of its Salvadora, Chile silver-copper project. The decision is based on three considerations:

• Current fieldwork at Salvadora is discovering new areas of mineralization that warrant evaluation and ranking prior to drilling
• At this stage, the Cobrasco project is a more immediate and superior exploration opportunity
• For the present, personnel would have difficulty operating both projects simultaneously
  
  

Field reconnaissance will continue at Salvadora to evaluate potential drill targets through to the winter shutdown expected in May. The Company will provide an exploration update as results become available.

On February 7, 2022, Rugby announced it will initiate a comprehensive exploration program at Cobrasco, a large-scale undrilled porphyry copper-molybdenum system in western Colombia (). A community agreement and water permits are in place to proceed with the drilling, which could commence as early as June, provided Rugby is satisfied the forest can remain unaffected by the program. The Company will announce its exploration plan and schedule as they are formulated.

Detailed exploration at Cobrasco is facilitated by a January 28, 2022 resolution with respect to the Forest Reserve Extraction process in Colombia. It enables mineral exploration, including drilling, to proceed without going through the onerous forest extraction process, a process that amounted to a land-use change even before a project had proven to be viable. In addition, the Resolution provides a clearer and better-focused process for future Forest Reserve Extractions in areas where the removal of the forest cannot be avoided.

The Cobrasco Project

Colombia represents a “discovery gap” between major copper porphyry discoveries in Panama to the north and Ecuador-Peru-Chile to the south. Cobrasco was discovered in the 1980s through a joint German-Colombian Government (“BGR”) regional stream geochemical program which identified extensive and strongly anomalous copper stream sediment geochemistry which defined outcropping copper porphyry style mineralization.

Mineralization is hosted by a sequence of felsic tuffs, proximal to and immediately west of the contact with a number of syenite to monzonite intrusives. The previous exploration by the BGR indicates potential for an enriched supergene blanket containing chalcocite after bornite, cuprite, malachite and native copper. Molybdenite was also observed. Alteration appears similar to other large porphyry copper systems where primary magnetite is replaced by hematite (martitization). Mineralized outcrops of stockwork quartz-bornite veining occur within the property. To date, no systematic modern exploration or drilling has been conducted on the 3,000-hectare property.

Paul Joyce, Rugby’s Chief Operating Officer, and a “qualified person” (“QP”) within the definition of that term in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has verified the technical information that forms the basis for this news release.

* NI 43-101 TECHNICAL REPORT For the Cobrasco-Comita Porphyry Copper Project Department of Chocó, Republic of Colombia 25 August 2014

About Rugby

Rugby is an exploration company conducting “discovery stage” exploration on targets in Chile, Colombia, Argentina, the Philippines and Australia. The Company’s focus is the potential discovery of a high-grade copper-molybdenum porphyry system at Cobrasco in Colombia’s Choco Province. The potential discovery of high-grade silver-copper-gold at the Salvadora Project in Central Chile’s El Indio Gold Belt ranks second for the Company. Rugby also controls a large portfolio of gold projects and/or applications in Colombia which are moving through the process for title grants. We intend to move to expedite this process where possible.

Rugby benefits from the experience of its directors and management, a team that has either been directly responsible for world-class mineral discoveries or has been part of the management teams responsible for such discoveries. Prior companies under their management included Exeter Resource Corporation and Extorre Gold Mines Limited, which held significant projects in South America. These companies were taken over by Goldcorp (Newmont) and Yamana respectively.

For additional information, you are invited to visit the Rugby Mining Limited website at .

Rob Grey, VP, Corporate Communications

Tel: 604.688.4941 Fax: 604.688.9532                                 Suite 810, 789 West Pender St.

Toll-free: 1.855.688.4941                                                   Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 1H2

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is “forward-looking information” within the meaning of the British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario Securities Acts. This includes statements concerning the Company’s proposed exploration plans for the Salvadora Project in Chile or the Cobrasco Project in Colombia, progress on obtaining approval for its exploration concession applications in Colombia, the expected timing of drilling and/or geophysics programs, budgeted costs to conduct exploration programs including drilling, high-grade potential and potential for mineral discoveries at its projects and the style or occurrence of the mineralization which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. The Company holds certain of its projects, including Salvadora, under option agreements, which require annual cash payments, expenditure and/ or drilling requirements in order to maintain its interest. Should the Company not be able to meet its obligations or renegotiate the agreements it will lose its rights under the option agreement. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the effect on prices of major mineral commodities such as copper and gold by factors beyond the control of the Company; events which cannot be accurately predicted such as political and economic instability, terrorism, environmental factors and changes in government regulations and taxes; the shortage of personnel with the requisite knowledge and skills to design and execute exploration programs; difficulties in arranging contracts for drilling and other exploration services; the Company’s dependency on equity market financings to fund its exploration programs and maintain its mineral exploration properties in good standing; political risk that a government will change, interpret or enforce mineral tenure, environmental regulations, taxes or mineral royalties in a manner that could have an adverse effect on the Company’s assets or financial condition and impair its ability to advance its mineral exploration projects or raise further funds for exploration; risks associated with title to resource properties due to the difficulties of determining the validity of certain claims as well as the potential for problems arising from the interpretation of laws regarding ownership or exploration of mineral properties in the Philippines, Argentina, Chile and Colombia and in the sometimes ambiguous conveyancing characteristic of many resource properties, currency risks associated with foreign operations, the timing of obtaining permits to conduct exploration activities, the ability to conclude agreements with local communities and other risks and uncertainties, the ongoing effects of the COVID 19 pandemic and including those described in each of the Company’s management discussion and analysis and those contained in its financial statements for the year ended February 28, 2021 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at . In addition, forward-looking information is based on various assumptions including, without limitation, assumptions associated with exploration results and costs and the availability of materials and skilled labour. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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