Ero Copper announces new regional discovery south of Vermelhos Mine – Siriema

VANCOUVER, July 30, 2019 - Ero Copper Corp. (the “Company”) (TSX: ERO) is pleased to announce the first regional discovery based upon the Company’s targeting exercise incorporating the result of the airborne survey completed in late 2018. The new discovery, named Siriema, is located approximately 1.5 kilometers south of the Vermelhos Mine.

To date, copper mineralization at Siriema has been defined by both core drilling (11 holes) and reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling (22 holes) totaling 8,566 meters and has been interpreted as a mineralized zone extending approximately 400 meters in strike-length, approximately 20 to 50 meters in width, and from surface to a depth of approximately 250 meters. The zone is interpreted to contain multiple sub-vertical mineralized lenses and remains open to depth and to the east. While the mineralization encountered to date is predominately disseminated, drilling following down-hole electromagnetic (“EM”) anomalies continues to intercept a shallow-plunging east-dipping zone of high-grade massive-sulphide breccia mineralization trending to the north-northwest. Follow-up drilling as well as additional down-hole EM surveys along this massive-sulphide zone remain ongoing. Results received to date are highlighted by:

• Drill hole CRN5-06 that intersected 32.0 meters grading 1.81% copper including 13.0 meters grading 2.57% copper from 43.0 meters downhole;
  
  
• Drill hole CRN5-12 that intersected 21.0 meters grading 1.74% copper including 5.0 meters grading 3.93% copper from 146.0 meters downhole;
  
  
• Drill hole FSI-37 that intersected 29.7 meters grading 1.13% copper, including 3.0 meters grading 5.25% copper from 261.9 meters downhole.

Commenting on the discovery, David Strang, President & CEO, stated, “We are absolutely delighted with the Siriema discovery. As the first target to be drilled following our targeting exercise, Siriema validates our data-driven exploration methodology particularly as Siriema had several historic holes that were drilled in the opposite orientation missing the main mineralized trend. Our geology teams’ data-driven approach gives us confidence in our regional exploration program as we continue to step-out away from our existing mining operations towards the more than fifty regional target clusters identified to date during this work. The Siriema discovery confirms that the Vermelhos mineralized system continues to extend, remains open to the South and has significant expansion potential that will remain a key area of exploration for the Company for the foreseeable future.

“At Siriema specifically, with mineralization extending from surface and higher-grade intercepts occurring at depth, we will continue to work on delineating the extent of mineralization, move towards delineating a mineral resource and reserve for the project and follow-up on several promising EM anomalies between Siriema and the Vermelhos Mine.”

There are currently two core drill rigs continuing to test the extent of mineralization at Siriema. The results for both core and RC exploration drill holes drilled to date are shown in the following tables. Please see Figures 1 and 2 for plan maps detailing collar locations and Figure 3 for a north-south long-section of the Siriema discovery.

Siriema Core Drill Results

^{NSI indicates no significant intercept, based on cut-off grade of 0.18% copper for near-surface intervals and 0.68% for intervals below 200 meters down hole. Drill holes were drilled from surface. The length of intercept may not represent the true width of mineralization. Values may not add up due to rounding. From, to and mineralized intercepts are rounded to the nearest tenth of a meter.}

Siriema RC Drill Results

^{NSI indicates no significant intercept, based on cut-off grade of 0.18% copper for near-surface intervals and 0.68% for intervals below 200 meters down hole. Drill holes were drilled from surface. The length of intercept may not represent the true width of mineralization. Values may not add up due to rounding. From, to and mineralized intercepts are based on RC drilling, which are composited every meter.}

ABOUT ERO COPPER CORP

Ero Copper Corp., headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., is focused on copper production growth from the Vale do Curaçá Property, located in Bahia, Brazil. The Company’s primary asset is a 99.6% interest in the Brazilian copper mining company, Mineração Caraíba S.A. (“MCSA”), 100% owner of the Vale do Curaçá Property with over 39 years of operating history in the region. The Company currently mines copper ore from the Pilar underground mine, the R22W open pit mine and the Vermelhos underground mine. In addition to the Vale do Curaçá Property, MCSA owns 100% of the Boa Esperanҫa development project, an IOCG-type copper project located in Pará, Brazil and the Company, directly and indirectly, owns 97.6% of the NX Gold Mine, an operating gold and silver mine located in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Additional information on the Company and its operations, including Technical Reports on the Vale do Curaçá, Boa Esperanҫa and NX Gold properties, can be found on the Company’s website (www.erocopper.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

QUALITY ASSURANCE / QUALITY CONTROL

Vale do Curaçá Property

The Company is currently drilling on surface and underground with core and RC drill rigs using a combination of owned and third-party contracted drill rigs. Drill rigs at Siriema were operated by Major Drilling, Mackay Drilling Inc., Layne Christensen Co., and DrillGeo Geologia e Sondagem Ltda., all of whom are independent of the Company. Drill core is logged, photographed and split in half using a diamond core saw at MCSA’s secure core logging and storage facilities. Half of the drill core is retained on site and the other half core is used for analysis, with samples collected on one-meter sample intervals unless an interval crosses a geological contact. All core sample preparation is performed in MCSA’s secure on-site laboratory. Total copper is determined using a nitric-hydrochloric acid digestion and atomic absorption spectrometry (“AAS”) and/or titration. Oxide copper values are determined using sulfuric acid digestion followed by AAS. All sample results have been monitored through a QA/QC program that includes the insertion of certified standards, blanks, and pulp and reject duplicate samples. Regular check-assays are submitted to ALS Brasil Ltda’s facility located in Vespasiano, Minas Gerais, Brazil, at a rate of approximately 5%. ALS Brasil Ltda is independent of the Company.

RC drill sampling occurs at the drill-site using a rig-mounted Metzke Exploration Cyclone containing a cone splitter that collects both primary and duplicate samples for each one-meter intervals. Each one-meter interval is sampled twice with each sample weighing approximately 4 kilograms. The cyclone is cleaned at the end of every six meter drill rod. Samples are collected, bagged, weighed, and labeled on site prior to being sent to ALS Brasil Ltda’s facility located in Vespasiano, Minas Gerais, Brazil where they are dried, crushed and subjected to four acid digestion. Assay values for 48 elements are determined using ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Platinum, palladium and gold values are determined using fire-assay with ICP-AES. ALS Brasil Ltda is independent of the Company

Rubens Mendonça, MAusIMM, Chartered Professional – Mining, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this press release. Mr. Mendonça is a Qualified Person and is independent of the Company as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/c3f20f24-cab8-46cb-996f-430493eb2ca2