By Jorge Cirett

During the 10^th week of the year (March 2^nd to March 8^th, 2026), companies working in Mexico released 22 press releases. One company informed on early-stage property work, two presented quarterly and full-year reports. One company updated on a financing round, one informed on a credit facility, one other company on its credit rating, one more on its share re-purchase plan and one on the trading on a new Exchange. Four companies presented drilling results on advanced properties and one updated the MRE and a PEA on its advanced property. Eight companies informed on deals and corporate issues. ON MEXICO ISSUES, the president asserted that the moratorium in new claims is to continue. Rules on small scale coal mining are to be strengthened. ON EXPLORATION, in Sonora, Regency Silver presented drilling results from Dios Padre. ON MINING, Capstone Copper and Starcore International Mines presented quarterly and full-year reports. ON FINANCING, one company informed on a financing round: Silver spruce Resources (C$2 M). Elemental Royalty amended a US$150 M credit facility. Aura Minerals credit rating was upgraded. Pan American Silver intends to repurchase up to 5% of its shares. Highlander Silver is to trade on the NYSE. ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Kootenay silver released results from drilling at Columba, Chihuahua. Advance Metals presented drill results from Yoquivo, in Chihuahua. Pan American Silver reported drilling results from La Colorada, in Zacatecas, encountering several new veins. Luca Mining released drill results from Tahuehueto, in Durango. Sonoro Gold presented a new MRE and a PEA on its Cerro Caliche project in Sonora. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Royalties Inc. informed on its legal proceedings with Capstone on Cozamin royalties. Heliostar Metals entered into a binding agreement with Zacatecas Silver on several non-core properties. Medoro Metals informed on the proposed reverse takeover with Narrow River. Vizsla Silver updated on the situation in Concordia, at the Panuco project in Sinaloa. Altius Minerals and Lithium Royalty completed their arrangement. Mithril Silver, Endeavour Silver and Heliostar Metals announced appointments to the board or executive positions. ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, no relevant news.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

• The Work Secretariat in Mexico is about to strengthen the rules on small scale coal mining. Such operations usually work with less strict security measures.
• The United States army asked mining companies in USA help to increase the supply of 13 critical minerals. Selected projects could receive development funds between US$100 and over US$500 million The list includes arsenic, bismuth, graphite, tungsten and vanadium, minerals of which there are known prospects in Mexico.
• The president of México, Claudia Sheinbaum, asserted she will continue with the moratorium in mining concessions, with the only exception for lithium by the government funded LitioMx.  

ON EXPLORATION

• Regency Silver Corp. announced results of its 5-hole 3,142 m drill program at Dios Padre, in Sonora. Highlighted core length results comprise 36.3 m @ 2.23 gpt Au (including 9.0 m @ 5.43 gpt Au); 22.0 m @ 0.36 gpt Au; 22.5 m @ 0.24 gpt Au; 18 m @ 94 gpt Ag (including 9.0 m @ 158 gpt Ag); 18.0 m @ 69 gpt Ag; 10.5 m @ 64 gpt Ag; 24.3 m @ 0.65% Cu (including 5.7 m @ 1.44% Cu); 18.0 m @ 0.41% Cu; 4.5 m @ 1.24% Cu. Antimony intercepts can be as high as 9 m @ 0.39% Sb. “it appears as though the lower gold rich breccia zone is spatially connected to the Dios Padre silver mine, though it may be locally shuffled and displaced via faulting.. The breccia itself appears to be primarily controlled by a swarm of Quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes that anastomose from depth towards the silver mine at surface”.

ON MINING

• Capstone Copper Corp. reported financial results for Q4 and full-year 2025 with some figures from its Mexican operations. The company had a consolidated 2025 production of 224.8 K tonnes Cu at cash cost $2.44 per Lb Cu, net income of US$315.6 M, adjusted EBITDA of US$952.7 M and net debt of US$780.1 M. At Cozamin, in Zacatecas, the company produced 25,348 tonnes Cu in the year, 6,170 tonnes Cu in Q4, at cash cost $1.32 per Lb Cu in 2025 (the lowest for Capstone in an average of $2.00 per Lb Cu).
• Starcore International Mines Ltd. filed results “for the third quarter ended January 31, 2026”. During the period the San Martín unit in Querétaro milled 52.6 K tonnes grading 1.33 gpt Au, 18.3 gpt Ag, recovering 85.7% Au, 46.4% Ag. Revenue was C$13.5 M, earnings of C$6.2 M and net income C$1.3 M.

