Drilling

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Second Week of March, 2021.

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Rich-hematite quartz hydrothermal breccia

By Miguel A Heredia

During the tenth week of the year (March 8th to March 148th, 2021), at least 26 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 1 news published by the media, with ten informing on exploration results, six disclosing deals and corporate issues, five reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, two announcing financial rounds, two communicating production and financial results, one discussing social issues and one commenting on Mexican issues.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, First Majestic responded to the several inaccurate and misleading Mexican media articles that have been recently published regarding the ongoing tax dispute with the Government of Mexico (San Dimas mine, Durango).  ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Canuc released results of 168 channel chips samples collected at its San Javier project, Silver Spruce and its JV Partner Colibri filed an environmental report for a drilling permit at its Mezquite project, Silver Tiger presented drill results from its El Tigre project, Silver Viper announced drilling results from the last two holes collared at its La Virginia project, and Sonoro reported the latest assay results from its ongoing drill program at its Cerro Caliche project.  In Chihuahua, Gatos Silver commenced a 5,400m drilling program in eighteen holes to test initial targets at its Santa Valeria project located 5km east of its Los Gatos mine.  In Durango, Mithril provided an update on exploration activities carried out at its Copalquin project. In Jalisco, GoGold released results from five holes collared at El Orito Zone within its Los Ricos South project. ON MINING, Fortuna Silver reported Q4 and full year 2020 production and financial results from its San Jose mine in Oaxaca. McEwen announced Q4 and full year 2020 production and financial results from its Los Gallos mine in Sinaloa. ON FINANCING, Gatos Silver reached a definitive agreement with Dowa to increase Los Gatos JV ownership to 70% (Los Gatos mine, Chihuahua). VanGold closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $16.95M (El Pinguico and El Cubo properties, Guanajuato).  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Avino increased its exploration program for 2021 and now will drill 36,000m instead of the previously planned 12,000 at its Avino mine in Durango. Capitan Mining presented drilling results from its Peñoles project in Durango. Consolidated Zinc announced that the crushing commissioning system has commenced at its wholly owned Plomosas plant in Chihuahua.  Fabled released drill results from two holes collared at its Santa Maria project in Chihuahua. Prime filed an application for 7,500 hectares of mineral rights at its Los Reyes property in Sinaloa and commenced a property-wide 1,000 line-kilometer helicopter-borne high resolution aeromagnetic survey over the Los Reyes property. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Advance Gold signed a purchase agreement to acquire lithium prospective salars in central Mexico as well as the acquisition of a pilot plant. Discovery Metals appointed a new member to its Board of Directors (Cordero project, Chihuahua). Empress Royalty announced that its common shares are eligible for delivery and depository services with the Depository Trust Company to facilitate electronic settlement of transfers of its common shares in the United States (Pinos project, Zacatecas). Gainey announced name change to Masivo Silver Corp (El Colomo, Nayarit). Minaurum entered into an option agreement with ASR Resources to sell 80% of its Adelita project in Sonora. Red Oak announced it was reactivated on the TSX Venture Exchange under the new name Pantera Silver Corp (Nuevo Taxco property, Guerrero). ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Fresnillo plc and Larousse have delivered more than seven thousand books in Fresnillo, Zacatecas to youngest members of the household to become interested in reading.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • First Majestic Silver Corp., responded to the several inaccurate and misleading Mexican media articles that have been recently published regarding the ongoing tax dispute with the Government of Mexico (San Dimas mine, Durango).

ON EXPLORATION

  • Canuc Resources Corporation, released results of 168 channel chips samples collected from outcrop and small underground workings at its San Javier project. The samples were channel chips ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 meters in length. Over the Northwest Anomaly Area,   a total of 52 samples were collected with an average of  70 g/t Ag, including a value of 718 g/t Ag, 0.81 g/t Au and 1.03% Cu from a sample collected from an old pit overlying the magnetic anomaly. At the Mill-Rock Anomaly Area, characterized by a stockwork and breccia zone covering a strong magnetic high, a total of 75 samples were collected. The average grade was 0.7 g/t Ag, with a highest value of 4.5 g/t Ag, 1.18 g/t Au and 0.45% Cu. At the Southwest Anomaly Area , 19 samples were collected  and averaged 23 g/t Ag and 0.56 g/t Au, with a highest value of 62 g/t Ag, 3.06 g/t Au and 439 ppm Cu. “A diamond drill has been mobilized to the project and has recently commenced drilling on a breccia zone magnetic anomaly which accompanies high-grade silver values, as reported on previously”. 
  • Silver Spruce Resources Inc., filed an environmental report (Informe Preventivo) for drilling permit at its Mezquite project. “The Company intends to conduct an initial 1,500- 2,000 metre diamond drill program to test targets where high grades of mineralization are sampled at surface, with a follow-up Phase 2 drilling program where results warrant. The Company will move forward with logistics planning and drill contractor selection while looking forward to the receipt of geochemistry results and the Informe Preventivo for the project.”
  • Silver Tiger Metals Inc., presented drill results from its El Tigre project in Sonora. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole ET-21-203 with 0.07 g/t Au, 154 g/t Ag, 0.21% Cu, 0.1% Pb, and 0.01% Zn (183 g/t AgEq) over 1.2m, and 0.06 g/t Au, 149 g/t Ag, 0.06% Cu, 0.11% Pb, and 0.08% Zn (164 g/t AgEq) over 1.4m on Sooy Vein, as well as  0.22 g/t Au, 556 g/t Ag, 0.51% Cu, 0.45% Pb, 0.20% Zn (638 g/t AgEq) over 9.3m, including 0.56 g/t Au, 1,709 g/t Ag, 1.53% Cu, 1.18% Pb, and 0.44% Zn (1,941 g/t AgEq) over 2.9m on the Footwall Zone; and hole ET-21-07 with 0.18 g/t Au, 670 g/t Ag, 1.04% Cu, 0.68% Pb, and 0.3% Zn over 4.6m, including 0.60 g/t Au, 2,211 g/t Ag, 3.4% Cu, 2.18% Pb, and 0.69% Zn (2,658 g/t AgEq) over 1.3m and 0.08 g/t Au, 291 g/t Ag, 0.67% Cu, 0.06% Pb, and 0.18% Zn (369 g/t AgEq) over 1.8m. The significance of these 2 new holes is that Silver Tiger has followed and confirmed the new “Footwall Discovery Zone” for an initial strike length of 75m to the south of hole ET-21-202, showing a similar strike to the Sooy vein and has some dimension and scale with potentially mineable widths and grades.
  • Silver Viper Minerals Corp., announced drilling results from the last two holes collared at its La Virginia project. Hole LV21-290 intersected several mineralized intervals commencing with 2.6 g/t Au and 54 g/t Ag (3.13 g/t AuEq or 219 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 4.3m, including 9.2 g(t Au and 242 g/t Ag (12.7 g/t AuEq or 886 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.72m, another sub-interval of 2.43 g/t Au and 88 g/t Ag (3.68 g/t AuEq or 258 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 20.1m, including 3.36 g/t Au and 134 g/t Ag (5.27 g/t AuEq or 369 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 7.3m, including 6.11 g/t Au and 239 g/t Ag (9.52 g/t AuEq or 667 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.15m, including 10.3 g/t Au and 491 g/t Ag (17.3 g/t AuEq or 1,212 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.72m. This hole also encountered 2.34 g/t Au and 77 g/t Ag (3.45 g/t AuEq or 241 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 10.32m, including 11.1 g/t Au and 351 g/t Ag (16.1 g/t AuEq or 1,128 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.72m. Hole LV21-291 intersected 8.1 g/t Au and 225 g/t Ag (11.3 g/t AuEq or 792 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 1.5m and a deeper intercept of 0.51 g/t Au and 25 g/t Ag (0.88 g/t AuEq or 61 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 4.5m.
  • Sonoro Gold Corp., reported the latest assay results from its ongoing drill program at its Cerro Caliche project. These results are from 32 holes totalling 2,830m. Highlights include confirmation of a 200mlong, high-grade zone in the northwest extension of Buena Suerte, confirmation of continuous mineralization at the 2km long El Rincon-Veta de Oro-Abejas vein and stockwork gold mineralized zone, and further extension to the new Bellotoso gold mineralized zone through  step-out drilling. Assay highlights include hole SCR-186 collared at Buena Suerte with 1.21 g/t Au over 24.39m, including   1.85 g/t Au over 13.72m;  and hole SCR-198 collared at Los Japoneses Zone with 0.46 g/t Au over 19.81m.
  • Gatos Silver Inc., commenced a 5,400m drilling program in eighteen holes to test initial targets at its Santa Valeria project located 5km east of its Los Gatos mine in Chihuahua. Santa Valeria appears to have similar geologic setting to the Cerro Los Gatos deposit on the eastern flank of the same sedimentary basin.
  • Mithril Resources Ltd., provided an update on exploration activities carried out at its Copalquin project. The company completed twelve diamond drill holes at El Refugio, La Soledad and Los Reyes targets, with several holes intercepting the targeted geological structures. It also completed an extensive soil sampling program at the Cometa and Los Reyes targets. Assay results are pending.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., released results from five holes collared at El Orito Zone within its Los Ricos South project. Hole LRGO-21-007 intersected 0.28 g/t Au, 61 g/t Ag, 0.07% Cu, 0.56% Pb, and 0.58% Zn (121 g/t AgEq) over 12.5m, including 1.29 g/t Au, 172 g/t Ag, 0.20% Cu, 1.3% Pb, and 1.4% Zn (366 g/t AgEq) over 1.6m; hole LRGO-010 with 0.39 g/t Au, 117 g/t Ag, 0.42% Cu, 5.9% Pb, and 0.6% Zn (348 g/t AgEq) over 6.6m, including 0.18 g/t Au, 150 g/t Ag, 0.63% Cu, 11.6% Pb, and 0.8% Zn (523 g/t AgEq) over 3m; and hole LRGO-21-014 with 0.31 g/t Au, 236 g/t Ag, 0.23% Cu, 2.5% Pb, and 3.6% Zn (460 g/t AgEq) over 9.8m, including 0.66 g/t Au, 577 g/t Ag, 0.24% Cu, 2.2% Pb, and 4.3% Zn (845 g/t AgEq) over 3.5m. Holes drilled at El Orito have shown mineralization averaging 50m in width over 600m in strike length and 200m in vertical depth from surface, and is open in all directions.

ON MINING

  • Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., reported Q4 and full year 2020 production and financial results from its San Jose mine in Oaxaca. In Q4, 2020 Fortuna milled 272,179 tonnes of 206 g/t and 1.26 g/t Au to produce 1.65M Oz Ag and 10K Oz Au with metallurgical recoveries of 91% in both metals. The company sold 1.7M Oz Ag and 10.6K Oz Au. Production and AISC were USD $8.91 and USD $14.52 per Oz AgEq. During the full year 2020, Fortuna milled 934,381 tonnes of 224 g/t Ag and 1.38 g/t Au to produce 6.16M Oz Ag and 37.8K Oz Au with metallurgical recoveries of 92% and 91% respectively. The company sold 6.22M Oz Ag and 38.4K Oz Au. Production and AISC were USD $6.74 and USD $9.83 per Oz AgEq respectively.
  • McEwen Mining Inc., announced Q4 and full year 2020 production and financial results from its Los Gallos mine in Sinaloa. The company produced 1,500 GEOs (Oz AuEq) during Q4, 2020 and produced 8,000 GEOs in the full year 2020 from residual leaching. Guidance for the year 2020 is to produce between 4,500-5,900 GEOs.

ON FINANCING

  • Gatos Silver Inc., reached a definitive agreement with Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd to increase Los Gatos JV ownership to 70% (Los Gatos mine, Chihuahua). Gatos Silver repurchased 18.5% of the Los Gatos JV to increase its interest from 51.5 to 70% and extinguish the Los Gatos JV´s USD $60M working capital facility. Now, Gatos Silver´s attributable portion of the working capital facility is USD $42M. Gatos Silver and Dowa expect the repurchase and working capital facility extinguishment to be completed by the end of March 2021.
  • VanGold Mining Corp., closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $16.95M. The net proceeds of the private placement will be used to, among other things, complete the acquisition and refurbishment of the El Cubo mine and mill near Guanajuato, Mexico, carry out additional exploration and definition drilling at El Cubo and El Pinguico and fund general corporate and working capital expenditures.   

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd., increased its exploration program for 2021 and now will drill 36,000m instead of the previously planned 12,000 at its Avino mine in Durango. It will consist of 18,600m to explore high-grade narrow-vein mineralized systems similar to the previous mined San Gonzalo system, and 12,000m at the Oxide Tailings resource. Budgeted capital expenditures for 2021 are now expected to be between USD $9M and USD $11M, up from the original budget of between USD $6M and USD $8M.
  • Capitan Mining Inc., presented ongoing results from its previously announced 6,000m drilling program at its Peñoles project in Durango.  RC Hole 21-CARC-19 intersected 0.32 g/t Au and 6 g/t Ag (0.40 g/t AuEq) over 33.5m, and RC Hole 21-CARC-20 intersected 0.14 g/t Au over 18.3m, including 0.26 g(t Au over 16.8m. “RC Holes 21-CARC-19 and 20 extended mineralized zones along strike (to the west) as well as down-dip, and showed improving grades and widths. Expansion drilling program continues, with new drilling focused on expanding the Capitan Zone along strike to the east. Mineralization remains open along strike and at depth”.
  • Consolidated Zinc Limited announced that the crushing commissioning system has commenced at its wholly owned Plomosas plant in Chihuahua. “The mill and wet end of the plant will be commissioned from 13 March 2021 and, as CZL has over two years’ experience in optimizing processing of Plomosas plant feeds, a short commissioning period is expected”. Processing at Aldama will continue at similar rates to the Q4, 2020, in conjunction with Plomosas plant, to increase revenues and reduce stockpiles. A new specialized haul truck has been purchased for Plomosas to increase ore haulage rates.
  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., released drill results from two holes collared at its Santa Maria project in Chihuahua. Hole SM20-05 encountered 0.57 g/t Au and 203 g/t Ag (232 g/t AgEq) over 2.20m, including 0.76 g/t Au and 245 g/t Ag (284 g/t AgEq) over 1.60m. This hole also intercepted deeper mineralized intervals such as 0.3 g/t Au and 147 g/t Ag (163 g/t AgEq) over 0.55m, and 0.25 g/t Au and 79 g/t Ag (92 g/t AgEq) over 1.40m. Fabled has completed drill holes SM20-06 – 09 for a total of 2,134 meters of the ongoing 8,000 meter drilled program completed to date. Holes SM20-06 – 09 have been sampled and submitted to lab for analysis. Hole SM 20-10 is in progress.
  • Prime Mining Corp., filed an application for 7,500 hectares of mineral rights at its Los Reyes property in Sinaloa to increase its land position to 13,800 hectares. This concession called El Rey is adjacent to the eastern and northeastern Los Reyes boundary. The company also commenced a property-wide 1,000 line-kilometer helicopter-borne high resolution aeromagnetic survey over the Los Reyes property. Once the airborne geophysical survey is completed, Prime will conduct a LIDAR and Ortophoto survey aid in the ongoing geological mapping of the Los Reyes property and provide critical information on the numerous partially tested and untested structures that host Au-Ag epithermal veins.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Advance Gold Corp., signed a purchase agreement with Hot Spring Mining to acquire 90% of 13 lithium-potassium-boron prospective salars in central Mexico (Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi States) as well as the acquisition of a pilot plant and a patented extraction method. Hot Spring will retain 10% carried interest to production that will convert to a participating interest upon commercial production. Advance will pay 5M shares upon regular approval of the deal. Advance will purchase the test plant built by Hot Spring for USD $150Kwithin 2 years and will have exclusive rights to proprietary lithium extraction method that has been patented. In the event of a sale of either the mining rights or Advance’s subsidiary, Advance Mexico, 75% of the proceeds will go to Advance Gold and 25% to Hot Spring Mining.
  • Discovery Metals Corp., appointed a new member to its Board of Directors (Cordero project, Chihuahua).
  • Empress Royalty Corp., announced that its common shares are eligible for delivery and depository services with the Depository Trust Company to facilitate electronic settlement of transfers of its common shares in the United States (Pinos project, Zacatecas).
  • Gainey Capital Corp., announced name change effective on March 1, 2021 to Masivo Silver Corp., with a new trading symbol of “MASS” on the TSX Venture Exchange (El Colomo, Nayarit).  
  • Minaurum Gold Inc., entered into an option agreement with ASR Resources Corp.  to sell 80% of its Adelita project in Sonora. ASR can acquire 80% interest in Adelita by issuing shares totalling 16% of its post-IPO shares outstanding, making cash payments totaling  $75K, and incurring $3M in work expenditures over 5 years. Minaurum’s 20% retained interest will be carried until ASR carries out a total of  $4.75M in work expenditures along with completing both a mineral resource calculation in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and a Preliminary Economic Assessment.
  • Red Oak Mining Corp., announced it was reactivated on the TSX Venture Exchange under the new name Pantera Silver Corp with the ticker symbol “PNTR”. The reactivation on the TSX Venture Exchange was approved as a result of the Company filing a National Instrument43-101 Technical Report entitled the “NI 43-101 Technical Report for Nuevo Taxco Project; Tetipac Municipality, Guerrero State, Mexico” with an effective date of December 7th, 2020.  

