Derelict buildings on the Pozos District, Guanajuato.

By Jorge Cirett

During the 30^th week of the year (July 23^rd to July 29^th, 2018), at least 14 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico. Canasil, Endeavour Silver, Goldcorp and Sable updated on exploration advances. Fresnillo, Coeur and Agnico Eagle released Q2 2018 reports. Silver Bull closed the initial tranche of a financing round. Mexican Gold, SilverCrest Metals, Endeavour Silver, Coeur Mining, Agnico Eagle, Excellon and Minera Alamos reported advances on the development or exploration of their resource base. ON MEXICO ISSUES, The Mexican Core Shack now counts with displays from three properties in Chihuahua. ON EXPLORATION, In Chihuahua, Sable Resources released drilling results with good silver values from its Margarita property. In Zacatecas Canasil released drilling results from the Esperanza project; Endeavour Silver published drilling results from the Calicanto property; Goldcorp disclosed exploration efforts at its Santa Rosa project and the recent signing of a JV with Frisco to explore the Mazapil Valley.  ON MINING Fresnillo, Coeur Mining and Agnico Eagle released Q2 2018 reports. ON FINANCING, Silver Bull closed the initial tranche of a financing round, gathering $2.83 M. ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Mexican Gold, SilverCrest, Endeavour Silver, Coeur Mining, Agnico Eagle, Excellon and Minera Alamos updated on exploration efforts to  increase the resource base at their properties. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, No relevant news.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

• The Mexican Core Shack added images of core from La Cigarra in Chihuahua, at https://gambusinoprospector.com/mexican-core-shack/chihuahua/la-cigarra/0 . The Mexican Core Shack now displays three properties located in Chihuahua: Los Gatos, Santa Maria and La Cigarra. New core will be uploaded every week.

ON EXPLORATION

• Canasil Resources Inc. released results from one more drill hole at its Esperanza project in Zacatecas. The samples returned 1.92 m (true width, or TW) @ 190 g/t Ag, 0.13 g/t Au, 1.35% Zn, 0.22% Pb, 0.06% Cu, within 12.20 m @ 68 g/t, 0.11 g/t Au, 1.0 % Zn, 0.17% Pb, 0.07% Cu. This intercept is 225 m below the surface, 50 m below and 25 m by the side of a previous intercept, opening the southeast extension of the La Esperanza vein for additional drilling. “Drilling has traced the La Esperanza vein over a strike distance of 425 metres and to a depth of 350 metres and remains open for expansion both to the northwest and southeast along strike and to depth”.
• Endeavour Silver Corp. published drilling results from the Calicanto, Santa Fe and Misie-Karla veins at the Calicanto property in Zacatecas. Some of the highlighted results comprise: 1.2 m (TW) @ 10.5 g/Au, 42 g/t Ag; 1.0 m @ 4.39 g/t Au, 20 g/t Ag; 1.0 m @ 2.65 g/t Au, 15 g/t Ag; 0.8 m @ 0.26 g/t Au, 498 g/t Ag; 0.9 m @ 7.38 g/t Au, 141 g/t Ag; 2.7 m @ 2.05 g/t Au, 120 g/t Ag; 1.3 m @ 5.79 g/t Au, 121 g/t Ag; 1.1 m @ 5.54 g/t Au, 269 g/t Ag; 1.0 m @ 0.30 g/t Au, 589 g/t Ag. The Calicanto property is located close to El Compas mine, potentially providing further growth to the new operation.
• Goldcorp Inc. informed on its exploration efforts in Mexico. At its Santa Rosa project in Zacatecas, 7,624 m of diamond drilling have been completed in the first half of 2018, with 2,121 m in the second quarter. Santa Rosa “is interpreted as a quartz porphyry complex intruding a contemporaneous volcanic pile underlain by Lower Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous carbonate stratigraphy”. Drilling continues “to intersect broad low grade gold mineralization associated with dacitic porphyry dykes as well as high grade skarn style mineralization in adjacent carbonate rocks…”. On June 20, 2018, Minera Frisco, S.A.B. and Goldcorp entered into a JV arrangement to amalgamate 23,300 ha of exploration ground on the Mazapil Valley, with Goldcorp as manager overseen by a technical committee with equal representation. Drilling of the near-mine JV target Santa Cruz was commenced on the second quarter.
• Sable Resources Ltd. Released results from two drill holes on the Margarita vein at its Margarita property in Chihuahua. Results confirm vein strike continuity for at least 500 m to a depth of 50 m from surface. True width of the intervals is estimated to be 90% of the intercept, comprising 4.25 m @ 430 g/t Ag, 0.18% Pb, 0.66% Zn; 8.70 m @ 169 g/t Ag, 0.12% Pb, 0.59% Zn; 4.35 m @ 30 g/t Ag, 1.06% Pb, 0.56% Zn. Systematic drill testing will continue “along the 1.6 km of known extension of the Margarita vein and along the other three veins identified within the property limits”.