ON FINANCING

• Silver Spruce Resources Inc. announced a non-brokered private placement to raise proceeds of up to C$2 M (Pino de Plata, Chihuahua).
• Elemental Royalty Corp. signed an amendment to the existing revolving credit facility, which was upsized to US$150 M with a US$50 M accordion feature (royalty on Mercedes, Sonora).
• Aura Minerals Inc. announced its issuer credit rating was upgraded “by S&P Global Ratings from ‘B+’ to ‘BB-’, with stable outlook and, on national scale, S&P upgraded Aura’s Brazilian National Scale rating from ‘brAA’ to ‘brAA+’ and revised the outlook from positive to stable” (Aranzazu, Zacatecas).
• Pan American Silver. intends to renew its normal course issuer bid to purchase up to 21 M of its common shares, or up to 5% of Pan American Silver’s issued and outstanding shares (La Colorada, Zacatecas).
• Highlander Silver Corp. received approval to list its common shares on the NYSE American LLC (Mercedes, Sonora).

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

• Kootenay Silver Inc. announced additional assay results from nine drill holes at its Columba project in Chihuahua. Approximately 17,000 m have been drilled on 24 holes of the planned 50,000-60,000 m expansion program on the 54.1 M Oz Ag contained in 5.92 M tonnes grading 284 gpt Ag. Highlighted true width intervals comprise 0.42 m @ 1,020 gpt Ag, 0.7% Pb, 1.6% Zn; 12.64 m @ 76 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.2% Zn; 5.3 m @ 503 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.6% Zn (including 0.58 m @ 3,620 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.8% Zn); 9.29 m @ 31 gpt Ag, 0.4% Pb, 1.3% Zn; 3.04 m @ 98 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 2.1% Zn; 1.92 m @ 6 gpt Ag, 1.2 % Pb, 4.5% Zn; 6.08 m @ 319 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.6% Zn (including 2.0 m @ 687 gpt Ag, 0.2% Pb, 0.8% Zn).
• Advance Metals Ltd. reported drilling results from its Yoquivo project in Chihuahua. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 1.82 m @ 2.8 gpt Au, 20 gpt Ag; 10.4 m @ 0.4 gpt Au, 69 gpt Ag; 67.88 m @ 0.9 gpt Au, 68 gpt Ag (Including 23.89 m @ 1.7 gpt Au, 123 gpt Ag). The company stresses current results “support a potential transition at Yoquivo from an exclusively narrow-vein underground opportunity toward a scalable development scenario potentially incorporating both underground and bulk tonnage open-pit mineralisation”.
• Pan American Silver Corp. reported drill results from the southeastern and eastern Candelaria zones of the La Colorada mine in Zacatecas. Highlighted true width intervals comprise 11.6 m @ 0.81 gpt Au, 241 gpt Ag, 0.17% Cu, 2.1% Pb, 4.5% Zn; 1.03 m @ 6.19 gpt Ag, 9,730 gpt Ag, 1.22% Cu, 2.6% Pb, 5.7% Zn; 5.13 m @ 0.77 gpt Au, 1,000 gpt Ag, 0.29% Cu, 3.7% Pb, 6.7% Zn; 65.63 m @ 0.12 gpt Ag, 101 gpt Ag, 0.07% Cu, 0.3% Pb, 2.5% Zn; 9.27 m @ 0.27 gpt Au, 332 gpt Ag, 0.32% Cu, 3.8% Pb, 8.4% Zn and a core length interval of 26.35 m @ 0.1 gpt Au, 22 gpt Ag, 1.1% Pb, 2.5% Zn. “Exploration drilling between the Cristina and San Gerónimo systems has resulted in the discovery of at least four new veins and associated contact-related replacement mineralization”.
• Luca Mining Corp. reported assay results from its ongoing 2026 drilling program at the Tahuehueto mine in Durango. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 1.7 m @ 3.06 gpt Au, 58 gpt Ag, 1.08% Cu, 2.4% Pb, 9.9% Zn; 7.6 m @ 14.27 gpt Au, 47 gpt Ag, 0.33% Cu, 2.6% Pb, 1.2% Zn (including 2.6 m @ 25.13 gpt Au, 25 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.2% Zn); 15.9 m @ 0.83 gpt Au, 63 gpt Ag, 0.68% Cu, 0.8% Pb, 1.3% Zn; 1.9 m @ 1.38 gpt Au, 178 gpt Ag, 2.38% Cu, 0.8% Pb, 0.7% Zn; 13.2 m @ 6.66 gpt Au, 17 gpt Ag, 0.2% Pb, 0.7% Zn. “Initial drilling has intersected high-grade gold mineralization in breccia zones, immediately below current mine workings, confirming continuity of breccia-hosted mineralization within the Creston vein system”.
• Sonoro Gold Corp. announced results of a new mineral resource estimate (MRE) and an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Cerro Caliche project in Sonora. The study base case at $3,500 per Oz Au, $48 per Oz Ag includes a pre-tax NPV (-8%) of $360 M, pre-tax IRR of 65%, after-tax NPV of $224 M and after tax IRR of 50%, with recoveries of 72% Au, 27% Ag, a 10-year LOM with 459 K Oz AuEq , cash costs of $1,842 per Oz AuEq and an AISC of $1,902 per Oz AuEq, with a 1.7 years payback period.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

