On the fourth week of March the CAMIMEX put numbers to the reduction in exploration investment in Mexico from 2012 to 2015. Orex Minerals released some more results from its project in Durango. Southern Silver and Fortuna Silver Mines released resource estimates for their properties in Durango and Oaxaca respectively, while Alamos Gold, Excellon Resources and Aura Minerals released their year 2015 results. Odissey Marine Exploration and Cyprium Mining announced financing to fund their endeavors, which include one property off the coast of Baja and one in Chihuahua. Finally, Catalyst Copper and New Castle Gold are to combine their businesses, and Timmins Gold released a new PEA for its property in Guerrero.

On Exploration.

• According to data from CAMIMEX (Camara Minera de México = Mexico Mining Council), from 2012 to 2015 investment in exploration sled from 1,165 M dollars to 633 M dollars, a 45% reduction.
• Orex Minerals Inc. announced the commencement of phase-II diamond drilling, and released the results of four more holes at its Sandra Escobar Project in Durango, with up to 30m (TW) of 255 g/t Ag.

On Resources.

• Southern Silver Exploration Corp. released its maiden resource estimate for its property Cerro Las Minitas, in Durango. The all-inclusive resource is in 10.3 M tons @ 84 g/t Ag, 0.13 g/t Au, 0.16% Cu, 1.8% Pb and 3.6% Zn, which amounts to 28.3 M ounces of silver, 41.7 K ounces of gold, 37 M pounds of copper, 426.5 M pounds of lead and 833.3 M pounds of zinc.
• Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. updated its resource base to the end of 2015. The all-inclusive resource of 85.5 M Oz Ag and 569 K Oz Au are hosted in 11.1 M tons of ore @ 237.8 g/t Ag and 1.58 g/t Au.

On Financing

• Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. entered in an agreement with Epsilon Acquisitions Llc. to receive a 3 M dollars loan. Odyssey is engaged in the submarine exploration of the San Diego phosphate project, off the coast of Baja California.
• Cyprium Mining corp. announced the proposed private placement to gather gross proceeds of $ 520 K, which will help to fund activities in their Potosí mine in Chihuahua.

On Mining

• Alamos Gold Inc. released its 2015 results, which include the production of 140,330 Oz Au and 79,312 Oz Au from Mulatos and El Chanate respectively. Cash cost was $869 for Mulatos and $808 per ounce for El Chanate, whilst the all-sustaining cost was $1,047 for Mulatos and $978 for El Chanate. Their 2016 guidance goes for a production of 140-150 K Oz Au for Mulatos and 60-70K Oz Au for El Chanate, at all-sustaining cash cost of $925 for Mulatos and $1,100 for El Chanate.
• Excellon Resources Inc. released the results for the year 2015, which include the processing of 56K tons of ore at 491 g/t Ag, 4.5% Pb and 7.2% Zn. Recovery rates are high with 89% for silver, 77% for lead and 81% for zinc, for a yearly production of 721K Oz Ag, 4.2 M Lb Pb and 7.3 M Lb Zn.
• Aura Minerals Inc. released results for 2015, which include no production from its Aranzazu mine in Zacatecas, in care and maintenance since January of 2015.

On Deals

• Catalyst Copper Corp. and New Castle Gold Ltd. entered in an agreement to combine their businesses to create a new company. New Castle has the Castle Mountain Gold Project in California (USA), whereas Catalyst Copper holds an option for 60% of Teck’s La Verde Project, a porphyry copper system in Michoacan.

On Development

• Timmins Gold Corp. updated the existing PEA on its Ana Paula Project in Guerrero. The Base Case is at $ 1,200 Au and $ 14 Ag per ounce, with a 6 thousand tons per day open pit operation that will process LOM grades of 2.2 g/t Au and 6.9 g/t Ag at a projected all-sustaining cash cost of $507/oz gold or $479/oz gold Net of by-product credits. The expected recovery rate is 75% for gold and 50% for silver.

In the image below, a hand sample and a drill core sample from the intrusive at Cerro San Pedro, San Luis Potosí.