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Fresnillo plc and Larousse have delivered more than seven thousand books in Fresnillo, Zacatecas to youngest members of the household to become interested in reading. The mining company has given exemplary gifts in the communities in which it operates on different disciplines such as mathematics, Spanish, as well as Spanish and bilingual dictionaries.

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, a rich-hematite quartz hydrothermal breccia in a low sulphidation epithermal system in a prospect in Zacatecas, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Fourth Week of February, 2021.

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By Miguel A Heredia

During the fourth week of the year (February 22th to February 28th, 2021), at least 39 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 7 news published by the media, with eleven announcing financial rounds, nine reporting  on resources and development of their mine operations, seven disclosing deals and corporate issues, six commenting on Mexican issues, five informing on exploration results, five discussing social issues, and three communicating production and financial results.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, Mining and Steel companies resumed activities after power outage. Mining is on alert for the possibility that the Mexican Congress approves the initiative of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to modify the Electricity Industry Law and favor Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). Los Gatos Silver announced restoration of full grid power at its Cerro Los Gatos mine in Chihuahua. According to the Fraser Institute, Chile, Peru, and Mexico have lost global appeal for mining investment. According to Fresnillo plc, half of the electricity used by the La Herradura mine in Sonora comes from clean energy. The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has remained firm in his decision not to grant new mining concessions, a measure that has been described as one of the main challenges for the sector.  ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Aztec Minerals and its JV partner Kootenay commenced 2021 exploration program at its Cervantes project, and SilverCrest released drill results from its Picacho project. In Nayarit, Xali delineated new drill targets at its El Dorado project. In Jalisco, GoGold released drill results from 12 holes collared at its Los Ricos North project.  ON MINING, Capstone informed that it is on track for ramp-up to 3,780 tonnes per day at its Cozamine mine in Zacatecas by end of Q1, 2021, and reported Q4 and full-year 2020 production and financial results. Gold Resource reported full year 2020 production and financial results from its Don David mine in Oaxaca. Torex announced Q4, 2020 and full year 2020 production and financial results from its Limon-Los Guajes mine complex in Guerrero.  ON FINANCING, Carlyle granted stock options to directors and consultants (Cecilia project, Sonora). Coeur announced its intention to offer USD $350M of senior notes due 2029 (Palmarejo mine, Chihuahua). Capstone closed a USD $150M silver stream agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals (Cozamine mine, Zacatecas). Discovery Metals announced that an aggregate of 31,140,000 common share purchase warrants were exercised (Cordero project, Chihuahua). Fabled announced an exercise of warrants for gross proceeds of $4,150,000 (Santa Maria property, Chihuahua). Orla completed layback agreement with Fresnillo on its Camino Rojo project in Zacatecas. Santacruz, through its subsidiary Carrizal Mining, entered into a definitive agreement with Minera Cedros, a subsidiary of Industrias Peñoles, to acquire the Zimapan mine in Hidalgo. SilverCrest completed its previously announced bought deal offering for gross proceeds of USD $138,069,000 (Las Chispas project, Sonora). Telson executed a LOI with Accendo Banco to provide financing up to USD $25M to complete the construction of its Tahuehueto mine in Durango, and also granted stock options to certain directors, officers, and insiders.  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Alamos Gold reported minerals reserves and resources for the year-ended 2020 (Mulatos mine, Sonora). Aloro informed that Alamos Gold has initiated its field exploration program on its Los Venados project in Sonora. Chesapeake presented its 2021 work program at its Metates project in Durango. Excellon released results from underground expansion and exploration drilling from its Platosa property in Durango. Fabled released results from the third drill hole collared at its Santa Maria property in Chihuahua. GR Silver announced that it is conducting a ground geophysics program at its San Marcial project in Sinaloa, incorporating magnetometry and 3D IP. Orogen provided an update on its Ermitaño property in Sonora. Prime announced that a fifth core drill rig has been added at Los Reyes project, Sinaloa. Xtierra released drill results from two holes collared at the Victor Vein at its Bilbao deposit in Zacatecas.  ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Barksdale announced the appointment of its Corporate Secretary as well as the grant of stock options to directors, employees and consultants. Colibri signed an option agreement with Bimsa to acquire 100% interest in the Diamante gold project in Sonora. Equinox announced that shareholders and optionholders of Premier approved the acquisition (Mercedes mine, Sonora). GR Silver announced the appointment of its VP Corporate Comminications (Plomosas property, Sinaloa). Autlan announced the appointment of its CEO (Molango mine, Hidalgo). US Antimony announced that trading of its common shares at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has been halted. VanGold announced the appointment of Ramón Dávila to join to its Advisory Board (Pinguico property, Guanajuato).   ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Fresnillo plc through its San Julian mine reinforced sanitary measures with campaign in Guadalupe and Calvo, Chihuahua. Minera Media Luna (Torex Gold) and the Universidad de Guerrero signed an environmental monitoring agreement (Limon-Guajes mine complex, Guerrero). Minera Peñasquito (Newmont) donated ventilators to the Medical Specialties Unit (UNEME) in Zacatecas. Mina Santa Elena (First Majestic) donated rapid COVID 19 antigen tests and face masks to municipalities of Baviácora, Aconchi, San Felipe de Jesús, Huépac, Banámichi, and Arizpe in Sonora.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • Mining and Steel companies operating in Mexico resumed activities after power outage. The companies normalized their operations after the energy deficit caused by the polar wave in Texas affected their operations. Local operations in the silver, gold, coal and iron mines were suspended or restricted after the US state halting natural gas exports amid a historic winter storm. The interruption of natural gas shipments has generated calls for Mexico to invest in gas storage and diversify its energy matrix.
  • Mining is on alert for the possibility that the Mexican Congress approves the initiative of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to modify the Electricity Industry Law and favor Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). AMLO said that he will seek to get his proposal approved without changing a single comma. The government last week began a campaign to emphasize the alleged damage that the actions of the IP have brought to the company headed by Manuel Bartlett. Mining is one of the industries that will be affected. Simply the companies that invested in self-supply projects managed to lower the cost of the fluid from 12 or 13 cents of a kilowatt (kw) / hour to 6.5 cents. Those that depend on CFE pay between 8 and 9 cents per kw / hour, far from the level of their competitors in Peru or Chile, which are at 6 cents, let alone those in the US at 4 cents and Canada 2 cents.
  • Los Gatos Silver Inc., announced restoration of full grid power at its Cerro Los Gatos mine in Chihuahua. Given the expedited restoration of full grid power, the outage has had minimal impact on the Company’s mining and processing activities.
  • According to the Fraser Institute, Chile, Peru, and Mexico have lost global appeal for mining investment. In Mexico, concerns about the policies of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador explain the reason for his fall from 4 positions in attractiveness to invest, to place 42. In perception of its policies, it was located in a weak 61st place after descending 10 notches. “The Federal Government is hostile towards the mining industry and is not issuing new permits,” said a company president, echoing concerns the industry has recently expressed.
  • According to Fresnillo plc, half of the electricity used by the La Herradura mine in Sonora comes from clean energy such as wind and solar, with which, through its strategy of sustainability reiterates its commitment to caring for the environment. It has allowed the saving of 4,051 Mhw, which represents an estimated reduction of 2 thousand 358 tons of CO2e. The company reports that for a decade it has invested in the use of renewable energy sources in order to make its processes cleaner and, with it, to be able, in the medium term, to achieve that 75% of its electricity consumption comes from of wind energy.
  • The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), has remained firm in his decision not to grant new mining concessions, a measure that has been described as one of the main challenges for the sector.  AMLO has repeatedly said that his administration will not award new concessions, as his predecessors would have given parts of the country to mining companies too easily. While it may be difficult to obtain new concessions, mining companies can still acquire properties in the secondary market, since there are concession holders who are willing to sell if necessary.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Aztec Minerals Corp.,  and its JV partner Kootenay Silver Inc., commenced their 2021 exploration program at its Cervantes project in Sonora. The plan is to conduct a +500 soil samples to cover 518 hectares with 100m by 100m spaced samples aimed at extending previous soils grid and covering the Estrella and California North targets to the western, northern, and eastern limits of the property. Detailed lithologic, alteration, structural mapping and rock chip sampling will proceed along with the soil sampling program.
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., released drill results from its Picacho project in Sonora. The best intercepts from initial drilling include hole PI-20-006 with 40.49 g/t Au, and 260 g/t Ag (3,297 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 7.25m; and hole PI-20-001 with 8.5 g/t Au and 51 g/t Ag (689 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 16.4m. To date, 42 drill holes have been collared at the Picachos property, with 21 intercepting an average of 4.1m with grades of 8.14 g/t Au and 50 g/t Ag (660 g/t AgEq).
  • Xali Gold Corp., delineated new drill targets at its El Dorado project in Nayarit, through the development of a new 3D geological model. The 3D model visualized high grade mineralization occurring in multiple parallel veins. Drill permits are in progress and are expected to take 3-4 months to get them approved.  Drilling is planned to test potential lateral extensions to the high grade zone.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., released drill results from 12 holes collared at its Los Ricos North project. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole LRGF-20-025 (Salomon area) with 0.26 g/t Au, 95 g/t Ag, (1.53 g/t AuEq or 115 g/t AgEq) over 70.5m, including 0.59 g/t Au and 251 g/t Ag (3.94 g/t AuEq or 295 g/t AgEq) over 20.1m, including 0.99 g/t Au and 404 g/t Ag (6.37 g/t AuEq or 478 g/t AgEq) over 10.1m, hole  LRGF-20-025 (Guitarrillas area) with 0.35 g/t Au and 107 g/t Ag (1.77 g/t AuEq or 133 g/t AgEq) over 18.3m, including 2.17 g/t Au and 566 g/t Ag (9.71 g/t AuEq or 728 g/t AgEq) over 2m; hole LRGF-21-033 (Salomon area) with 0.59 g/t Au and 116 g/t Ag (2.14 g/t AuEq or 160 g/t AgEq) over 33.9m, including 1.25 g/t Au and 433 g/t Ag (7.02 g/t AuEq or 527 g/t AgEq) over 3m; hole LRGF-21-033 (Guitarrillas area) with 1.94 g/t Au and 275 g/t Ag (5.6 g/t AuEq or 420 g/t AgEq) over 5.8m, including 4.14 g/t Au and 544 g/t Ag (11.39 g/t AuEq or 854 g/t AgEq) over 2.1m; and hole LRGF-21-033 (Los Chivos area) with 2 g/t Au and 486 g/t Ag (8.48 g/t AuEq or 636 g/t AgEq) over 8.8m, including 7.36 g/t Au and 1,693 g/t Ag (29.94 g/t AuEq or 2,245 g/t AgEq) over 2.3m.

ON MINING

  • Capstone Mining Corp., informed that it is on track for ramp-up to 3,780 tonnes per day at its Cozamine mine in Zacatecas by end of Q1, 2021.  During the period Q4, 2020, Capstone produced 10.3M Lb Cu at a cash cost of USD $0.63 per Lb Cu produced, and a total of 37.9M Lb in 2020 at a cash cost of USD $0.69 per Lb Cu produced.
  • Gold Resource Corporation reported full year 2020 production and financial results from its Don David mine in Oaxaca.  The company produced 20,473 Oz Au, 1.19M Oz Ag, 3.57M Lb Cu, 17.3M Lb Pb, and 44.12M Lb Zn in 2020, at a cash and AISC of USD $784 and USD $1,365 respectively per Oz AuEq, for a net income of USD $4.4M with revenue of USD $90.7M and mine gross profit of USD $12.5M.
  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., announced Q4, 2020 and full year 2020 production and financial results from its Limon-Los Guajes mine complex in Guerrero.  Torex produced in Q4, 2020, a total of 130,649 Oz Au at a cash and AISC of USD$579 and USD $886 per Oz Au produced, and sold 133,063 Oz Au for a net income USD $91.9M an adjusted EBITDA of USD $158.5M, cash flow from operations of USD $137.1M, and a free cash flow of USD $70.3M.  For the full year 2020, Torex reported a production of 430,484 Oz Au, at a cash an AISC of USD $672 and USD $924 per OZ Au produced respectively, with a sale of 437,310 Oz Au at a realized Au price of USD $1,771 per Oz, for revenue of USD $789M, a net income of USD $109M, an adjusted EBITDA of USD $431M, and an operating cash flow of USD $342M. Net cash for the year 2020 was USD $161.6M.