• Royalties Inc. reported that “the Federal Prosecutor filed formal opposition to Capstone Gold’s constitutional challenge called an Amparo against a Zacatecas appellate ruling that upheld MPZ’s royalty rights over disputed mining royalty payments. …. The Federal Court will likely take 4-6 months to process the above recommendation to uphold the lower court decisions and it overturns State decisions in only 3% of cases” (disputing royalty on some Cozamin claims, Zacatecas).
• Heliostar Metals Ltd. entered into a binding agreement with Zacatecas Silver Corp. pursuant to which Heliostar will grant Zacatecas the option to acquire a 100% interest in non-core exploration projects Cúmaro (Sonora), La Lola (Sonora), Oso Negro (Sonora) and Ejutla (Jalisco?). The agreement consists of staged payments to Heliostar over the next three years totalling $450 K in cash and $750 K in shares of Zacatecas Silver, with $150 K in cash and $300 K in shares being paid upon closing. Heliostar will retain a 2% NSR on the property with 1% available to repurchase before production for $2 M.
• Madoro Metals Corp. informed on the proposed reverse takeover with Narrow River Resources Pty Ltd. Madoro and NRR continue to advance and progress as expected in the TSX Venture Exchange requirements, including technical reporting, preparation of transaction documentation, and assembly of required regulatory filings. The parties remain committed to moving the proposed transaction forward (Yautepec, Oaxaca).
• Vizsla Silver Corp. provided an update of the situation at the Panuco project in Sinaloa, announcing that the company “has been focused on supporting the families of the ten colleagues taken from its project site in Concordia, as well as its employees, through a time of pain, grief, and uncertainty … Vizsla Silver continues to cooperate fully with Mexican authorities as search efforts and the broader investigation proceed. The Company remains committed to supporting the authorities in their work and will continue to provide updates as confirmed information becomes available. The safety and security of employees, contractors, and community members remain Vizsla Silver’s highest priority. The Company continues to review and strengthen its security protocols in close coordination with local authorities”.
• Altius Minerals Corp. and Lithium Royalty Corp. announced the completion of their plan of arrangement. It was approved by LRC shareholders at a special meeting of shareholders held on February 26, 2026 with 99.8% of all votes cast being in favor of the arrangement (royalty on Cuale, Jalisco).
• Mithril Silver and Gold Ltd. announced the appointment of James Barr as Vice President, Exploration (Copalquin, Durango).
• Endeavour Silver Corp. announced the appointment of George Paspalas to the board of directors, the retirement of Don Gray as Chief Operating Officer and the appointment of Luis Castro as Chief Operating Officer (Terronera, Jalisco).
• Heliostar Metals Ltd. announced the addition of Tara Gilfillan as a non-executive director and Audit Chair to the board of directors (Ana Paula, Guerrero).

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• No Relevant News.

On the image below: chlorite alteration and specularite veining on volcanosedimentary rocks, HQ core. Picture by Jorge Cirett.