During the 37th week of the year (September 12th to September 18th, 2022), at least 27 companies working in Mexico released news on their properties. Four companies posted exploration advances on their properties, one on the resumption of activities after an illegal blockade, one updated on its work plan for the rest of 2022 and one more updated on the commissioning of its new mine. One company begun trading on the OTCQB Venture Market, one more is to pay services with shares, one cancelled its public offering due to market conditions and one more closed its private placement raising $264 K. Eleven companies released drilling results, informed on exploration, updated resource estimates, provided metallurgical test results, released historic drill results and about commissioning on their advanced properties. One company sold a mine in care and maintenance, one is awaiting permits for the operation of a processing plant, one is to switch a mining property to exploration and pursue acquisition opportunities, and two more announced the formation of a JV to mine a deposit. ON MEXICO ISSUES, Grupo Mexico’s VP alerted on the risk of insufficient supply of minerals for the energy transition. ON EXPLORATION, in Sonora, Infinitum Copper released drilling results from La Adelita; Tocvan Ventures defined a solid target at El Picacho. In Chihuahua, Golden Minerals released drilling results from Yoquivo; Reyna Silver provided results from surface and underground sampling at Batopilas. ON MINING, Equinox Gold informed on the termination of an illegal blockade at Los Filos. Golden Minerals updated on plans for Velardeña, and Rodeo. SilverCrest Metals updated on the commissioning of Las Chispas mine. ON FINANCING, Regency Silver begun trading at the OTCQB Venture Market. Bear Creek Mining had the payment in shares to a service provider approved. Ranchero Gold withdrew the announced public offering due to market conditions. Silver Spruce closed its financing round having raised $264 K. ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, GR Silver Mining released drilling results from its Plomosas project in Sinaloa. Vizsla Silver reported drilling results from the Panuco project in Sinaloa, including one of the highest silver intercepts here recorded. Orla Mining updated on exploration results at the Camino Rojo Sulfides project and exploration on regional targets in Zacatecas. Americas Gold and Silver updated on resources and exploration at its Cosalá property in Sinaloa. Chesapeake Gold informed on metallurgical test results from Metates, in Durango. Guanajuato Silver Company released historic drill hole results from the Valenciana complex in Guanajuato. Mag Silver updated on the commissioning of Juanicipio in Zacatecas Silver Tiger released results from drilling at El Tigre, in Sonora, and on rehabilitation of underground workings. Torex Gold released drilling results from ELG Underground in Guerrero. Pan American Silver provided an updated resource estimate on the La Colorada Skarn deposit in Zacatecas. GoGold Resources released drilling results on Los Ricos North, in Jalisco. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Endeavour Silver entered into an agreement to sell El Compas property in Zacatecas to a Mexican company. Xali Gold informed Sun River Gold is about to receive the permit for the processing of tailing at El Oro, in Estado de Mexico. Excellon Resources is evaluating the creation of a spin-out company to pursue acquisitions and looking for partners to explore the Platosa property in Durango. Teck Resources and Agnico Eagle Mines reached an agreement to form a JV to mine the San Nicolás VMS deposit in Zacatecas. ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, no relevant news.
ON MEXICO ISSUES
· Xavier García de Quevedo, V.P. of Grupo Mexico, alerted about the risks on the energy transition if the mining industry does not rise its production of minerals. The race to zero emissions is augmenting the demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite for the elaboration of batteries, as well of copper, aluminum, zinc, silicon and rare earths for electricity transmission and renewable energy generation. He pointed out that the time frame to obtain environmental permits, land acquisition, water usage permitting, resolution of social conflicts, community development and human capital are founding stones for the future development of mining.