ON FINANCING

  • Carlyle Commodities Corp., granted stock options to directors and consultants for the purchase of 2.79M shares. The options are exercisable for a period of 5 years at an exercise price of $0.14 per share (Cecilia project, Sonora).
  • Coeur Mining Inc., announced its intention to offer USD $350M of senior notes due 2029. Net proceeds from the Offering will be used to pay the purchase price and tender premium for up to all USD $230M aggregate principal amount of its 5.875% senior notes due 2024, to pay the redemption price to redeem any of the 2024 notes that are not so tendered in the concurrent tender offer and to pay the fees and expenses in connection with the offering, the concurrent tender offer and any redemption of the 2024 notes. To the extent that the company has excess proceeds from the offering, the company intends to use such excess amounts for general corporate purposes (Palmarejo mine, Chihuahua). 
  • Capstone Mining Corp., closed a USD $150M silver stream agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals.  “All conditions to complete the Stream Agreement have been fulfilled and Capstone has received USD $150M from Wheaton for 50% of the silver productions until 10M Oz Ag have been delivered, thereafter dropping to 33% of silver production, for the life of mine from the Company’s Cozamin Mine in Zacatecas, Mexico. Wheaton will make ongoing payments equal to 10% of the spot silver price at the time of delivery for each ounce delivered to them”. 
  • Discovery Metals Corp., announced that an aggregate of 31,140,000 common share purchase warrants were exercised at a price of CAD $1.0 for gross proceeds of approximately CAD $31M. The company´s current cash balance has increased to approximately CAD $98M (Cordero project, Chihuahua)
  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., announced an exercise of warrants for gross proceeds of $4,150,000. Following the exercise of the warrants, Fabled continues to have a total of 50,500,000 share purchase warrants outstanding that were previously issued under the financing. The Company has 185,251,903 total shares issued and outstanding as at February 19, 2021 (Santa Maria property, Chihuahua).   
  • Orla Mining Ltd., completed layback agreement with Fresnillo on its Camino Rojo project in Zacatecas. Orla will pay Fresnillo a total cash consideration of USD $62.8M through staged payments. The first payment of USD $25M was due to Fresnillo on closing of the transaction.
  • Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., through its subsidiary Carrizal Mining SA de CV,   entered into a definitive agreement with Minera Cedros, a subsidiary of Industrias Peñoles SAB de CV, to acquire the Zimapan mine in Hidalgo and related assets, for a total consideration of USD $20M plus a VAT of USD $3.2M.  Assets to be acquired include a processing facility with a capacity of 75K dry tonnes per month, and Zn, Pb, Cu circuits; surface and underground infrastructure required for day to date operations; and 34 mining concessions totalling 5,139 hectares. Santacruz also entered into a loan facility with Trafigura México SA de CV in the amount of USD $17.6M from which USD $15M will be advanced to Peñoles on behalf of Carrizal on closing of the acquisition. The remains balance, USD $8.2M, is being financed by Minera Cedros. The USD $2.6M balance of the Trafigura loan represents the refinancing of existing debt owing to Trafigura by Carrizal and an affiliate.
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., completed its previously announced bought deal offering for gross proceeds of USD $138,069,000. Gross proceeds will be used to expand the Las Chispas resources and reserves, through further drilling, to optimize the mine and processing plant design, to explore regional targets, and for general working capital purposes.  
  • Telson Mining Corporation executed a LOI with Accendo Banco SA de CV to provide financing up to USD $25M to complete the construction of its Tahuehueto mine in Durango. Telson also granted stock options to certain directors, officers and insiders of up to an aggregate 4.7M shares in the capital stock of the Company.  The options are exercisable on or before February 25, 2026 at a price of $0.30 per share, and the Company has also re-priced 1,873,333 stock options originally granted as to; 1,423,333 exercisable at $0.71 till November 10, 2022, 400,000 exercisable at $0.72 till April 16, 2023 and 50,000 exercisable at $0.71 till April 23, 2023.

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Alamos Gold Inc., reported minerals reserves and resources for the year-ended 2020. Proven and probable reserves at Mulatos mine in Sonora are 33,935,000 tons of 1.24 g/t Au for a total of 1.35M Oz Au. Measured + indicated resources are 74,193.000 tonnes of 1.09 g/t Au for a total of 2.6M Oz Au, and Inferred resources are 9,291,000 tonnes of 0.91 g/t Au for a total of 271K Oz Au. Mineral reserves are exclusive of mineral resources.
  • Aloro Mining Corp., informed that Alamos Gold has initiated its field exploration program on its Los Venados project in Sonora. Focus of the program is the south portion of the property, adjacent to the Mulatos open pit.
  • Chesapeake Gold Corp., informed over its 2021 work program at its Metates project in Durango. This program will consists of approximately 2,500m drilling to recover 10 tonnes of PQ size material to conduct on 40 test columns metallurgical testwork focused on a new heap leach option, to determine the impacts of size, regent strengths, and ore types to determine the optimum oxidation and precious metal leaching parameters. In parallel, Chesapeake will update the previous PSF and add a scoping study for the sulphide heap leach to demonstrate the potential upside of this option.
  • Excellon Resources Inc., released results from underground expansion and exploration drilling from its Platosa property in Durango. Significant drill intercepts were encountered at the Rodilla, NE-1S, and Pierna Mantos with diamond drilling from underground in hole EX20UG491 at the Rodilla Area with 1,023 g/t Ag, 9.3% Pb, 4.5% Zn, and 0.1 g/t Au (1,422 g/t AgEq) over 8.9m, including 3,499 g/t Ag, 29.7% Pb, 10.3% Zn, and 0.1 g/t Au (4,623 g/t AgEq) over 2.2m; hole EX20UG493 at NE-1S Area with 673 g/t Ag, 6.7% Pb, and 7.1% Zn (1,092 g/t AgEq) over 2.4m;  hole EX20UG506 at 623 Area with 1,258 g/t Ag, 7.5% Pb, 2.4% Zn, and 0.1 g/t Au (1,258 g/t AgEq) over 1.6m; and hole EX21UG515 at Gap Area with 721 g/t Ag, 4.1% Pb, and 4.5% Zn (984 g/t AgEq) over 4m. Drilling continues to define and discover new mineralization in the gap Area with 300m of potential mineralized strike to be explored.
  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., released results from the third drill hole collared at its Santa Maria property in Chihuahua. This third hole is part of an ongoing 8,000m drill program and intersected 85 g/t Ag and 0.49 g/t Au over 12.5m, including 214 g/t Ag and 1.08 g/t Au over 1.8m. “The 12.50 meter intersection has clearly defined a footwall and hanging wall structure with corresponding elevated silver values up to over 7 ounces of silver and remains open at depth. More importantly, the structure is very conformable and intersected exactly where predicted, which bodes very well for the expansion of Santa Maria and increasing the present NI 43-101 resources on the property with only 3 drill holes drilled to date.”
  • GR Silver Mining Ltd., announced that it is conducting a ground geophysics program at its San Marcial project in Sinaloa, incorporating magnetometry and 3D IP. The survey will initially focus on the resource area to characterize the known Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization therein, which hosts the NI 43-101 resource.
  • Orogen Royalties Inc., provided an update on its Ermitaño property in Sonora, currently under control of First Majestic Silver Corp., where Orogen holds a 2% NSR. Last January, First majestic announced a USD $42.1M investment for the development of Ermitaño project to support the construction of an underground mine infrastructure that began last year. First majestic plans to release a PEA by the end of March, and is currently conducting hydrological studies and geotechnical drilling for an upcoming PFS that is expected to be released in H2, 2021.  In addition, the company also plans to extract 30K to 60K tonnes of material for metallurgical testwork.
  • Prime Mining Corp., announced that a fifth core drill rig has been added at its Los Reyes project, Sinaloa. Prime commenced a 15,000m drill program in December 2020 and only ten has been completed to date. The plan is to complete the phase 1 drilling before onset of the rainy season in mid-August, complete a new geological resource model during the rainy season hiatus and then initiate an aggressive Phase 2 drilling program in Q4 2021.
  • Xtierra Inc., released results from two holes collared at the Victor Vein, located adjacent to and west of its Bilbao deposit in Zacatecas. Hole X6B intersected 108 g/t Ag, 0.31% Pb, 0.08% Zn, and 0.03% Cu (120 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 1.148m, and hole X7B intersected 61 g/t Ag, 5.5% Pb, 4.41% Zn, and 0.08% Cu (336 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 9.37m, including 82 g/t Ag, 6.8% Pb, 6.9% Zn, and 0.29% Cu over a TW of 0.61m, including 63 g/t Ag, 6% Pb, 6.4% Zn, and 0.08% Cu (412 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.36m, including 119 g/t Ag, 13.6% Pb, 11.4% Zn, and 0.01% Cu (795 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.70m, and including 107 g/t Ag, 8.2% Pb, 6.9% Zn, and 0.54% Cu (566 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.50m.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Barksdale Resources Corp., announced the appointment of its Corporate Secretary as well as the grant of stock options to directors, employees and consultants (San Javier project, Sonora).
  • Colibri Resources Corporation signed an option agreement with Bimsa Minera SA de CV to acquire 100% interest in the Diamante gold project in Sonora.   The Diamante property comprises two 1,057 hectares in two properties that borders El Mezquite project immediately to the west, and about 1.6km northwest of Colibri’s 1,130-ha Jackie project. To earn an initial 50%, Colibri has to pay USD $100K and incur the expense of completing 2,000m of drilling over the course up to two years, and also will be responsible for all exploration cost while preparing for such drilling program. In addition, Colibri will pay ½ of the property tax and security costs during this period.  Upon completion of its 50% earn-in, Colibri will become equal joint venture partners with Bimsa Minera and then Colibri will have an exclusive period of six months to purchase the remaining 50% of the joint venture by paying Bimsa Minera either of: i) USD $2.1M or ii) USD $1.4M and the grant of a 2% net smelter royalty (NSR) on the project.
  • Equinox Gold Corp., announced that shareholders and optionholders of Premier Gold Mines Limited approved the acquisition by Equinox Gold. “On closing of the Transaction, Premier shareholders will receive 0.1967 of an Equinox Gold share for each Premier share held, such that existing Equinox Gold and Premier shareholders will own approximately 84% and 16% of Equinox Gold, respectively, on an issued share basis. The Transaction is expected to close in March subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions”.  By approving the Transaction, Premier securityholders also approved the spin-out to Equinox Gold and Premier shareholders shares of a newly created US-focused gold production and development company to be called i-80 Gold Corp. (Mercedes mine, Sonora).
  • GR Silver Mining Ltd., announced the appointment of its VP Corporate Comminications (Plomosas property, Sinaloa).   
  • Compañía Minera Autlan SAB de CV announced the appointment of its CEO (Molango mine, Hidalgo).   
  • US Antimony Corporation announced that trading of its common shares at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has been halted since before the opening of trading on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 as a consequence of selling common shares in a manner that violated Sections 301 and 713 of the Company Guide. “The violations relate to two non-underwritten transactions involving the sale of an aggregate of26,290,000 shares of common stock at a discount to the market price at the time of each transaction, with the first transaction, which closed on February 3, 2021, involving the sale of 15,300,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.70 per share, and with the second transaction, which closed on February 16, 2021, involving the sale of 10,990,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $1.30 per share”. The Company has been advised by NYSE Regulation that the Company’s common stock will resume trading on the NYSE American following the issuance of this press release and the filing of a Current Report on Form 8-K disclosing the receipt of the Letter, which the Company anticipates will be prior to the open of trading on Friday, February 19, 2021.
  • VanGold Mining Corp., announced the appointment of Ramón Dávila to join to its Advisory Board (Pinguico property, Guanajuato).  

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Fresnillo plc reinforced sanitary measures with campaign in Guadalupe and Calvo, Chihuahua.  Personnel from the San Julian mine delivered five thousand washable face masks through a caravan of more than 25 volunteers. The municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo has received different donations of face masks from the mining company that operates San Julian mine, adding more than 30 thousand items delivered. These surgical cloth mouth covers were manufactured by the “Yerbitas” community sewing workshop.
  • Minera Media Luna (Torex Gold) and the Universidad de Guerrero signed an environmental monitoring agreement  to encourages the inhabitants of Nuevo Balsas, Atzcala and Mezcala, communities located around the El Caracol dam and the Balsas rivers and San Juan de Cocula, to get involved in the Participatory Environmental Audit. “During the protocol ceremony, it was reported that 42 residents of Nuevo Balsas have participated in the taking of water and sediment samples, another 260 fishermen from the same town, Atzcala and Mezcala were surveyed for the evaluation of the fishing effort”. (Limon-Guajes mine complex. Guerrero).
  • Minera Peñasquito (Newmont) donated ventilators to the Medical Specialties Unit (UNEME) in Zacatecas. This UNEME has been converted into a COVID-19 Hospital for services of health, which receives people affected by SARS -Cov 2 from the State of Zacatecas, who require hospitalization and who are not beneficiaries of other social security systems. With this donation, Newmont reaffirms its commitment to Zacatecas in support of the most vulnerable population in the state and joins the efforts of health authorities in their fight against this pandemic. Newmont has delivered in Zacatecas more than MXP $28M, in hospital supplies and food packages.
  • Mina Santa Elena (First Majestic) donated rapid COVID 19 antigen tests and face masks to municipalities of Baviácora, Aconchi, San Felipe de Jesús, Huépac, Banámichi, and Arizpe in Sonora, with the aim of detecting suspicious cases and mitigating risks of contagion.

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, a quartz hydrothermal breccia displaying cockade texture and a quartz vein displaying boiling texture in an intermediate sulphidation epithermal system in a prospect in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia., Mexico.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Second Week of February, 2021.

