By Jorge Cirett

During the 6^th week of the year (February 4^th to February 10^th, 2019), at least 12 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico. ON MEXICO ISSUES, The head of the Sub Secretariat of Mining, Francisco Quiroga, elaborated on some of the backlogs its office faces. ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Aloro completed an RC drilling campaign at Los Venados. In Chihuahua, Sable is drilling the Margarita project, and preparing for the exploration of the Manzana II concessions. In Durango, Gainey reported first-pass sampling results on the Las Margarita project. ON MINING, USAC informed on its activities at its Mexican operations. GoGold reported on income for the last quarter of 2018. ON FINANCING, Kootenay and Palamina announced non-brokered private placements or amendments of placements for $2.5 and $2.2 M. ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Goldplay completed a new resource estimation at its San Marcial project in Sinaloa. Mexican Gold engaged a contractor to update the resource estimate at its Las Minas project in Veracruz. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, No relevant news.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

• The Mining Sub Secretariat head, Francisco Quiroga, informed the Mexican government is reviewing five thousand concessions in process of cancellation, as well as another five thousand in process of liberation, acknowledging a big and growing backlog.

ON EXPLORATION

• Sable Resources Ltd. completed a leach test on core from the first phase drilling at its Margarita project in Chihuahua. The purpose was to investigate the response of three samples (684, 341, 149 gpt Ag) to silver leaching with cyanide in a bottle roll test. The two higher grade samples had a recovery of 70 and 71 percent Ag after 48 hours, while the lower grade sample had a recovery of 37 percent on the same time lapse. The second stage drilling at Margarita initiated in January, consisting of a minimum of 19 holes for a total of 3000 m, to test extensions and infill of the Margarita vein and the Marie, Juliana, Fabiana and El Caido veins. Six holes have been completed, with a best vein intercept of 12.4 m starting at 30.9 m. Sable received title for the Manzana II application, reducing the size to 39,396 hectares in 11 concessions. Vinata is a drill-ready low-intermediate sulfidation project within these concessions, in which a series of quartz veins outcrop along a strike length of about 1,150 m in volcanic rocks. “The system consists of multiple sub-parallel veins and stockwork zones over a width of between 15m and 170m. Individual veins vary in width from <1m up to about 12 m><1 m up to about 12 m”.
• Aloro Mining Corp. completed 12 RC holes for a total of 1,747 m at its Los Venados project in Sonora. The drill program was designed to test a felsic dome complex NW of the Estrella pit, at the Mulatos mine. The thickest intercept of mineralization was 18 m @ 0.2 gpt Au. Other relevant intervals comprise 3.05 m @ 1.45 gpt, 4.57 m @ 1.72 gpt. The style of mineralization of one of the holes, like the coarse vuggy nature with crystalline quartz, octahedral pyrite, and tetrahedrite is deemed as very significant, and resembling the high-grade part of the nearby Mulatos deposit.
• Gainey Capital Corp. reported first-pass sampling on its newly optioned Las Margarita project in Durango confirmed a 1,500-1600 m strike length for the main vein system. Preliminary work consisting of 42 samples resulted in 21 with over 1 gpt, with 11 of those assaying more than 5 gpt Au, peaking at 40.0 gpt Au.

ON MINING

• United States Antimony Corp. has dismantled and trucked equipment from its Reynosa pant (Tamaulipas) to other USAC operations in Mexico and the United States. A lot of equipment, tools and materials were transported to the Madero smelter in Coahuila. The Madero plant received seven truckloads of Wadley (San Luis Potosi) direct shipping ore with a total of 128 K pounds of contained Sb. The assembly of the cyanide leach plant at the Puerto Blanco mill in Guanajuato is progressing. “Production from the caustic leach plant at Madero to process the flotation concentrates has resulted in close to a 100% recovery of the gold and silver”. Estimated Sb production for January is 156.6 K Lb antimony.
• GoGold Resources Inc. reported a net income of $8.2 M for the last quarter of 2018. The previously announced sale of the 2% net smelter royalty was closed. “The closing of the sale of the royalty concludes the Corporation’s involvement with the Santa Gertrudis project which was initially acquired in 2014. Net consideration on the sale of assets associated with the Santa Gertrudis project was $88.6 million, less costs of $24.5 million resulting in a pre-tax gain of $64.1 million over the life of the project”. GoGold produced 325.1 K Oz AgEq.

ON FINANCING

• Kootenay Silver Inc. Announced a non-brokered private placement to raise gross proceeds of up to $2.5 M.  (La Cigarra, Chihuahua).
• Palamina Corp. amended its non-brokered private placement, to allow for the raising of up to $2.2 M (Santuario, Hidalgo).  

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

• Goldplay Exploration Ltd. announced the completion of a NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate for the San Marcial project in Sinaloa. “The Mineral Resource consists of 36 million ounces (“Moz”) of silver equivalent (“AgEq”)2 at an average grade of 147 grams per tonne (“gpt”) AgEq in the Indicated category and an additional 11 Moz AgEq at an average grade of 99 gpt AgEq in the Inferred category…”. Highlighted points include: a) A shallow, high-grade Ag core zone, up to 40 m in thickness. It represents 3.0 million tonnes at an average grade of 239 gpt AgEq, 200 gpt Ag, equivalent to 23 M Oz AgEq and 19 M Oz Ag, respectively. B) 98% of the 36 M Oz AgEq Indicated Resource is potentially mineable by open pit. C) . Both the Breccia and surrounding Stockwork Zones outcrop at surface.
• Mexican Gold Corp. informed the engagement of Mine Development Associates to provide and updated 43-101 resource on Mexican Gold’s Las Minas project in Veracruz. Since the initial resource in 2017, the company has drilled 6,454 m in 39 holes. “Additionally, higher grade mineralization was encountered in the late 2017 and early 2018 drilling in the El Dorado Dike contact zone. For example, drill hole LM-17-ED-40 encountered 38 metres grading 5.39 g/t Au, 17.1 g/t Ag and 2.20% Cu, while drill hole LM-18-ED-49 intercepted 38 metres of 4.51 g/t Au, 16.2 g/t Ag and 3.33% Cu.”.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

• 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 image above, Strongly argillitized, weakly silicified ignimbrite with quartz-sulfide veinlets, in a project in Jalisco. Picture by Jorge Cirett.