ON MINING

• Fresnillo PLC. released second quarter production results for 2018, period during which 234 K Oz Au and 15.34 M Oz Ag were produced. At the Fresnillo mine in Zacatecas 3.8 M Oz Ag, 10,953 Oz Au, 5,052 tonnes Pb, 7,979 tonnes Zn were produced from treating 620.9 K tonnes of ore @ 211 g/t Ag, 0.70 g/t Au, 0.9% Pb, 1.74% Zn. At the Saucito mine in Zacatecas, 5.23 M Oz Ag, 22,908 Oz Au, 5,327 tonnes Pb, 7,549 tonnes Zn were produced by processing 723.3 K tonnes of ore @ 263 g/t Ag, 1.28 g/t Au, 0.86% Pb, 1.64% Zn. At the Ciénega mine in Durango, 16,689 Oz Au, 1.52 M Oz Ag, 1,352 tonnes Pb, 1,231 tonnes Zn were produced by milling 330.9 K tonnes of ore @ 1.65 g/t Au, 166 g/t Ag, 0.67 % Pb, 0.77 % Zn. At San Julián in Chihuahua, production comes from two sources: phase I veins and phase II veins (disseminated). From phase I veins 19,584 Oz Au, 1.26 M Oz Ag, were produced from processing 289.8 K tonnes @ 2.12 g/t Au, 144.6 g/t Ag. From phase II veins (disseminated) 513 Oz Au, 2.27 M Oz Ag, 1,493 tonnes Pb, 5,254 tonnes Zn were produced by treating 540.3 K tonnes of ore @ 0.07 g/t Au, 156.7 g/t Ag, 0.42% Pb, 1.26% Zn. At La Herradura mine in Sonora, 117,886 Oz Au, 363 K Oz Ag were produced by processing 5.6 M tonnes of ore (33.6 M tonnes hauled) @ 0.76 g/t Au, 2.6 g/t Ag. At Nochebuena in Sonora, 45,308 Oz Au, 18 K Oz Ag were produced by treating 4.55 M tonnes of ore (22 M tonnes hauled) @ 0.54 g/t Au, 0.18 g/t Ag
• Coeur Mining Inc. reported second quarter 2018 financial results, including figures from its operations In Mexico. At Palmarejo in Chihuahua, 33,702 Oz Au, 2.07 M Oz Ag were produced by milling 344 .1 K tonnes of ore @ 3.42 g/t Au, 213.4 g/t Ag, with recoveries of 89.9% Au, 87.5% Ag.
• Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. reported second quarter 2018 results, with figures from its Mexican operations. At Pinos Altos in Chihuahua, 603 K tonnes were processed at a rate of 6.626 tpd (tonnes per day) @ 2.43 g/t Au, to produce 43,646 Oz Au at a production cost of $796 per OZ Au. “In 2018, Pinos Altos is transitioning into a predominantly underground mining operation, with associated higher costs”. At La India in Sonora, 1.56 M tonnes of ore were processed at a rate of 17,099 tpd @ 0.65 g/t Au at a total cash cost of $691 per Au Oz. At the satellite operation Creston Mascota 255 K tonnes of ore were processed at a rate of 2,802 tpd @ 0.51 g/t Au to produce 8,716 Oz Au at a total cash cost of $978 per Au Oz.