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Hydrothermal breccia

By Miguel A Heredia

During the second week of the year (February 08th to February 14th, 2021), at least 28 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 11 news published by the media, with nine disclosing deals and corporate issues, six announcing financial rounds, six reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, six commenting on Mexican issues, five informing on exploration results, five discussing social issues, and two communicating production and financial results.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria are a key factor in Accendo Banco’s investments in Mexico’s mining sector, according to its CEO, Javier Reyes. Mining in Mexico registered a 19.5% rebound during October, 2020, according to the Monthly Indicator of Industrial Activity by Federal Entity (IMAIEF) released by the Institute National Statistics and Geography (INEGI). Tatiana Clouthier, head of the Secretariat of Economy declared that mining in Mexico must become a sustainable activity that prioritizes three issues: economic, human and nature. The energy policies that the federal government is following are already affecting the development of projects for the self-supply of energy by the mining sector. Experts detailed the main challenges that the Mexican mining sector will face in 2021, the year in which the industry is expected to play a leading role in the economic reactivation after confinements. Almost a year of delay accumulates the USD $60M of Chinese investment to construct the industrial park at Guadalupe, Zacatecas.   ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Canuc commenced a drill program at its San Javier project, Carlyle and Riverside initiated a phase one drilling program at its Cecilia project, Tocvan and Colibri reported drill results from its El Pilar project, and Minaurum released results from its phase II drilling program conducted at its Alamo Silver project.   ON MINING, Equinox provided 2021 guidance and outlined growth and investment plan (Los Filos mine, Guerrero). GoGold reported Q4, 2020 production and financial results from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua. ON FINANCING, Bacanora announced that 106,995,885 New Ordinary Shares were admitted to trading on London Stock Exchange market (Sonora Lithium project, Sonora). Silver Tiger announced that it entered into a CAD $20M bought deal financing (El Tigre, Sonora). Comet raised $1M in strategic investor placement (Santa Teresa project, Baja California). Orogen announced a private placement for gross proceeds of $2.7M (Ermitaño property, Sonora). Prospero Silver announced a consolidation of its common shares (Pachuca SE property, Hidalgo). SilverCrest entered into a bought deal financing agreement for aggregate gross proceeds of USD $120M (Las Chispas project, Sonora).  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Bacanora commenced initial site activities at its Sonora Lithium project in Sonora. Excellon provided an update on ongoing exploration at its Platosa mine in Durango. GR Silver released underground and surface drilling results from its Plomosas project in Sinaloa. Newmont reported 2020 mineral reserves and resources for its Peñasquito mine in Zacatecas. Orla filed updated FS on its Camino Rojo Oxide project in Zacatecas. Southern Silver released drill results from its Cerro Las Minitas project in Durango. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Carlyle announced that it has now met its first-year exploration commitments of its option agreement with Riverside Resources to acquire 100% of the Cecilia Gold-Silver project. Fabled granted an aggregate of 350K stock options to certain consultants, to acquire one common share of Fabled at an exercise price of $0.22 per common share until September 1, 2021 (Santa Maria project, Chihuahua). Fortuna announced management changes (San Jose mine, Oaxaca). Gold Resource announced the appointment of a new member to its Board of Directors (Arista mine, Oaxaca). Gold79announced the appointment of a new member to its Board of Directors and granted him with 500K common shares at a price of $0.10 per share and expire on February 12, 2031 (Taviche project, Oaxaca). Orogen announced that its current President and Chief Executive Officer has been appointed to the Board of Directors (Ermitaño project, Sonora). Premier announced that two independent adviser firms have recommended that holders of Premier´s common shares and options approve the proposed acquisition of Equinox (Mercedes mine, Sonora). Tarachi Gold signed a purchase agreement with Manto Resources to acquire the Magistral del Oro mill and tailings project in Durango. Vizsla announced it will change its name to Vizsla Silver Corp (Panuco project, Sinaloa).  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Coanzamex (GoGold) supported the Municipal Shelter of Parral, Chihuahua with blankets. Fresnillo plc organized literary caravan and delivered books to children from rural communities. Peñoles signed an alliance with the UNAM Foundation so that medical fellows serve the communities near its operating units in Durango, State of Mexico, Guerrero and Zacatecas. Peñoles encourages the presence of women in the areas of science, innovation and technological development. Santa Elena Mine (First Majestic) in connection with the Sonora A.C. Mining Cluster are carrying out a support program for merchants in the Banámichi and Río Sonora region.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria are a key factor in Accendo Banco’s investments in Mexico’s mining sector, according to its CEO, Javier Reyes. Investment deals recently advanced by the bank include a proposed USD $12M loan to finance construction of Telson Mining’s Tahuehueto gold mine in Durango. Candelaria Mining also signed a USD $9M loan agreement with Accendo in June 2020 for the construction of its Pinos gold project in Zacatecas. Lastly, Accendo signed a strategic alliance with Vancouver-based Empress Royalty in August last year. The agreement aims to acquire royalties, cash flows and other investments in Mexico’s mining sector.
  • Mining in Mexico, registered a 19.5% rebound during October, 2020 according to the Monthly Indicator of Industrial Activity by Federal Entity (IMAIEF), released by the Institute National Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
  • Tatiana Clouthier, head of the Secretariat of Economy declared that mining in Mexico must become a sustainable activity that prioritizes three issues: economic, human and nature. On the other hand, Clouthier highlighted the work that mining companies of all levels have done to accelerate the economic reactivation of the country. “The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that is generated through mining is about 3.2% and we are pleased to see that these numbers can continue to move in favor of the economy and Mexican families,” she said. “In the Ministry of Economy we have already invited large, medium and small companies and associations that are linked to this issue to be able to find solutions, to be able, within the framework of the law, to activate what we have to activate for this task it can be managed better and it can yield better results in favor of our country”, she assured.
  • The energy policies that the federal government is following are already affecting the development of projects for the self-supply of energy by the mining sector. According to data from the Mexico Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX), electricity for this industry is 33% and up to 350% more expensive compared to other countries, which increases its production costs. That is why the mining companies have decided to invest and develop electricity generation projects, which range from combined cycle plants to solar or wind farms. Despite this, many of these plans have been affected by current policies on energy and the action of regulatory bodies, such as the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), which reduced the granting of permits to a minimum. President of CAMIMEX assured in recent days that half of the energy consumed by the mining industry is under the self-supply model.
  • Experts detailed the main challenges that the Mexican mining sector will face in 2021, the year in which the industry is expected to play a leading role in the economic reactivation after confinements. The main problems for the sector are the current health complications associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of directly or indirectly legislative proposals with potential negative impacts on the mining sector such as the direct initiatives to try to raise taxes at the state of federal level or indirect initiatives as the elimination of the outsourcing or initiatives of the electricity industry. Deputies of Mexico received in January a proposal from a legislator of the ruling party Morena aimed at reviewing the fees paid for mining concessions. It proposed replacing per hectare fees with potentially much higher charges linked to production. Another problem is the “profound ignorance” of the importance of the mining industry.
  • Almost a year of delay accumulates the USD $60M of Chinese investment to construct the industrial park at Guadalupe, Zacatecas. This delay has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.   

ON EXPLORATION

  • Canuc Resources Corporation, commenced a drill program at its San Javier project. The program will be focused on testing geophysical anomalies and mineralized breccia and stockwork zones as reported previously.
  • Carlyle Commodities Corp. and Riverside Resources Inc., initiated a six drill holes, phase one program at its Cecilia project designed to test down to roughly 250m in depth over the Cerro Magallanes rhyolitic dome. The drill program will commence to test the San Jose structure where sampling returned values up to 48.3 g/t Au over 0.75m at surface.
  • Tocvan Ventures Corp. and Colibri Resource Corporation reported drill results from its phase one drilling program performed at its El Pilar project in Sonora, which consisted of nine RC holes for a total of 1,505m. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole JES-20-32 with 1.6 g/t Au over 94.6m, including 10.8 g/t Au and 38 g/t Ag over 9.2m; hole JES-20-33 with 1.1 g/t Au over 41.2m, including 6 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag over 3.1m; and hole JES-20-36 with 2.5 g/t Au and 73 g/t Ag over 24.4m, including 6.3 g/t Au and 192 g/t Ag over 9.2m, including 33.4 g/t Au and 1,090 g/t Ag over 1.5m.
  • Minaurum Gold Inc., released results from its phase II drilling program conducted at its Alamo Silver project. “Drilling at the Europa-Guadalupe target outlined a prospective south-west (“SW”) plunging silver shoot along with the potential for additional high-grade mineralization to the north and south of the area drilled. At the Promontorio target, drilling returned high-grade mineralization in excess of 100m below historical workings, indicating the potential for two SW-plunging silver shoots”. At Europa-Guadalupe Zone, Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole AL20-054 with 342 g/t Ag, 0.76% Cu, and 1% Zn over 3.85m, including 1,185 g/t Ag, 2.19% Cu, and 1.2% Zn over 0.8m; and hole AL20-050 with 196 g/t Ag, 0.26% Cu, 0.35% Pb, and 1.1% Zn over 3.25m, including 784 g/t Ag, 1.05% Cu, and 2.5% Zn over 0.55m. At Promontorio Zone, hole AL20-064 intersected 528 g/t Ag, 0.8 g/t Au, 0.83% Cu, 2.4% Pb, and 1.5% Zn over 3.7m, including 1,203 g/t Ag, 2.45 g/t Au, 1.4% Cu, 5.1% Pb, and 2.8% Zn over 1.05m; and hole AL20-069 with 161 g/t Ag, 0.5 g/t Au, 0.24% Cu, 2.15% Pb, and 5.9% Zn over 4m, including 327 g/t Ag, 0.9 g/t Au, 0.23% Cu, 2.5% Pb, and 6.6% Zn over 1m. At San Jose Zone, hole AL20-066 encountered 314 g/t Ag, 0.27% Cu, 0.2% Pb, and 0.2% Zn over 4.45m, and hole AL20-075 with 460 g/t Ag, 0.15% Cu, 0.5% Pb, and 0.85% Zn over 2.15m. At Travesia Zone, hole AL20-077 intersected  210 g/t Ag, 0.59% Cu, 1.3% Pb, and 1.3% Zn over 4.4m, including 355 g/t Ag, 0.7 g/t Au, 1.02% Cu, 4.6% Pb, and 3.2% Zn over 0.9m.

ON MINING

  • Equinox Gold Corp., provided 2021 guidance and outlined growth and investment plan. It expects to produce 170K-190K Oz Au from its Los Filos mine in Guerrero at cash and AISC of USD $1,125-1,200 and USD $1,330-1,390 respectively. The company has planned a total sustaining and non-sustaining capital spend of USD $133M for the year.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., reported Q4, 2020 production and financial results from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua. The company produced 298.6KOz Ag, 3,632 Oz Au and 280K Lb Cu (614.15K Oz AgEq) at cash and AISC of USD $12.27 and USD $15.19 per Oz Ag sold. GoGold reported revenue of USD $14,078M, a net income of USD $4.23M, and a cash flow from operation of USD $5.86M.  

ON FINANCING

  • Bacanora Lithium plc., announced that 106,995,885 New Ordinary Shares were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange market (Sonora Lithium project, Sonora).
  • Silver Tiger Metals Inc., announced that it entered into a CAD $20M bought deal financing with Sprott Capital Partners LP.  Net proceeds will be used to fund continued exploration at its El Tigre project in Sonora, as well as for general working capital and business development purposes.
  • Comet Resources Ltd., announced that it raised $1M in strategic investor placement. Part of the raised funds will be used to support exploration activities at its (Santa Teresa project in Baja California.
  • Orogen Royalties Inc., announced a private placement for gross proceeds of $2.7M (Ermitaño property, Sonora).
  • Prospero Silver Corp., announced a consolidation of its common shares on the basis of one new post-consolidation common share for every three pre-consolidation common shares effective as of February 11, 2021.  There will be no name change or trading symbol change in conjunction with the consolidation (Pachuca SE property, Hidalgo).
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., entered into a bought deal financing agreement for aggregate gross proceeds of USD $120M. Net proceeds of the offering will be used to expand resources and reserves at its Las Chispas project in Sonora through further drilling, to optimize the mine and processing plant design, to explore regional targets, and for general working capital purposes. 

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Bacanora Lithium plc., commenced initial site activities at its Sonora Lithium project in Sonora. Bacanora engaged a local specialist ecological service company to rescue and remove surface vegetation and topsoil in the area proposed for the construction of the processing plant. The company is also upgrading the main access road for providing access to heavy equipment to commence the bulk site earthworks later in the year.
  • Excellon Resources Inc., provided an update on ongoing exploration at its Platosa mine in Durango. The company is drilling regional targets such as Jaboncillo and the PDN areas, as well as drilling the Platosa extensions and Platosa Underground to support resource definition and expansion. At Jaboncillo zone, located 11 km north of Platosa mine, Excellon identified in a previous drilling campaign a 1.2km length gossans mineralization.  The current drilling program is targeting the source of these gossans and the existence of massive sulphides. At PDN zone, located 2 km north of Platosa mine, it is testing a large 800m by 60m target generated with multiple sets of geophysical data, surface mapping and sampling. This target is interpreted as a deeper skarn related to the Rincon del Caido  skarn discovered in 2012 where a previous drill intercept encountered 132 g/t Ag, 3.1% Pb, 1.7% Zn, and 0.075 g/t Au (278 g/t AgEq) over 55.5m. At the 10-20 target, the company has been conducting drilling surface to add mineralization over approximately 300m of strike with a vertical extent of 30-40m. This zone has potential to significantly increase the current 800m by 600m mineralized footprint of the Platosa mine.  At Platosa mine, Excellon is conducting underground drilling to define mineralization ahead of mine development and add mineralized inventory in areas not adequately tested by surface drilling. This underground drilling program follows up on previous drilling of the Pierna and NE-1 mantos and depth extensions of the 623 and NE-1S mantos.
  • GR Silver Mining Ltd., released underground and surface drilling results from its Plomosas project in Sinaloa. Significant mineralization was encountered in hole PLI-20-05 with 2.63 g/t Au, 39 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 0.2% Pb, and 0.1% Zn over 4m, including 8.95 g/t Au, 136 g/t Ag,0.4% Cu,  0.6% Pb, and 0.1% Zn (1,101 g/t AgEq) over 1.0m, and other deeper intersection of 2.77 g/t Au, 25 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 0.2% Pb, and 0.6% Zn over 9.2m, including 19.95 g/t Au, 227 g/t Ag, 1% Cu, 1.3% Pb, and 4.7% Zn (2,507 g/t AgEq) over 0.20m; and hole PLI17-32 with 1.37 g/t Au, 68 g/t Ag, 0.1% Cu, 0.4% Pb, and 0.1% Zn (245 g/t AgEq) over 10.6m. “The underground drilling program is targeting high-grade Ag-Au epithermal mineralization and bulk tonnage-style polymetallic mineralization in the Plomosas Mine Area, with the objective to delineate high margin precious and base metals mineralization for planned resource estimation”.
  • Newmont Corporation reported 2020 mineral reserves and resources for its Peñasquito and Noche Buena mines. Figures are shown in the tables below:

(Resources are reported exclusive of reserves)