ON EXPLORATION
· Golden Minerals Co. reported assay results from 15 holes on the third drill program at Yoquivo, in Chihuahua. “Drilling was designed to follow up on high-grade intercepts reported in earlier drill campaigns and to explore the Pertenencia vein system with sufficient drill density to enable a maiden resource estimate in Q1 2023”. Highlighted true width (tw) intervals comprise 4.4 m @ 1.58 gpt Au, 205 gpt Ag; 5.6 m @ 0.83 gpt Au, 110 gpt Ag; 3.7 m @ 2.53 gpt Au, 379 gpt Ag; 24.8 m @ 0.30 gpt Au, 66 gpt Ag; 2.1 m @ 6.70 gpt Au, 339 gpt Ag. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 3.7 m @ 4.49 gpt Au, 767 gpt Ag; 9.3 m @ 0.28 gpt Au, 209 gpt Ag; 1.7 m @ 2.72 gpt Au, 646 gpt Ag; 4.6 m @ 11.42 gpt Au, 155 gpt Ag.
· Infinitum Copper Corp. released results from two drill holes at La Adelita, in Sonora. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 20.60 m @ 1.91% Cu, 2.00 gpt Au, 41 gpt Ag; 9.15 m @ 0.14% Cu in the Cerro Grande zone. “The mineralization consists of chalcopyrite, bornite and covellite …….. The magnetite content is estimated to vary from 15% to 75% over the 20.60 m length and iron values average 24%”.
· Tocvan Ventures Corp. completed the compilation and surface evaluation of the San Ramon prospect within El Picacho project in Sonora. “The target area currently consists of a 500-meter by 500-meter area focused around historic workings trending south along the contact of a regional fault”. Historic sampling at one old working returned an average of 3.6 gpt Au in nine samples and an average of 5.0 gpt Au in 23 samples on a second old working. Three historic reconnaissance holes returned 59.3 m @ 0.2 gpt Au: 39.0 m @ 0.2 gpt Au; 15.0 m @ 0.1 gpt Au.
· Reyna Silver Corp. provided results from surface and underground sampling from Batopilas in Chihuahua. The 2021 and 2022 work has outlined two gold zones, the East Belt and the Teodoro Gold zone, and better defined the high-grade Silver Zone (that made the district famous with its hypogene native silver) with 300 to 1,500 m extensions to the veins. Six percent of 1,458 samples returned 199 to 14,170 gpt Ag and more than 10% between 1.1 to 32.6 gpt Au. Two geochemical distinct gold events have been recognized to be superimposed on earlier silver. Highlighted results comprise 0.6 gpt Au, 14,170 gpt Ag; 0.1 gpt Au, 3,120 gpt Ag; 32.6 gpt Au, 16 gpt Ag; 30.6 gpt Au, 16 gpt Ag; 22.9 gpt Au, 22 gpt Ag; 16.4 gpt Au, 67 gpt Ag; 8.8 gpt Au, 91 gpt Ag; 19 gpt Au, 2,090 gpt Ag. “a new district-scale magneto-telluric (MT) geophysical survey and a detailed structural reanalysis….. will be combined to define targets for the next round of drilling”.
ON MINING
· Equinox Gold Corp. reported that after a meeting with Mezcala community leaders, the illegal blockade at the Los Filos mine in Guerrero was removed and operations were resumed.
· Golden Minerals Co. announced that “Further review of the results from the Company’s test-mining activities at Velardeña (Durango) over the summer and a review of the mine plans have led Golden to the decision to undertake a development and exploration drill program at Velardeña prior to proposing the restart of mining”. At Rodeo, in Durango, Golden maintains its production guidance for 2022 of 12 to 14 K Oz Au and 42 to 47 K Oz Ag.
· SilverCrest Metals Inc. provided an update on the commissioning of Las Chispas mine in Sonora. Daily throughput and metallurgical recoveries are trending ahead of projections with actual average recoveries of 96.2% Au, 85.6% Ag and 784 tonnes per day (tpd) processing. The project is fully energized by grid power still to achieve complete reliability. Underground mining is ramping up to 600 to 700 tpd (750 tpd design) with continued focus in dilution and recovery. “In 2022, an additional 5.1 km of underground development has been completed at the Mine, bringing the total to 22.6 km. In-vein drifting represents 5.5 km of this total. A total of 109,000 tonnes of ore have been mined from development and stoping activities in 2022 up to the end of August 2022, approximately 9% below the Feasibility Study target”.