ON FINANCING

• Silver Bull Resources Inc. closed the initial tranche of its private placement for gross proceeds of $2.83 M. An aggregate cash commission on the initial tranche of $184 K was paid (Sierra Mojada, Coahuila).

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

• Mexican Gold Corp. reported results from continued sampling at historical mines on the Changarro zone of its Las Minas property in Veracruz. The Changarro – La Perdida zone is 600 m East of the current resource, extends more than 400 m by 850 m on surface, and contains proximal (garnet-magnetite-sulfide) and distal (jasperoid-magnetite-tremolite-wollastonite) skarn mineralization. Highlighted results include 2 m @ 5.1 g/t Au, 14 g/t Ag; 2 m @ 5.0 g/t Au, 2 g/t Ag; 1.4 m @ 11.1 g/t Au, 1 g/t Ag; 2 m @ 27.3 g/t Au, 12 g/t Ag; 2 m @ 16.7 g/t Au, 12 g/t Ag; 2 m @ 7.8 g/t Au, 3 g/t Ag.
• SilverCrest Metals Inc. released drilling results from the drilling of the Babicanora Norte vein at its Las Chispas property in Sonora. Some of the highlighted intercepts (TW) comprise: 2.2 m @ 61.4 g/t Au, 2,833 g/t Ag (including 0.4 m @ 305 g/t Au, 13,889 g/t Ag); 1.4 m @ 1.88 g/t Au, 206 g/t Ag; 1.2 m @ 2.89 g/t Au, nil Ag; 1.3 m @ 1.50 g/t Au, 176 g/t Ag; 1.4 m @ 51.43 g/t Au, 2,838 g/t Ag (including 0.4 m @ 153.5 g/t Au, 7,430 g/t Ag); 2.1 m @ 6.54 g/t Au, 795 g/t Ag. Argentite, native silver, chalky white silver oxides, free gold, acanthite and polybasite (Las Chispas is a famous site locality for polybasite crystals) have been identified in the mineralized intervals. The vein has now high-grade intercepts over 900 m of longitude and 75 to 125 m in height. A new unnamed vein between the Babicanora and Babicanora Norte veins has also been identified, returning 0.5 m @ 2.43 g/t Au, 182 g/t Ag; 0.5 m @ 2.80 g/t Au, 198 g/t Ag.
• Endeavour Silver Corp. informed that the El Compas mine in Zacatecas currently has an output of 250 tonnes per day (tpd). The La Plata mill has completed commissioning, and ramp up has taken production to 170 tpd, aiming to end July with a 250 tpd throughput. Management forecasts commercial production will be achieved during the current quarter.
• Coeur Mining Inc. informed that, at its Palmarejo property in Chihuahua, as many as four rigs continued targeting expansion of the Nacion and Zapata resources and definition of the recently-discovered Madero and Rampa veins and the Jacobo and Portales veins. “Up to three rigs focused on capitalized, resource conversion drilling at Independencia and Guadalupe. Both expansion and conversion drilling levels are expected to continue at the current accelerated pace throughout the second half of the year”.
• Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. informed that its Pinos Altos mine in Chihuahua is transitioning into a predominantly underground mining operation with associated higher costs, reason for which the development of satellite deposits is key to the operation. During the Q2 development of the Sinter and Cubiro satellite deposits continued, with Sinter envisaged as an underground an open pit operation and Cubiro as an underground operation with the potential to supply high-grade ore. Other deposit, Reyna de Plata, hosts 110 K Oz Au, 3.9 M Oz Ag (5.8 M tonnes @ 0.59 g/t Au, 21 g/t Ag) at open pit depth, as well as 93 K Oz Au, 1.4 M Oz Ag (1.2 M tonnes @ 2.35 g/t Au, 35 g/t Ag) at underground depth. “There is growth potential down-dip from the 2.5-kilometre-long deposit and along an additional 1.5 kilometres of structure immediately to the east of the deposit”. “Recent results at Madrono are encouraging for the potential of open pit deposits in the Madrono, Santa Martha and Madera veins, as well as significant high gold grades supporting a potential underground mining scenario”.
• Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. disclosed that exploration for satellites deposits to its La India mine in Sonora is focusing ate the El Realito zone, 1.5 Km to the NE. Initial indicated mineral resources of 112 K Oz Au, 643 K Oz Ag (5.0 M tonnes @ 0.70 g/t Au, 4 g/t Ag and inferred resources of 18 K Oz Au, 97 K Oz Ag (1.4 M tonnes @ 0.40 g/t Au, 2 g/t Ag) have been declared. In here mineralization is associated to steep parallel structural corridors of breccia that brought precious metals into favorable volcanic rock layers. El Realito remains open to the NE and SW.
• Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. acquired the 42,000 ha Santa Gertrudis gold property in Sonora in November 2017. “Three favorable geological trends with a potential strike length of 18 kilometres have been identified on the property with limited drilling between deposits”. To the end of Q2 2018, 9,152 m have been drilled in 54 holes mainly in three zones: Corral, Greta and Cristina (more than 4 km apart from each other). Some of the highlighted results include: At Greta, 9.4 m @ 4.7 g/t Au, 18 g/t Ag; 7.5 m @ 1.1 g/t Au; 9.9 m @ 5.3 g/t Au; 6.8 m @ 0.4 g/t Au, 15 g/t Ag; 4.4 m @ 1.2 m g/t Au, 13 g/t Ag. At Cristina, 69.7 m @ 1.0 g/t Au, 5 g/t Ag; 40.8 m @ 0.9 g/t Au, 8 g/t Ag. At Corral, 21.5 m @ 0.9 g/t Au, 2 g/t Ag; 7.7 m @ 1.5 g/t Au, 15 g/t Ag; 13.3 m @ 2.1 g/t Au, 9 g/t Ag.
• Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. informed that on the first half of 2018 57 diamond drill holes (19,124 m) were completed at its El Barqueño property in Jalisco. “Approximately 35,000 metres of drilling is expected to be completed in 2018 at the El Barqueno project, with a principal focus on testing new target areas. Exploration expenditures in 2018 are expected to total approximately $9.7 million”.
• Excellon Resources Inc. announced an updated mineral resource estimate for the Platosa mine in Durango. The updated resource includes 17,120 m of additional surface and underground drilling completed from August 2016 to March 2018. Indicated resources comprise 485 K tonnes @ 549 g/t Ag, 5.6% Pb, 5.9% Zn, containing 8.56 M Oz Ag, 59.7 M Lb Pb, 62.9 M Lb Zn; inferred resources comprise 13 K tonnes @ 516 g/t Ag, 4.7% Pb, 6.5% Zn, containing 216 K Oz Ag, 1.34 M Lb Pb, 1.86 M Lb Zn. Two diamond rigs are testing near mine targets to the north and west of the mine. At the Jaboncillo target, detailed mapping, surface sampling and an initial 3D induced polarization survey were carried out during the second quarter.
• Minera Alamos Inc. submitted to SEMARNAT (environmental agency) the studies to expand its Santana project operations in Sonora. Granting of the permit will provide the flexibility to go from a bulk mining test to commercial scale once the production decision is made.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

• Discovery Metals Corp. No relevant news.

Content like what you have just read can be seen at https://gambusinoprospector.com/ and at LinkedIn’s Mexico Mineral Exploration Group.

On the picture above, derelict buildings on the Pozos District, Guanajuato. Picture by Jorge Cirett.