  • Orla Mining Ltd., filed updated FS on its Camino Rojo Oxide project in Zacatecas. Highlights include a total ore to leach pad of 67.4M tonnes of 0.73 g/t Au and 14 g/t Ag for a total of 1.59M Oz Au and 31.5M Oz Ag at metallurgical recoveries of 62% and 20% respectively to recover 980K Oz Au and 6.19M Oz Ag. The mine life of Camino Rojo has been estimated in 10.4 years with a throughput rate of 18,000 tonnes per day for an annual production of 94K Oz Au, at a cash and AISC cost of USD $490 and USD $543 per Oz Au respectively. The FS reported a Pre-Tax and NVP (5% discount rate)  of USD $668M, Pre-Tax IRR of 82%, an After-Tax and NVP (5% discount rate) of USD $542M,and an After-Tax IRR of %62%, for a payback time of 1.5 years.
  • Southern Silver Exploration Corp., released drill results from its Cerro Las Minitas project in Durango. The company intersected bonanza grades at La Bocona Chimney in hole 20CLM-131 with 1,072 g/t Ag, 18.8% Pb, and 7.5% Zn (2,040 g/t AgEq or 51.7% ZnEq) over a true width (TW) of 8m, which includes subintervals of 3,180 g/t Ag, 58.8% Pb, and 2.3% Zn over a TW of 0.6m, and 2,340 g/t Ag, 35.9% Pb, and 1.6% Zn over a TW of 0.8m. Additional mineralized intervals intersected further down-hole include 121 g/t Ag, 2.5% Pb, and 2.5% Zn (311 g/t AgEq or 7.9% ZnEq) over a TW of 8.5m, including 413 g/t Ag, 8.7% Pb, and 9.3% Zn (1,103 g/t AgEq or 28% ZnEq) over a TW of 1.6m, including 59 g/t Ag, 0.6 g/t Au, an 3.7% Cu (489 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.5m. Additional assays results were also received from the Muralla and the South Skarn targets located 500m away of the Mina La Bocona. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole 20CLM-134 with 205 g/t Ag, 0.16 g/t Au, 4% Pb, and 0.9% Zn (377 g/t AgEq or 9.5% ZnEq) over a TW of 4.1m, including 575 g/t Ag, 0.05 g/t Au, 9.9% Pb, and 2.2% Zn (972 g/t AgEq or 24.7% ZnEq) over a TW of 0.6m in the Muralla target; hole 20CLM-126 with 95 g/t Ag, 0.7% Pb, and 1.2% Zn (174 g/t AgEq or 4.4% ZnEq), including 398 g/t Ag, 0.16 g/t Au, 2.7% Pb, and 4% Zn (679 g/t AgEq or 17.2% ZnEq) over a TW of 0.7min the South Target Zone, and hole 20CLM-130 with 327 g/t Ag, 5.6% Pb, and 11.5% Zn (960 g/t AgEq or 24.4% ZnEq) over a TW of 1m in the South Target Zone.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Carlyle Commodities Corp., announced that it has now met its first-year exploration commitments of its Option Agreement with Riverside Resources to acquire 100% of the Cecilia Gold-Silver project, by having advanced at least CAD $750K for exploration expenditures.
  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., granted an aggregate of 350K stock options to certain consultants, to acquire one common share of Fabled at an exercise price of $0.22 per common share until September 1, 2021 (Santa Maria project, Chihuahua).
  • Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., announced the resignation of its Director and Chair of the Board, and the appointment of its replacement (San Jose mine, Oaxaca).
  • Gold Resource Corporation announced the appointment of a new member to its Board of Directors (Arista mine, Oaxaca).
  • Gold79 Mines Ltd., announced the appointment of a new member to its Board of Directors and granted him 500K common shares at a price of $0.10 per share and expires on February 12, 2031 (Taviche project, Oaxaca).
  • Orogen Royalties Inc., announced that its current President and Chief Executive Officer has been appointed to the Board of Directors (Ermitaño project, Sonora).
  • Premier Gold Mines Limited announced that two independent adviser firms have recommended that holders of Premier´s common shares and options approve the proposed acquisition of Equinox Gold Corp. (Mercedes mine, Sonora). 
  • Tarachi Gold Corp., signed a purchase agreement with Manto Resources SA de CV to acquire the Magistral del Oro mill and tailings project in Durango.  Magistral project consists of a 1,000 tons per day (TPD) Merrill-Crow tailings reprocessing  plant and tailing disposal facility, and access to an estimated 1.3M tonnes of tailings with a historic average grade of between 2.06 g/t Au and 2.11 g/t Au. In order to acquire the property, Tarachi has to issue 4M of its common shares, grant Manto with a 15% net profits royalty on the estimated 1.3M tonnes of tailings material expected to be processed and reimburse Manto for USD $1,179,500 of cash outlays, and will satisfy certain obligations of Manto by paying a total of USD $1,111,000 plus any Mexican value add tax (IVA) and issuing 1,685,916 common shares within 90 days of closing. Manto will be entitled to the following staged bonus payments: an additional 4M common shares 60 days after the closing date, 4M common shares 180 days after the closing date, 4M of common shares 365 days after the closing date, USD $500K in cash following 6 months of commercial production at Magistral, USD $500K in cash following 12 months of commercial production at Magistral, upon the company earning USD $15M in revenue from Magistral, the company will pay Manto USD $1M. Finally, a finder´s fee of 1M common shares will be issued to Spirit Exploration Corp.
  • Vizsla Resources Corp., announced it will change its name to Vizsla Silver Corp. The name change is expected to be effective on February 9, 2021 (Panuco project, Sinaloa). 

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Coanzamex (GoGold Resources Inc.) delivered blankets to the Parral Municipality Shelter. Major of Parral thanked the spirit of solidarity that has characterized the mining company that has operated in Parral, Chihuahua for several years.
  • Fresnillo plc organized literary caravan and delivered 10,000 books to children and adolescents from 23 communities in Caborca, Sonora.  It should be mentioned that Fresnillo plc, in alliance with the IBBY México organization, encourages children’s reading through the “Picando Letras” program, which has been implemented for some time more than 8 years and, to date, approximately more than 2,500 infants and adolescents have participated in the various actions.
  • Industrias Peñoles SAB de CV signed an alliance with the UNAM Foundation so that medical fellows serve the communities near its operating units Durango, State of Mexico, Guerrero and Zacatecas. For more than 10 years, Peñoles has carried out Health Days to the communities near its operations, to provide free medical care to its neighbors. To give continuity to preventive health programs among the population with fewer resources, Peñoles ratified an agreement with the UNAM Foundation whereby eight social service providers of the University will provide medical care to the communities surrounding the Velardeña, Sabinas, Tizapa, and Capela mines.
  • Industrias Peñoles SAB de CV encourages the presence of women in the areas of science, innovation and technological development. Its General Director, Rafael Rebollar, points out that, fortunately, more women are joining the different mining processes, contributing their talent and skills. The Central Laboratory and the Center for Research and Technological Development (CIDT) of Peñoles stand out, with 35 women who carry out functions key to mining and metallurgical processes. Thus, Peñoles reiterates its commitment to society by integrating more women scientists in the industry, through programs that expand their knowledge and allow them to innovate in the processes, which contributes to strengthening the activity mining and make it more sustainable.
  • Santa Elena Mine (First Majestic) in connection with the Sonora A.C. Mining Cluster are carrying out a support program for local merchants in the Banámichi and Río Sonora region. Through a workshop, they seek to provide the necessary tools to promote the economic reactivation of businesses and overcome the barriers of the pandemic using new digital marketing tool to offer its products and services. This training was offered in virtual mode where the last session was completed in person, ending with the delivery of recognitions to the participants.

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, a quartz hydrothermal breccia in a low sulphidation epithermal system in a prospect in Durango, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia., Mexico.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Fourth Week of January, 2021.

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Stibiconite crystals

By Miguel A Heredia

During the fourth week of the year (January 25th to January 31st, 2021), at least 43 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 9 news published by the media, with twelve informing on exploration results, ten disclosing deals and corporate issues, nine announcing financial rounds, seven reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, six commenting on Mexican issues, five  communicating production and financial results, and three discussing social issues.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, Odyssey has been notified that the First Memorial filed in September 2020 in its pending North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) case against Mexico has now been published by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Mexico is the mining market with the highest tax burden compared to Canada, Chile, Peru, and the United States.  Fernando Alanís, president of the Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX) declared that Mexico captured USD $2.5 B of investment in the mining sector in 2020, its lowest level in the last 13 years.  Ministry of Economic Development and Labor of Guerrero State seeks to recover jobs at Minera Media Luna (Torex Gold). The Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX) presented its first Sustainability Report 2020. Businessmen from the mining and energy sector joined in the proposal to put a limit on the participation of workers in company profits (PTU) and to link them to productivity. ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Carlyle and Riverside announced the start of its first drilling program by early February at its Cecilia project and Aztec Minerals and its JV partner Kootenay announced plans for a two-phase exploration program at its Cervantes project. In Chihuahua, Mammoth commenced its 2021 field exploration program at its Tenoriba project, Consolidated Zinc reported exploration results from Potrero and Don Lucas targets, and Golden Minerals discovered new vein at its Yoquivo project. In Sinaloa, Vizsla released drill results from eighth holes collared at the Papayo prospect at its Panuco project, and Mithril provided an update on the exploration activities performed during the period Q4, 2020 at its Copalquin project.  In Jalisco, GoGold announced a new discovery at El Orito in its Los Ricos North project. In Veracruz, Azucar Minerals provided an update on drilling activities at its El Cobre project.  ON MINING, Consolidated Zinc reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Plomosas mine in Chihuahua. Endeavour reported 2021 production and cost guidance for their Mexican operations. Fresnillo plc reported Q4, 2020 from their Mexican operations. Gold Resource announced Q4, and full year 2020 production results from its Oaxaca Mining Unit in Oaxaca. Mag Silver reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Juanicipio project in Zacatecas.  ON FINANCING, Argonaut announced a $23M bought-deal public offering (El Castillo mine, Durango). VanGold increased its previously announced non-brokered private placement financing to $14.55M (El Pinguico project, Guanajuato).  Americas Gold and Silver closed its previously announced bought deal financing for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD $33.9M (Cosala mine, Sinaloa). Gainey announced that it has arranged a non brokered private placement for gross proceeds of up to CAD $500K (El Colomo, Nayarit). Mithril raised A $5M through a share placement (Copalquin project, Durango).  Elementals Royalties announced that its common shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement (Mercedes mine, Sonora). Gold Resource declared January 2021 monthly dividend (Oaxaca Mining Unit, Oaxaca). Ridgestone closed the remaining tranche of its previously announced non-broken private placement for gross proceeds of $695K (Rebeico project, Sonora). ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Fabled presented initial diamond drill results from its Santa Maria project in Chihuahua. Capstone announced an updated technical report for its Cozamin mine in Zacatecas. Comet provided an updated Q4, 2020 activities report (Santa Teresa project, Baja California).  Oroco reported significant 3D IP survey results at its Santo Tomas project in Sinaloa. VanGold commenced a 12-14 drill holes program at its Pinguico project in Guanajuato. Minera Alamos provided a construction update at its Santana project in Sonora.   Great Panther announced an update on exploration strategy and programs for 2021 (Topia mine, Durango).  ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Mexican Gold engaged JDS Energy & Mining Inc., for a PEA at its Las Minas project in Veracruz. Canuc doubled its land position at San Javier project in Sonora. Magna Gold appointed its new CFO (San Francisco mine, Sonora). Defiance Silver entered into an option agreement to double its land position at its Tepal project in Michoacan. Vizsla announced strengthening of its senior management team and board (Panuco project, Sinaloa). First Majestic responded to market activity (San Dimas property, Durango). Mexican Gold appointed two new members as technical advisors (Las Minas project, Veracruz). Discovery Metals named to the 2021 OTCQX Best 50 (Cordero project, Chihuahua). Gainey provided an update on its Mexican projects and corporate activities (El Colomo project, Nayarit). Orex announced board changes and a grant of options (Sandra project, Durango). Magna Gold provided a letter to all of its shareholders in which it explained the strategy used to grow the company through strategic acquisitions and targeted exploration to evolve from a junior exploration company to an intermediate gold producer in Mexico (San Francisco mine, Sonora).  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Fresnillo plc strengthens education in times of pandemic. Peñoles reaffirms its commitment to promoting education through the implementation of academic programs that seek to develop skills and tools so that children and young people in Mexico aspire to a better future. The companies Autlán, Grupo México, Industrias Peñoles, Newmont-Peñasquito, Fresnillo plc and Coeur Mining participate in water management projects that were highlighted by the Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX) in its 2020 sustainability report.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., has been notified that the First Memorial filed in September 2020 in its pending North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) case against Mexico has now been published by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The $2.3 billion claim against Mexico under NAFTA relates to the unlawful denial of the environmental permit for subsidiary Exploraciones Oceanicas’ (ExO’s) offshore phosphate project.
  • Mexico is the mining market with the highest tax burden compared to Canada, Chile, Peru, and the United States, the main competing countries on the continent in terms of mining, according to the Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX). Mining faces heavy tax burden making the sector less competitive. 
  • Fernando Alanís, president of the Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX) declared that Mexico captured USD $2.5 B of investment in the mining sector in 2020, its lowest level in the last 13 years. Mexico is a mining power globally. In 2019 it ranked among the top 10 positions in the world production of 17 minerals, including first in silver, second in fluorite, third in celestite and wollastonite, sixth in zinc, seventh in salt, eighth copper and ninth in gold, among others. Mining stands out as an activity that generates jobs, investments, foreign exchange, infrastructure, regional value chains, local consumption and contribution to social development. In 2019, the mining-metallurgical Gross Domestic Product (GDP) represented 8.1% of the industrial GDP and 2.3% of the national GDP.
  • Ministry of Economic Development and Labor of Guerrero state seeks to recover jobs at Minera Media Luna. The investment of USD $500M in the mining activity by Torex Gold in the municipality of Cocula, the creation of commercialization spaces through virtual stores on the Mercado Libre platform and the linking of credit institutions with small and Guerrerenses micro companies are some of the strategies that are implemented to recover more than 15 thousand formal jobs that were lost during 2020 in Guerrero.
  • The Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX) presented its first Sustainability Report 2020. The publication is divided into three chapters, corresponding to good practices in mining in the social, environmental and economic spheres. Highlighted that the companies affiliated to CAMIMEX represent 90% of the value of the industry, and have a presence in 696 communities, in 24 states of the Mexican Republic. Regarding the regulations to which mining projects are subject to operate, mentioned a total of 1,077 rules, laws, norms, guidelines and agreements, in matters of labor competition, health, environment, fiscal, agrarian, etc. regarding some of the taxes paid by the mining, Fernando Alanís indicated that in 2019 a total of MXP $39,017M was contributed, for concepts such as ISR, surface rights, and new rights, and that the amount rose to MXP $ 131,016M in a period of four years. In 2019, mining companies invested MXP $ 1,056M in social development (in addition to the MXP $3,496M raised that year for the Mining Fund), managing to directly benefit more than one and a half million people.
  • Businessmen from the mining and energy sector joined in the proposal to put a limit on the participation of workers in company profits (PTU) and to link them to productivity. Fernando Alanís Ortega, president of the Mining Chamber of Mexico, highlighted that “continuing to manage PTU as a percentage of profit is essentially to consider it as if it would be an additional tax burden and it reduces our competitiveness. ”He proposed“to find how to relate the PTU to productivity factors”, so that it is the result of the effort and not of metal prices, as is currently the case.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Carlyle Commodities Corp. and Riverside Resources Inc., announced the start of its first drilling program by early February at its Cecilia project. Riverside as operator of the JV has designed six holes to test the un-drilled San Jose structure on the Cerro Magallanes where rock sampling returned up to 48.3 g/t Au over 0.75m. The San Jose target is one of the five major targets identified at the Cerro Magallanes rhyolitic dome.
  • Aztec Minerals Corp., and its JV partner Kootenay Silver Inc, announced plans for a CAD $1.3M, two-phase exploration program at its Cervantes project in Sonora. The JV plans to start a phase 1, CAD $85K program of soil and rock sampling and geological mapping during Q1, 2021 to extend the 100m by 100m geological and geochemical grid to the north, west and east boundaries of the property, and subject to phase 1 results and available funds, initiate a phase 2, CAD $1.05M drill program in Q3, 2021 consisting of 5,000m RC program in 22 holes, to test four main target: California, California North, Jasper, and Purisima East.
  • Vizsla Resources Corp., released drill results from eighth holes collared at the Papayo prospect at its Panuco project in Sinaloa. These drill results have expanded the Papayo zone over 120m o the south where it remains open. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole NP-20-50 with 198 g/t Ag, 0.96 g/t Au, 1.4% Pb, and 4.5% Zn (413 g/t AgEq) over 1.91m of true width (TW), including 478 g/t Ag, 2.19 g/t Au, 3.7% Pb, and 11.7% Zn (1,009 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.69m, and hole NP-20-36 with 144 g/t Ag, 1.21 g/t Au, 0.7% Pb, and 2.4% Zn (321 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.46m. 
  • Mithril Resources Ltd., provided an update on the exploration activities performed during the period Q4, 2020 at its Copalquin project in Sinaloa. The company informed that it has completed its maiden drill program of 7,188m of diamond core drilling. Results of the drilling confirmed that El Refugio-El Comets target is part of a large gold-silver epithermal system characterized by extensive surface alteration and rhyolite dome intrusions. The very high grade La Soledad and Leon veins intercepted at the start of the program are also part of this larger epithermal system. Drilling extension at depth and along strike is a key feature of the exploration for 2021.
  • Mammoth Resources Corp., commenced its 2021 field exploration program at its Tenoriba project. The company is currently installing the grid for the infill IP/Mag geophysics survey which is expected to begin in early-mid February. This geophysics survey will assist in 3D modeling of surface and subsurface features to generate drill hole locations and design a drill program scheduled to commence towards the end of the current quarter.
  • Consolidated Zinc Ltd., reported exploration results from the Potrero and Don Lucas targets during Q4, 2020. The company continued the regional mapping and sampling of the mineralized structures identified previously. A total of 67 samples were taken of which 48 samples collected at Potreros- Don Lucas targets returned discouraging results downgrading the prospectivity for economic gold mineralization. Results from 19 samples, including 10 from the Enrique and La Chona areas remain pending and will be released once they are available.
  • Golden Minerals Company, announced results from its recent 3,400m, 15-hole drill campaign and discovered new vein at its Yoquivo project in Chihuahua. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole YQ-20-001 collared at Pertenencia Vein with 2.34 g/t Au and 190 g/t Ag (364 g/t AgEq) over 4.2m, including 5.69 g/t Au and 223 g/t Ag (650 g/t AgEq) over 1.3m; hole YQ-20-002 collared at Pertenencia Vein with 0.45 g/t Au and 150 g/t Ag (184 g/t AgEq) over 1.9m, including 1.14 g/t Au and 423 g/t Ag (509 g/t AgEq) over 0.6m; hole YQ-20-006 collared at Esperanza Vein with 1.77 g/t Au and 49 g/t Ag (190 g/t AgEq) over 3.6m, including 5 g/t Au and 118 g/t Ag (524 g/t AgEq) over 1m; hole YQ-20-010 collared at New Vein with 1.9 g/t Au and 135 g/t Ag (278 g/t AgEq) over 5.4m, including 15.4 g/t Au and 1,150 g/t Ag (2,305 g/t AgEq) over 0.2m; and hole YQ-20-011 collared at New Vein with 1.3 g/t Au and 225 g/t Ag (323 g/t AgEq) over 12.3m, including 4.2 g/t Au and 734 g/t Ag (1,049 g/t AgEq) over 3m. The company plans to follow with a second phase drill program which could start in the next few months.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., released results from six initials drill holes and announced a new discovery at El Orito in its Los Ricos North project in Jalisco. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole LRGO-20-002 with 76 g/t Ag, 0.06 g/t Au, 0.16% Cu, 3% Pb, and 0.14% Zn (171 g/t AgEq) over 63.4m, including 170 g/t Ag, 0.1 g/t Au, 0.29% Cu, 7.5% Pb, and 0.07% Zn (384 g/t AgEq) over 23m, including 267 g/t Ag, 0.23 g/t Au, 0.22% Cu, 11.5% Pb, and 0.07% Zn (579 g/t AgEq) over 5.3m, including 320 g/t Ag, 0.11 g/t Au, 0.15% Cu, 14.4% Pb, and 0.08% Zn (686 g/t AgEq) over 6.7m; and hole LRGO-20-005 with 49 g/t Ag, 0.05 g/t Au, 0.45% Cu, 3% Pb, and 4.7% Zn (323 g/t AgEq) over 43m, including 85 g/t Ag, 0.11 g/t Au, 0.83% Cu, 4.8% Pb, and 7.6% Zn (538 g/t AgEq) over 14.3m. The known strike length of the El Orito – El Favor structure is now approaching 2,500m and is still open in both directions.
  • Azucar Minerals Ltd., provided an update on drilling activities at its El Cobre project in Veracruz. The company completed hole EC-20-108 at El Primo target, and announced that the deeper part intersected mostly propylitically altered intrusive rocks. Azucar also has moved the drill to Porvenir area and has completed two holes there and a third one is in progress. The company intends to continue exploration at the Primo, Porvenir, and Villa Rica targets in an effort to further delineate resource potential at the project beyond that contained in the initial Norte Zone resource estimate.