ON FINANCING
· Regency Silver Corp. announced that its common shares have begun trading on the OTCQB Venture Market, a US platform that is operated by the OTC Markets Group in New York (Dios Padre, Sonora).
· Bear Creek Mining Corp. has received approval for its shares for services with Unison Mining Consulting Pte. Ltd. Bear Creek issued Unison 555 K common shares (Mercedes, Sonora).
· Ranchero Gold Corp. terminated its marketed public offering due to market conditions. The company is in discussion with investors to fund the continued exploration work that is currently underway at its Santa Daniela gold project and will provide a financing update shortly (Santa Daniela, Sonora).
· Silver Spruce Resources Inc. announced a second and final closing of its private placement for gross proceeds of $147 K to reach a total of $264 K on the private placement (El Mezquite and Diamante in Sonora).
ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT
· GR Silver Mining Ltd. released drilling results that are part of the ongoing resource update program at Plomosas, in Sinaloa. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 5.7 m @ 514 gpt Ag, 0.1 gpt Au, 0.4% Pb, 0.5% Zn (including 1.0 m @ 1,634 gpt Ag, 0.28 gpt Au, 1.2% Pb, 1.0% Zn. 7.3 m @ 55 gpt Ag, 8.66 gpt Au, 2.7% Pb, 6.6% Zn, 0.5% Cu; 5.0 m @ 88 gpt Ag, 0.33 gpt Au, 5.1% Pb, 2.8% Zn, 0.2% Cu; 21.2 m @ 2.1% Pb, 1.3% Zn. “The Company’s underground drilling and mapping program, currently in progress in the Plomosas Mine Area, has identified un-mined zones that will be incorporated into the upcoming resource estimate.
· Vizsla Silver Corp. reported results from nine holes from the Copala structure at its Panuco project in Sinaloa. Highlighted true width (TW) intervals comprise 10.20 m @ 1,404 gpt Ag, 10.94 gpt Au (including 0.38 m @ 23,058 gpt Ag, 205.0 gpt Au); 7.31 m @ 743 gpt Ag, 2.59 gpt Au (including 1.01 m @ 3,560 gpt Ag, 8.60 gpt Au); 14.24 m @ 632 gpt Ag, 4.30 gpt Au (including 0.71 m @ 1,575 gpt Ag, 11.00 gpt Au and 1.07 m @ 3,510 gpt Ag, 22.80 gpt Au). “The drilling in the northwestern portion of Copala has traced mineralization along approximately 1,000 metres of strike length and approximately 400 metres down dip”.
· Orla Mining Corp. provided an update on the 2022 exploration program. Phase 2 drilling continues at Camino Rojo Sulfides, with highlighted core length intercepts of 41.5 m @ 2.56 gpt Au; 52.5 m @ 3.08 gpt Au; 61.2 m @ 1.95 gpt Au; 36.60 m @ 3.20 gpt Au; 27.0 m @ 2.13 gpt Au. Orla expects the new drilling to support a new underground development scenario. Reverse circulation drilling on regional exploration targets is to continue through the second half of 2022. The 2022 exploration budget for Mexico was $10 M.
· Americas Gold and Silver Corp. informed the measured and indicated resources are almost unchanged year-over-year at Cosalá, in Sinaloa. “The Company recently reinterpreted historic geophysical information and, after incorporating new data from an IP survey completed this summer, has identified seven major IP/Mag anomaly trends on property near San Rafael and EC120. A 17‐hole drill program is planned to test this area”.
· Chesapeake Gold Corp. provided a metallurgical update for its Metates project in Durango. Samples of ½” material stored for several years were subject to oxidation and then leached with a standard lime cyanide solution for 90 days with recoveries of almost 60% Au and just over 50% Ag. Further tests of new material with no pre-oxidation returned 35% Au, 20% Ag, but when subjected to oxidation, the oxidation rate was slower than at the first test. A second round of testing is underway, including “crushing finer to ¼”, using High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR) to crush finer, different reagent strengths, different pH’s, on/off irrigation, and varying air addition rates”.
· Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd. provided an exploration update emphasizing historical drill hole data from the Valenciana mines complex in Guanajuato, which “encompasses approximately 4.2 km of strike length along the Veta Madre regional fault structure”. Highlighted true width intervals comprise 1.54 m @ 4.94 gpt Au, 658 gpt Ag; 6.16 m @ 0.97 gpt Au, 140 gpt Ag; 3.07 m @ 2.86 gpt Au, 367 gpt Ag; 12.49 m @ 1.6 gpt Au, 213 gpt Ag; 8.42 m @ 2.84 gpt Au, 389 gpt Ag; 0.62 m @ 14.38 gpt Au, 1,565 gpt Ag; 2.01 m @ 5.0 gpt Au, 866 gpt Ag; 5.25 m @ 0.95 gpt Au, 145 gpt Ag; 1.24 m @ 2.97 gpt Au, 101 gpt Ag.
· Mag Silver Corp. informed it has been notified by Fresnillo PLC, operator of the Juanicipio project JV in Zacatecas, that the connection of the processing plant installations to the national grid is being tested under caution to protect the grid from undue fluctuations. “The Fresnillo project team indicates that power for final commissioning and start of operations should be available by the end of October, and that production ramp up will commence in Q4 of this year”.
· Silver Tiger Metals Inc. released drilling results from El Tigre project in Sonora. Highlighted core length results comprise 8.1 m @ 554 gpt Ag, 0.17 gpt Au, 0.92% Cu, 2.5% Pb, 3.6% Zn (including 2.0 m @ 1,270 gpt Ag, 0.2 gpt Au, 1.66% Cu, 2.8% Pb, 4.3% Zn); 0.5 m @ 2,010 gpt Ag, 0.27 gpt Au, 2.51% Cu, 1.5% Pb, 5.0% Zn; 1.1 m @ 3,096 gpt Ag, 1.79 gpt Au, 0.68% Cu, 1.2% Pb, 0.2% Zn; 0.6 m @ 3,097 gpt Ag, 2.47 gpt Au, 0.32% Cu, 1.0% Pb, 0.8% Zn. Silver Tiger “contracted Cominvi, a Mexican underground contract mining and development company to rehabilitate the Historic El Tigre Mine. Cominvi are progressing well in the underground rehabilitation of the Historic El Tigre Mine and have already completed over 400 meters of rehabilitation in Level 7, which was the main portal to the mine”.
· Torex Gold Inc. reported assay results from the drill program at El Limón Guajes (ELG) underground mine in Guerrero, including the Sub-Sill and El Limón Deep zones. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 17.5 m @ 16.96 gpt Au; 9.7 m @ 16.87 gpt Au, 0.22% Cu; 11.7 m @ 10.39 gpt Au; 5.5 m @ 13.49 gpt Au, 8 gpt Ag, 0.22% Cu; 8.2 m @ 8.52 gpt Au, 23 gpt Ag, 1.69% Cu; 5.0 m @ 10.37 gpt Au, 10 gpt Ag, 0.51% Cu; 12.5 m @ 5.48 gpt Au, 0.15% Cu; 21.3 m @ 7.18 gpt Au, 26 gpt Ag, 0.77% Cu; 9.7 m @ 10.01 gpt Au, 11 gpt Ag, 0.30% Cu; 8.9 m @ 7.66 gpt Au, 0.12% Cu; 12.1 m @ 7.65 gpt Au, 0.40% Cu; 5.1 m @ 9.72 gpt Au, 0.15% Cu. The drilling budget for ELG Underground is $6 M for 27,000 meters. For Media Luna, a total of $19 M is budgeted for 64,000 m of infill, step-out and initial infill drill program at the adjacent EPO deposit. An additional $9 M is budgeted for 28,500 m of drilling across the broader land package and further $5 M for ore control and definition drilling in the ELG open pit and underground. “The ELG mining complex…. is hosted in the Mesozoic carbonate-rich Morelos Platform, which has been intruded by Paleocene granodiorite stocks, sills, and dikes. Skarn-hosted gold mineralization is developed along the contacts of the intrusive rocks and the enclosing carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks…. The style of mineralization at Sub-Sill South is like Sub-Sill and ELD, and is characterized by gold, which is strongly associated with bismuth and variable amounts of silver and copper. Gold occurs in variably sulfidized, pyrrhotite-rich skarn, while silver and copper mineralization is controlled primarily by the degree of sulfidation of the host skarn. Mineralization is associated with retrograde alteration characterized by the occurrence of phlogopite, amphibole, chlorite, calcite and lesser amounts of quartz and epidote, and local magnetite”.