ON MINING

  • Consolidated Zinc Ltd., reported Q4, 2020 production and financial results from its Plomosas mine in Chihuahua. The company mined 7,910 tonnes with a further 2,891 tonnes mined and stockpiled underground due to poor haul truck availability for a total of 10801 tonnes grading 14.5% Zn, 8% Pb, and 50 g/t Ag from which, 6,842 tonnes of 14.3% Zn, 8% Pb, and 50 g/t Ag were processed to produce 423 tonnes of Zn concentrate and 45 tonnes of Pb concentrate, at a cash cost of $1.02 per Lb Zn produced and a cash cost of $1.05 per Lb Zn sold.
  • Endeavour Silver Corp., reported 2021 production and cost guidance for its three silver-gold mines in Mexico, the Guanacevi mine in Durango, the Bolañitos mine in Guanajuato and the El Compas mine in Zacatecas. The table below shows 2021 production and cost guidance for their Mexican operations:
  • Fresnillo plc reported Q4, 2020 from their Mexican operations. At Fresnillo mine, Zacatecas, the company processed 590,499 tonnes of 190 g/t Ag, 0.71 g/t Au, 1.1% Pb, and 2.2% Zn to produce 3.2M Oz Ag, 9,485 Oz Au, 11.58M Lb Pb, and 19.95M Lb Zn. At Saucito mine, Zacatecas, the company processed 671,429 tonnes of 195 g/t Ag, 1.4 g/t Au, 1.65% Pb, and 2.95% Zn to produce 3.4M Oz Ag, 23.2K Oz Au, 20.6M Lb Pb, and 30.95M Lb Zn. At its Pyrite Plant, Fresnillo processed 47,860 tonnes of 172 g/t Ag and 1.64 g/t Au to produce 194K Oz Ag and 820 Oz Au. At Cienega mine, Durango, Fresnillo processed 334,977 tonnes of 1.36 g/t Au, 139 g/t Ag, 0.6% Pb, and 1.1% Zn to produce 13.6K Oz Au, 1.3M Oz Ag, 2.95M Lb Pb, and 4.58M Lb Zn. At San Julian mine (Veins), Chihuahua-Durango border, the company processed 315,863 tonnes of 1.58 g/t Au and 103 g/t Ag to produce 15.1K Oz Au and 965K Oz Ag, while at San Julian mine (Disseminated Ore Body) it processed 572,962 tonnes of 0.09 g/t Au, 172 g/t Ag, 0.5% Pb, and 1.3% Zn to produce 925 Oz Au, 2.76M Oz Ag, 4.49M Lb Pb, and 12.95M Lb Zn. At Herradura mine, Sonora, the company processed 6,875,196 of 0.76 g/t Au and 1.5 g/t Ag to produce 134.4K Oz Au and 231K Oz Ag. At Noche Buena mine, Sonora, Fresnillo processed 1,638,305 tonnes of 0.5 g/t Au and 0.84 g/t Ag to produce 17.7K Oz Au and 9K Oz Ag.
  • Gold Resource Corporation, announced Q4, and full year 2020 production results from its Oaxaca Mining Unit in Oaxaca.  The company produced in Q4, 2020 a total of 6,854 Oz Au and 276.9K Oz Ag for a full year production during 2020 of 20,473 Oz Au and 1.19M Oz Ag. Preliminary annual base metal production included approximately 3.5M Lb Cu, 17M Lb Pb, and 43.4M Lb Zn.
  • Mag Silver Corp., reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Juanicipio project in Zacatecas. The company processed 30,397 tonnes to produce 230K Oz Ag and 443 Oz Au.

ON FINANCING

  • Argonaut Gold Inc., announced a $23M bought-deal public offering of flow-through common shares (El Castillo mine, Durango).
  • VanGold Mining Corp., increased its previously announced non-brokered private placement financing to $14.55M (El Pinguico project, Guanajuato). 
  • Americas Gold and Silver Corporation closed its previously announced bought deal financing for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD $33.9M. Part of the gross proceeds will be used for care and maintenance at the company´s Cosala operation mine in Sinaloa, as well as for general corporate and administrative expenses, repayment of outstanding debt obligations, and working capital.
  • Gainey Capital Corp., announced that it has arranged a non brokered private placement for gross proceeds of up to CAD $500K. The company plans to use the gross proceeds for due diligence on potential mineral concessions the company is currently looking, as well as for general working capital (El Colomo, Nayarit). 
  • Mithril Resources Ltd., raised A $5M through a share placement.   Now, the company is fully funded to continue the drilling program of over 10,000m at its Copalquin project in Durango.
  • Elementals Royalties Corp., announced that its common shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement through the Depository Trust Company. Elemental’s common shares will continue to trade under the ticker symbol “ELEMF” on the OTC Markets. (Mercedes mine, Sonora).
  • Gold Resource Corporation declared its monthly dividend of one-third of a cent per common share for January 2021 payable on February 23, 2021 to shareholders (Oaxaca Mining Unit, Oaxaca).
  • Ridgestone Mining Inc., closed the last tranche of its previously announced non-broken private placement for gross proceeds of $695K (Rebeico project, Sonora).

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., presented initial diamond drill results from the ongoing 8,000m drill program to be performed at its Santa Maria project in Chihuahua. The company has completed four holes for a total of 1,017m. Assays are still pending for holes SM 2020-02 to SM 2020-04 and the fifth holes is in progress.  The first hole (SM 2020-01) returned significant results with 0.18 g/t Au and 44 g/t Ag over 68.6m, including 0.35 g/t Au and 106 g/t Ag over 20m, including 0.27 g/t Au and 146 g/t Ag over 2m, including 1.09 g/t Au and 238 g/t Ag over 1.60m, and including 0.34 g/t Au and 151 g/t Ag over 1.90m.
  • Capstone Mining Corp., announced an updated technical report for its Cozamin mine in Zacatecas, and extends mine life to 2031. Proven + probable mineral reserves increased by 39% to 14.1M tonnes grading 1.77% Cu, 44 g/t Ag, 0.54% Zn, and 0.21% Pb for a total of 551.16M Lb Cu, 20.18M Oz Ag, 169.76M Lb Zn, and 63.9M Lb Pb contained, and measured and indicated mineral resources increased by 10% to 29.7M tonnes of grading 1.52% Cu, 44 g/t Ag, 1.1% Zn, and 0.32% Pb for a total of 994.28M Lb Cu, 41.5M Oz Ag, 720.9M Lb Zn, and 209.4M Lb Pb contained, and inferred resources of 13.87M tonnes grading 0.54% Cu, 39 g/t Ag, 2.23% Zn, and 0.74% Pb for a total of 165.34M Lb Cu, 17.4M Oz Ag, 681.2M Lb Zn, and 227.1M Lb Pb contained. The new reserve mine plan is projected to produce 512M Lb Cu and 16M Oz Ag over the next 10 years.
  • Comet Resources Limited, provided the Q4, 2020 activities report. The company was focused on setting up a field office as well as on the engagement of local geological consultants to move towards its initial drilling program in 2021. Comet completed a field mapping and sampling program in Q4, 2020, to support planning for and locations of initial drilling program. The plan is to get drill permits in Q1, 2021 and begins the initial drilling program by late in Q1, or early Q2, 2021. As announced on October 13, 2020, the JORC inferred mineral resource estimate for the Santa Teresa project was for 369K tonnes of 7.47 g/t Au for a total of 88.6K Oz Au contained.
  • Oroco Resource Corp.,  reported significant 3D IP survey results at its Santo Tomas project in Sinaloa. The survey is now approximately 80% complete, and Oroco has received preliminary inversion data for all stations surveyed to date.  The preliminary inversion model has successfully mapped the resistivity and chargeability characteristics along a swath 2.1km wide by 4.3 km along strike over the South Zone, North Zone and part of the Brasiles Zone.
  • VanGold Mining Corp., commenced a 12-14 drill holes program and will be conducted underground, within old workings at the historic El Pinguico mine in Guanajuato.
  • Minera Alamos Inc., provided a construction update at its Santana project in Sonora as it advances toward the commencement of mining. The company reported that the leach solution ponds are now fully lined and ready for operations, the plant foundations have been completed and all previously fabricated plant structures have been delivered to site in preparation for final installation that is now underway, The majority of the civil works for the heap leach pad area have been completed and the installation of the pad liner has commenced this week, and the crushing system previously acquired for potential future expansions at Santana is in transit from the U.S. to the Company’s staging facilities in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora.
  • Great Panther Mining Limited announced an update on exploration strategy and programs for 2021 (Topia mine, Durango).  At San Ignacio, Guanajuato, Great Panther plans to perform a 5,000m in-fill surface drilling program along the Purisima veins south of the development of the San Pedro ramp, deeper in the Purisima / Purisima alto vein system and continue testing for Au-Ag mineralization along 1.1km of Purisima vein north from the old San Ignacio shaft.  At Guanajuato mine, Guanajuato, the company will continue the geological mapping and sampling in accessible parts of the historical mining areas(now, near to be completed) and will be followed by a 10,000m of underground drilling along the north side of Valenciana, between Valenciana and Cata, and in the Pozos , Promontorio, and Guanajuatito areas. At Topia mine, Durango,  5,000m of surface drilling are planned focused on defining new mineral resources in six areas along the strike and down-dip extents of present mining efforts.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Mexican Gold Mining Cop., engaged JDS Energy & Mining Inc., for a PEA at its Las Minas project in Veracruz. The PEA is expected to be completed in Q2, 2021.
  • Canuc Resources Corporation, doubled its land position at San Javier project in Sonora by signing a purchase agreement for five claims comprising 416.9 hectares. To date, Canuc has accumulated a ground position 833.1 contiguous hectares.
  • Magna Gold Corp., appointed its new CFO (San Francisco mine, Sonora).
  • Defiance Silver Corp., entered into an option agreement to acquire 1,915 hectares surrounding its Tepal project in Michoacan. As a result, Defiance has doubled its land position at the project.  The company has agreed to pay the annual concession fees until a production decision has been made, upon which Defiance will pay the vendor USD $2 M for 100% ownership of the mining concessions.
  • Vizsla Resources Corp., announced strengthening of its senior management team and board with the promotions of its Technical Director and VP of Technical Services, and the appointment of its Country Manager (Panuco project, Sinaloa).
  • First Majestic Silver Corp., confirmed that it is not aware of any material, undisclosed information related to the Company that would account for the recent increase in the market price and level of trading volume of its ordinary shares (San Dimas property, Durango).
  • Mexican Gold Mining Corp., appointed two new members as technical advisors to assist the company as it moves Las Minas project, Veracruz towards a PEA.
  • Discovery Metals Corp., named to the 2021 OTCQX Best 50, a ranking of top performing companies traded on the OTCQX Best Market last year.  (Cordero project, Chihuahua).
  • Gainey Capital Corp., provided an update on its Mexican projects and corporate activities. The company took the decision to not continue with the option on the Las Margaritas project in Durango. The El Colomo project, Nayarit will continue to be the flagship project of the company.
  • Orex Minerals Inc., announced the resignation of one member of the board and the appointment of its new Director. Orex also granted 3.55M incentive stock options to directors, officers, and consultants (Sandra project, Durango).
  • Magna Gold Corp., provided a letter to all of its shareholders in which it explained the strategy used to grow the company through strategic acquisitions and targeted exploration to evolve from a junior exploration company to an intermediate gold producer in Mexico. Since the Company’s inception in 2017, it has returned 10x to the Company’s shareholders (San Francisco mine, Sonora).

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Fresnillo plc strengthens education in times of pandemic. Fresnillo plc has joined efforts in favor of education, training and development for the lives of thousands of young people, to boost their professional, economic and social growth.
  • Peñoles reaffirms its commitment to promoting education through the implementation of academic programs that seek to develop skills and tools so that children and young people in Mexico aspire to a better future. Peñoles has academic initiatives with a focus on reading, science, technology, human development, sports and culture for different educational levels.
  • The companies Autlán, Grupo México, Industrias Peñoles, Newmont-Peñasquito, Fresnillo plc and Coeur Mining participate in water management projects that were highlighted by the Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX) in its 2020 sustainability report.

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, stibiconite in a low sulphidation epithermal system in a prospect in Durango, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia., Mexico

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Second Week of January, 2021.

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Sodic Alteration

By Miguel A Heredia

During the second week of the year (January 11th to January 17th, 2021), at least 31 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 6 news published by the media, with eleven informing on exploration results, eight communicating production and financial results, five reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, five disclosing deals and corporate issues, three commenting on Mexican issues, three discussing social issues, and two announcing financial rounds.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, A deputy of the Morena party presented an initiative to increase taxes on mining companies that carry out exploration, exploitation and sales of gold, silver and copper. The Santa Barbara mining company plans to employ 300 people in the first five months of 2021. The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) declared that the Mining Law is not unconstitutional because it does not provide for a citizen consultation with indigenous peoples, as considered by the Maseual people, of the northern sierra of Puebla. ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Colibri recommenced the trenching program at its Evelyn project, Riverside presented drill results from the first four holes collared at the Cuarentas project and provided a brief outlook on its goals and objectives for 2021, and Tarachi provided a review of 2020 and outlook for 2021. In Chihuahua, Kootenay reported on 2020 milestones achieved at its Columba and La Cigarra properties and discussed plans for 2021.  In Sinaloa, Vizsla released drill results from two holes collared at its Panuco project, Mithril announced resumption of exploration activities at its Cometa project in the Copalquin mining district, and Kootenay reported on 2020 milestones achieved at its Copalito project. In Durango, Canasil outlined potential for significant high grade mineralization at its Nora property after reviewing results from six drill holes collared at the property. In Zacatecas, Advance Gold plans to drill below a high grade intersection at its Tabasqueña property, Alien and its JV partner Capstone are to commence a 2,500m drilling program at its Donovan project, and Canasil resumed drilling at its Esperanza project.  ON MINING, Aura announced operational and financial guidance for the year 2021 for its Aranzazu mine in Zacatecas. Equinox reported 2020 production results from its Los Filos mine in Guerrero. Excellon announced Q4, and full year 2020 production results from its Platosa mine in Durango. GoGold reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Parral tailings project in Chihuahua. Golden Minerals announced it begun gold production from its Rodeo project in Durango. Great Panther reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Topia mine in Durango and Guanajuato Mine Complex in Guanajuato. Telson reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Campo Morado mine in Guerrero. Torex provided a 2021 operational guidance for its El Limon-Guajes mine complex in Guerrero. ON FINANCING, Mammoth announced non brokered private placement for up to $600K (Tenoriba project, Chihuahua). Prime Mining made a payment to Vista Gold as per the terms of the acquisition of the Los Reyes property in Sinaloa.  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Avino reported an updated mineral resource estimate for its Avino mine in Durango. Capitan Mining released results from five holes collared at its Peñoles property in Durango. Orla increased the gold mineral reserves by 54% with updated FS at its Camino Rojo project in Zacatecas. Torex announced that the release of the Morelos Technical Report including the Media Luna FS has been rescheduled from mid-2021 to Q1, 2022. SilverCrest announced in-fill drill results from the Babicanora area for the FS resource estimation for its Las Chispas project in Sonora.   ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Golden Minerals regained full compliance with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) (Rodeo property, Durango). Orogen appointed its new VP of Exploration (Ermitaño property, Sonora). Reyna Silver granted stock options to consultants of the company (Guigui project, Chihuahua). VanGold engaged Behre Dolbear for a PEA study on El Cubo mine purchase. Magna Gold clarified certain technical disclosure in respect of the company´s Mercedes project in Sonora. Kootenay reported on 2020 milestones achieved at its Cervantes project in Sonora.  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Minera Cuzcatlán (Fortuna Silver) delivered 2,400 pantries to families belonging to the Municipality of San Jose del Progreso, Oaxaca. Fresnillo plc has been a fundamental ally of the communities in which it operates. Peñoles sponsored 754 students from Torreón, Coahuila in First Robotic 2021 to promote the interest of young people in science and technology.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • A deputy of the Morena party presented an initiative in the chamber of deputies to increase taxes on mining companies that carry out exploration, exploitation and sales of gold, silver and copper. In his initiative, the deputy Iran Santiago Manuel proposes to replace the collection of fees that are made to the mining companies based on the allocations they have for each hectare or fraction concessioned or assigned per semester; and now seeks that “the holders of mining concessions and allotments will pay annually, for mining rights, 5% on the sale of the main mineral and secondary minerals, and in the case of gold, copper and silver, 8%”.
  • The Santa Barbara mining company plans to employ 300 people in the first five months of 2021. To date, the company has a workforce of 1,300 workers, of which 940 are unionized and the rest are trusted personnel and a third party.
  • The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) declared that the Mining Law is not unconstitutional because it does not provide for a citizen consultation with indigenous peoples, as considered by the Maseual people, of the northern sierra of Puebla. Thus, the SCJN denied the protection requested by the residents, who want to be consulted before any mining activity takes place in their territories.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Colibri Resource Corporation recommenced the trenching program at its Evelyn project. To date, a total of 230 samples have been collected and analyzed to explore for vein continuity under alluvial cover as well as to determine and confirm structural and vein orientations. The company also announced that in December it applied for a new permit to complete a second phase trenching program and is expected to receive it within the next six weeks.
  • Riverside Resources Inc., presented drill results from the first four holes collared at the Cuarentas project. The best drill intercept was encountered in hole LC20-001 with 1.04 g/t Au, 58 g/t Ag, 0.2% Pb, and 0.3% Zn over 3.44m, including 1.8 g/t Au, 82 g/t Ag, 0.4% Pb, and 0.6% Zn over 1.4m. “Drilling results suggest some displacement has occurred between the high grade surface sampling of old mining areas and the at depth drill intersections”. The company also provided a brief outlook on its goals and objectives for 2021. At Cecilia project in Sonora, Riverside is currently underway for an initial drill program to commence to test a couple of the ten high priority drill targets defined previously. At the BHP program, the company has developed a strong portfolio of prospective projects and will be focused on discovering large copper deposits in Sonora. At the Cuarentas project, Riverside will complete interpretation of the recent completed drill program and will refine regional property-wide targets.
  • Tarachi Gold Corp., provided a recap of 2020 and outlook for 2021. Tarachi closed two private placement totalling CAD $11M to continue exploring on the Tarachi claims, advancing Magistral and pursuing additional projects in Mexico. At Tarachi project in Sonora, the company signed two option agreements to acquire 3,708 ha and commenced a 5,000m drill program completing 1,711.20m. A significant drill intercept was encountered at Tarachi Sur with 5.05 g/t Au over 20.75m, and at La Dura with 4.54 g/t Au over 21m. Assays are still pending for ten drill holes completed in last December. The company also signed a LOI with Manto Resources for the acquisition of the Magistral mill and tailings project in Durango. Plans for the new year are receive pending drill assays from the La Dura and Tarachi targets, complete the 5,000m drilling program, , closing the purchase of the Magistral property, and initiate sampling of the tailings for metallurgical testing and initiate a PEA.
  • Kootenay  Silver Inc., reported on 2020 milestones achieved at its Columba and La Cigarra properties and plans for 2021. At Columba, the company initiated and completed the second drill program totaling 9,114m in 43 holes. Drill highlights include hole CDH-20-045 with 974 g/t Ag over 0.5m; CDH-20-046 with 1,585 g/t Ag over 0.6m and 911 g/t Ag over 1.4m; hole CDH-20-049 with 762 g/t Ag over 2.8m, including 2,010 g/t Ag over 1m; hole CDH-20-51 with 865 g/t Ag over 2m; hole CDH-20-60 with 361 g/t Ag over 11m, including 608 g/t Ag over 5m, including 1,160 g/t Ag over 1m; hole CDH-20-066 with 773 g/t Ag over 1.5m. Significant drilling is planned for 2021 at Columba project for the company.  At La Cigarra, the company initiated the re-logging of drill core to create a new geological model which is expected to be completed in 2021. The objective is to optimize the resource and advance it to a PEA study.
  • Vizsla Resources Corp., released drill results from two holes collared at the Tajitos Vein zone within its Panuco project. The best drill intercept was encountered in hole CS-20-06 with 536 g/t Ag and 4.35 g/t Au (910 g/t AgEq) over 13.5m, including 947 g/t Ag and 7.68 g/t Au (1,607 g/t AgEq) over 7.55m, including 1,870 g/t Ag an 15 g/t Au (3,157 g/t AgEq) over 1.5m.
  • Mithril Resources Ltd., announced resumption of exploration activities at its Cometa project in the Copalquin mining district. The company has commenced a soil and mapping program at El Refugio West to cover La Soledad West, El Indio and Zaragoza prospects. Additionally, three deeper holes are planned at El Refugio to test extensions of higher Au-Ag grades and greater width to the breccia zone.
  • Kootenay Silver Inc., reported on 2020 milestones achieved at its Copalito project in Sinaloa. The company completed the first drill program to ever be conducted on the property totalling 4,100m in 40 holes. Drill highlights include hole BDH-20-001 with 369 g/t AgEq; 250 g/t Ag and 0.247 g/t Au over 5.0m; 360 g/t Ag and 0.1 g/t Au over 1.0m within 272 g/t AgEq; BDH-20-002 with 179 g/t AgEq ; 1.69 g/t Au over 4.3m and 274.8 g/t AgEq; 3.02 g/t Au over 1.7m; BDH-20-004 with 1,323 g/t AgEq; 1,297 g/t Ag and 0.285 g/t Au over 3.2m; BDH-20-009 with 1,047 g/t AgEq.; 936 g/t Ag, 0.29 g/t Au and 3.31% combined Pb + Zn combined over 1.0m; BDH-20-015 with 394 g/t AgEq; 51 g/t Ag, 2.28 g/t Au, 6.18 % combined Pb + Zn over 1.2m; BDH-20-033 with 1,210 g/t AgEq; 59 g/t Ag, 7.05 g/t Au, 13.55 % combined Pb +Zn over 0.2m; and BDH-20-037 with 1,261 g/t AgEq over 1.0m consisting of 846 g/t Ag, 3.11 g/t Au and 6.15% combined Pb + Zn. Significant drilling is planned for 2021 at Copalito project for the company.
  • Canasil Resources Inc., announced that exists potential for significant high grade mineralization at its Nora property after reviewing results from eight drill holes collared along 500m of the 3km traced strike of the Candy vein. The high grades Au and Ag obtained during the first drilling phase warrant a phase 2 follow up program. The most relevant drill results was obtained in hole-20-06 with thee significant drill intercepts: 11.86 g/t Au and 378 g/t Ag (1,238 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 1.49m, including  2,033 g/t AgEq over a TW of 1m, and 3,671 g/t AgEq over a TW of 0.50m (Candy vein); 4.78 g/t Au and 351 g/t Ag (698 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.40m, including 1,101 g/t AgEq over a TW of 1.15m, and 1,692 g/t AgEq over a TW of 0.45m (Candy hanging wall vein); and  26.1 g/t Au and 284 g/t Ag (2,176 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.26m (Candy footwall vein). Additionally, a review of 1,200 soil samples collected over a grid of 3km by 2km outlined multiple multi element anomalies pointing to a strong mineralizing system with multiple exploration targets with potential to host high-grade and disseminated silver-gold-copper-lead and zinc mineralization.
  • Advance Gold Corp., commenced to drill below a previous announced high grade intersection which returned 9.46 g/t Au over 1.70m wide. Advance is drill testing a 3,500m long high chargeability IP anomaly within a 2km by 400m corridor which contains a swarm of epithermal veins at its Tabasqueña property in Zacatecas.
  • Alien Metals Ltd., announced that its JV partner Capstone Mining Corp., is to commence a 2,500m drilling program at its Donovan project in Zacatecas. Drill location will be finalized following interpretation of the IP survey conducted in late-2020 by Capstone.
  • Canasil Resources Inc., resumed drilling at its Esperanza project located in Zacatecas-Durango states. Hole ES-21-23 is in progress and was designed to test extensions of the Esperanza structure along strike and to depth.