· Pan American Silver Corp. released an updated mineral resource estimate for its La Colorada Skarn deposit in Zacatecas. The estimated indicated mineral resource totals 95.9 M tonnes containing 94.4 M Oz Ag, 2.7 M tonnes Zn, 1.2 M tonnes Pb, with the estimated inferred mineral resource totaling 147.8 M tonnes containing 132.9 M Oz Ag, 3.4 M tonnes Zn, 1.5 M tonnes Pb. A total of 234,000 m of drilling have been completed to date on the deposit. “The polymetallic skarn mineralisation is concentrated in three zones, which cover an area of 1,500 metres by 1,100 metres laterally, and a depth of between 600 metres and 1,900 metres below surface…. The deposit is oriented in a north-northwest to south-southeast direction and is below the currently active Candelaria mine workings.
ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES
· Endeavour Silver Corp. entered into an agreement with Grupo ROSOGO S.A. de C.V. to sell a 100% interest on the El Compas property and the lease on the La Plata processing plant in Zacatecas. ROSOGO is to pay Endeavour $5 M cash over five years, with an initial payment of $250 K. Installment payments of $500 K will be made every six months other than the third payment, which will be $750 K.
· Xali Gold Corp. informed Sun River Gold expects to receive the permit for tailings removal at El Oro, in Estado de Mexico, within a month. Sun River is also working on a permit to install and operate a reprocessing plant outside of El Oro town. “Xali Gold is to receive a 5% Net Profits Interest as well as the first US$1.5M due to the Municipality of El Oro from SRG’s El Oro tailings operations”. In Nayarit Xali is in negotiations to partner with a local Mexican mining group to operate the San Dieguito de Arriba plant and explore nearby mining properties. At El Dorado in Nayarit the company is in the process to obtain the drilling permit. The Cocula property in Jalisco exploration agreement has been terminated.
· Excellon Resources Inc. provided a corporate update stating the evaluation of a spin-out exploration company, the pursue of acquisitions opportunities with emphasis in Mexico and exploring partnership opportunities to take Platosa in Durango from production to an interesting exploration prospect.
· Teck Resources Ltd. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. announced an agreement under which Agnico Eagle is to gain 50% interest in the San Nicolás project in Zacatecas. “Teck and Agnico Eagle will become 50/50 joint venture partners at San Nicolás”. Agnico Eagle is to buy US$580 M in shares of a Teck subsidiary. These proceeds will be used for study and development costs, and the contributions made as the costs are incurred, with no up-front payment by Agnico and funding for the first two years estimated at US$50 M. “post-closing costs with subsequent funding to be contributed according to each partner’s ownership percentage”. San Nicolás is the largest undeveloped volcanic hosted massive sulfide deposit in Mexico, estimated to contain 105.2 M tonnes of proven and probable mineral reserves averaging 1.12% Cu, 1.48% Zn, 0.4 gpt Au, 22 gpt Ag. The development capital costs are estimated to be in the range of US$1,000 M to US$1,100 M, for an open pit operation with a 15 year mine life.
ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
· No Relevant News.
On the image below: Bladed calcite casts in an epithermal quartz vein in the Sonoran Desert. Picture by Jorge Cirett.