ON MINING

  • Aura Minerals Inc., provided operational and financial guidance for the year 2021 for its Aranzazu mine in Zacatecas. The company estimates to produce between 81K to 93K Oz AuEq at a cash cost of USD $615-725 per Oz AuEq. Aura is also planning to drill more than 48,900m of drilling to support the next expansion in line with management’s goal of doubling production capacity in the future.
  • Equinox Gold Corp., reported that during 2020 it produced 58,500 Oz Au from its Los Filos mine in Guerrero, after completing the merger with Leagold in March 10, 2020.
  • Excellon Resources Inc., announced Q4, and full year 2020 production results from its Platosa mine in Durango. In Q4, 2020 Excellon mined 21,455 tonnes and processed 22,626 tonnes of 536 g/t Ag, 5.4% Pb, and 6.12% Zn with metallurgical recoveries of 91.2%, 82.9%, and 80.1% respectively, to produce 355.6K Oz Ag, 2.22M Lb Pb, and 2.45M Lb Zn (556.3M Oz AgEq). During the full year, the company mined 66,501 tonnes and processed 65,567 tonnes of 519 g/t Ag, 5.37% Pb, and 6.57% Zn with metallurgical recoveries of 91.4%, 83.7%, and 78.9% respectively, to produce 997.7K Oz Ag, 6.47M Lb Pb, and 7.49M Lb Zn.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua. GoGold produced 298.6K Oz Ag, 3,632 Oz Au, and 275.6K Lb Cu (614.15K Oz AgEq). It allows the company increase its cash balance from USD $53M at September 30, 2020 to USD $56M at December 31, 2020.
  • Golden Minerals Company announced it begun gold production from its Rodeo project in Durango. The company shipped the first loads to its Velardeña Mill and expects a first pour of gold-silver doré bars within two weeks.
  • Great Panther Mining Limited reported Q4 and full year 2020 production results from its Topia mine in Durango and Guanajuato Mine Complex in Guanajuato. At Topia, Durango, the company processed 9,959 tonnes of 337 g/t Ag, 0.81 g/t Au with metallurgical recoveries of 90% and 48.7% respectively to produce 97.3K Oz Ag, 127 Oz Au, 467.4K Lb Pb648.16K Lb Zn (179.6K Oz AgEq or 1,996 Oz AuEq). At Guanajuato Mine Complex, Great panther processed 39,539 tonnes of 117 g/t Ag and 1.46 g/t Au with metallurgical recoveries of 85.9% and 84.3% respectively to produce 128.2K Oz Ag and 1,559 Oz Au (268.5K Oz AgEq or 2,984 Oz AuEq).
  • Telson Mining Corporation reported Q4, 2020 production results from its Campo Morado mine in Guerrero. The company milled 168,311 tonnes of 1.01 g/t Au, 108 g/t Ag, 0.32% Cu, 0.98% Pb, and 3.86% Zn to produce 9,974 tonnes of Zn concentrate and 1,916 tonnes of Pb concentrate for 9.95M Lb Zn and 961.2K Lb Pb contained. Telson reported total revenues of USD $8.77M.
  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., provided a 2021 operational guidance for its El Limon-Guajes mine complex in Guerrero. Torex estimates to produce 430K-470K Oz Au in 2021, at cash and AISC of USD $680-720 and USD $920-970 per Oz Au respectively.

ON FINANCING

  • Mammoth Resources Corp., announced a non brokered private placement for proceeds of up to $600K (Tenoriba project, Chihuahua).Proceeds will be used to fund the review of the Tenoriba project by a PhD geologist, fund the 3D modeling and combined historical IP-mag geophysical,  surface and drill data, an infill IP/mag geophysical survey on the 60% of the mineralized area on the project not covered by the historical survey, and perform some confirmation mapping and sampling to select drill targets as part of its 50-hole, 7,500 meters drill program.
  • Prime Mining Corp., made a payment of USD $1.1M to Vista Gold as per the terms of the acquisition of the Los Reyes property in Sinaloa. Prime agreed to pay Vista USD $2.1M in lieu of being granted certain royalties and back-in rights relating to the project. The remaining USD $1.0M payment is due during July 2021.

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd., announced an increase of 60% in measured and indicated mineral resources for its Avino mine in Durango. To date,  the Avino deposit has measured and indicated resources of 20.25M tonnes of 69 g/t Ag, 0.67 g/t Au, 0.41% Cu (117 g/t AgEq) to contain 44.9M Oz Ag, 436K Oz Au, 182.98M Lb Cu (75.9M Oz AgEq), and inferred resources of  6.545M tonnes of 59 g/t Ag, 0.61 g/t Au, 0.27% Cu (103 g/t AgEq) to contain 12.5M Oz Ag, 129K Oz Au, and 39M Lb Cu (21.8M Oz AgEq).
  • Capitan Mining Inc., released results from five holes collared at its Peñoles property in Durango. Significant drill intersects were encountered in hole 20-CARC-11 with 0.94 g/t Au over 57.9m, including 2.04 g/t Au over 18.3m, and hole 20-CARC-13 with 0.42 g/t Au over 100.6m, including 0.67 g/t Au over 21.3m. “New drilling has confirmed that Capitan Hill gold mineralization continues along strike to the east, over 250 m beyond the 2015 43-101 resource and remains open to expansion to the east, west and down-dip”.
  • Orla Mining Ltd., increased the gold mineral reserves by 54% with updated Feasibility Study (FS) at its Camino Rojo project in Zacatecas. The new mineral reserve estimate includes proven and probable mineral reserves of 67.4M tonnes at grades of 0.73 g/t Au and 14.5 g/t Ag for a total of 1.59M Oz Au and 31.5M Oz Ag contained. Measured and Indicated resources are 353.4M tonnes at grades of 0.83 g/t Au and 9 g/t Ag for a total of 9.46M Oz Au and 100.4M Oz Ag contained. Inferred resources are 60.9M tones at grades of 0.87 g/t Au and 7.4 g/t Au for a total of 1.7M Oz Au and 14.5M Oz Ag contained. Mineral resources are inclusive of mineral reserves. Highlights of the FS are a throughput rate of 18,000 tonnes per day for an average annual gold production of 94K Oz , a mine life of 10.4 years, an initial Capex of USD $134M, a total cash cost of USD $490 per Oz Au, an AISC of USD $543 per Oz Au, a after tax NVP (5% discount rate) of USD $452M and an after tax IRR of USD $62%.
  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., announced that the release of the Morelos Technical Report including the Media Luna FS has been rescheduled from mid-2021 to Q1, 2022. 
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., announced in-fill drill results from the Babicanora area for the FS resource estimation for its Las Chispas project in Sonora. The best drill intercepts were encountered in hole BA19-304 with 38.06 g/t Au and 4,214 g/t Ag (7,068 g/t AgEq) over 2.4m on Babi Main; hole BA19-215 with 96.53 g/t Au and 2,899 g/t Ag (10,139 g/t AgEq) over 2m on Babi footwall; hole BA19-303 with 90.57 g/t Au and 75 g/t Ag (6,868 g/t AgEq) over 0.4m on Babi hanging wall; and hole BA20-156 with 72.22 g/t Au and 161 g/t Ag (5,577 g/t AgEq) over 1.8m on Babi Sur. Drill results have a expanded Babi Main 700m along strike, Babi footwall 100m along strike, and Babi hanging wall 100m along strike. A composite assays has been estimated by SilverCrest for each structure. Babi Main has a weighted average grade of 7.54 g/t Au and 713 g/t Ag (1,238 g/t AgEq) over a, average true width (TW) of 2.7m: Babi footwall has 9.04 g/t Au and 748 g/t Ag (1,431 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 1m; Babi hanging wall has 3.9 g/t Au and 207 g/t Ag (460 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.7m; and Babi Sur has 9.38 g/t Au and 436 g/t Ag (1,139 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 1.5m.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Golden Minerals Company regained full compliance with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) by meeting the requirements of the USD $50M market capitalization exemption in section 1003(a) of the company guide from the stockholder´s equity requirement (Rodeo property, Durango).
  • Orogen Royalties Inc., appointed its new VP of Exploration (Ermitaño property, Sonora).
  • Reyna Silver Corp., granted stock options to consultants of the company for the purchase of an aggregate of 502.4K common shares. Each option is exercisable at $1.03 per share and expire five years from the date of grant or as per service agreement with consultant (Guigui project, Chihuahua).
  • VanGold Mining Corp., engaged Behre Dolbear to provide a PEA study in relation to its purchase of the El Cubo mine and mill complex located 8km northeast of the company´s Pinguico property in Guanajuato. The PEA is expected to be completed by early February 2021.
  • Magna Gold Corp., clarified certain technical disclosure in respect of the company´s Mercedes project in Sonora.  Magna has updated the corporate presentation and can be consulted on its website.
  • Kootenay Silver Inc., reported on 2020 milestone achieved at its Cervantes project in Sonora. The company completed a JV agreement with Aztec Minerals Corp. To date, Aztec has completed the earn-in to acquire 65% interest in Cervantes project with Kootenay retaining the remaining 35%.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Minera Cuzcatlán (Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.), delivered 2,400 pantries to families belonging to the Municipality of San Jose del Progreso, Oaxaca, as well as the Los Vásquez, Santa Cecilia, Los Patiños, El Jagüey, El Cuajilote, El Porvenir, Maguey Largo and La Garzona agencies.
  • Fresnillo plc has been a fundamental ally of the communities in which it operates, deploying a team of professionals to carry out initiatives that seek the care of its collaborators, their families and the population in general. The company has donated specialized equipment, personal protective equipment, ventilators, and medicine to the IMSS hospitals in Caborca, Sonora, Hidalgo del Parral and Guadalupe y Calvo, Chihuahua, Fresnillo, Zacatecas and Durango and La Ciénega, Durango.
  • Industrias Peñoles S.A.B. de C.V., sponsored 754 high school students belonging to 23 educational institutions from Coahuila Durango, Zacatecas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Oaxaca and the State of Mexico in First Robotic 2021 to promote the interest of young people in science and technology.

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, sodic alteration in an intrusive in a prospect in Coahuila, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Fifth Week of December, 2020.

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Hydrothermal Breccia

By Miguel A Heredia

During the fifty three week of the year (December 28th to January 03rd, 2021), at least 9 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 2 news published by the media, with three announcing financial rounds, two disclosing deals and corporate issues, two reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, two commenting Mexican issues, one informing on exploration results, and one discussing social issues.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, The economic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has left in the country has not affected mining companies they grew 50% their market value in the Mexican Stock Exchange. Four mining projects will start operations in Zacatecas in 2021.  ON EXPLORATION, In Zacatecas, Advance Gold released drill results from three holes collared at its Tabasquena project. ON MINING, no relevant information. ON FINANCING, Gold Resource declared December 2020 monthly dividend (Arista mine, Oaxaca). Mexican Gold announced a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $1.4M (Las Minas project, Veracruz). Silver Dollar closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $560K (La Joya project, Durango). ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, McEwen presented results of a positive Feasibility Study (FS) for its 100% owned Fenix project in Sinaloa. GoGold provided an outlook for 2021 (Los Ricos project, Jalisco). ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Megastar announced results of its 2020 annual general meeting for shareholders (Yautepec property, Oaxaca). GR Silver and Mako amended an agreement in which the first would acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Marlin Gold Mining Ltd from Mako.  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Gold Resource reported a fatality at its Arista mine in Oaxaca.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • The economic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has left in the country, has not affected mining companies since they grew 50% their market value in the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).  For comparison purposes, at the beginning of the year, the stock market value of the four largest mining companies in the country (Grupo Mexico, Industrias Peñoles, Minera Frisco and Autlan) on the BMV was MXP $524.5 billion and currently stands at around MXP $796.5 billion, according to the stock market data. The foregoing contrasts with the general mining panorama, since according to the Mexican Mining Chamber, it is estimated that investment in exploration will register an annual decrease of approximately 25%, thus reaching its worst level in 14 years. The foregoing, according to the agency, is the result of the pandemic, but also of the lack of certainty on the part of the government, higher tax burdens and delays or denial of permits, since 84 mining projects were postponed last year.
  • Four mining projects will start operations in Zacatecas in 2021:  Camino Rojo, from Orla Mining; Distrito Pinos, from Candelaria Mining, San Nicolás from Teck Resources Limited, and Juanicipio, from Grupo Peñoles.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Advance Gold Corp., released drill results from three holes collared at its Tabasquena project in Zacatecas. Significant drill intersects were encountered in hole AGT-18 with 139 g/t Ag over 4.5m, including 240 g/t Ag over 2.3m; hole AGT-19 with 172 g/t Ag over 1.45m, including 383 g(t Ag over 0.8m, and hole AGT-20 with 40 g/t Ag over 1.2m. The drill program will continue to test a 3,500m long continuous high chargeability induced polarization anomaly.

ON MINING

  • No relevant information.

ON FINANCING

  • Gold Resource Corporation, declared December 2020 monthly dividend and paid one-third of a cent per common share to shareholders (Arista mine, Oaxaca).
  • Mexican Gold Mining Corp., announced a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $1.4M (Las Minas project, Veracruz).
  • Silver Dollar Resources Inc., closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $560K. First Majestic Silver Corp., subscribed for 200,000 shares or $280,000 of the Offering Net proceeds will be used to fund exploration and development work on its projects (La Joya project, Durango).

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • McEwen Mining Inc., announced positive results of a Feasibility Study (FS) of its 100% owned Fenix project in Sinaloa. The FS envisions a 9.5 year mine life, and involves two sceneries. Scenery 1 with an after tax IRR of 28% using $1,500/ Oz Au and $17/ Oz Ag; an after tax NPV (8% discount) of $32M; an after tax payback period of 3.2 years, and an average after tax cash flow per year of full production of $12M. Scenery 2 with an after tax IRR of $55% using $1,900/Oz Au and $25/ Oz Ag; an after tax NPV (8% discount) of $98M; an after tax payback period of 2.8 years and an average after tax cash flow per year of production of $25M. The Fenix FS development involves two phases: Phase 1 (years 1-6) with an average annual gold production of 26K Oz Au, $42M initial capex, and cash and AISC costs of $1,035 and $1,042 per Oz Au produced respectively; and phase 2 (years 7-9.5) with an average annual silver production of 4.2M Oz AgEq, $24M incremental capex in year 6, and cash and AISC costs of $14.20 and $14.28 per Oz AgEq produced respectively. Measured and indicated (M+I) resources for the Fenix project are 10M tonnes of 1.6 g/t Ag and 0.59 g/t Au for a total of 518K Oz Ag and 190K Oz Au, and Inferred resources of 0.1M tonnes of 1.64 g/t Ag and 0.66 g/t Au for a total of 7K Oz Ag and 3K Oz Au. For El Gallo Silver, M+I resources are 4.5M tonnes of 133 g/t Ag and 0.12 g/t Au for a total of 19M Oz Ag and 18K Oz Au, and Inferred resources of 0.1M tonnes of 129 g/t Ag and 0.14 g/t Au for a total of 286K Oz Ag and 0.3K Oz Au. M+I combined resources are 14.5M tonnes of 42 g/t Ag and 0.45 g/t Au for a total of 19.5M Oz Ag and 208K Oz Au and Inferred resources of 0.2M tonnes of 46 g/t Ag and 0.48 g/t Au for a total of 293K Oz Ag and 3K Oz Au. The company also reported proven + probable reserves of 10.1M tonnes for the Fenix project with grades of 1.g g/t Ag and 0.58 g/t Au for a total of 517K Oz Ag and 190K Oz Au; proven + probable reserves of 4.4M tonnes for the El Gallo Silver project with grades of 133 g/t Ag and 0.12 g/t Au for a total of 18.7M Oz Ag and 17K Oz Ag. Proven + probable combined reserves are 14.5M tonnes of 41 g/t Ag and 0.44 g/t Au for a total of 19.2M Oz Ag and 207K Oz Au.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., provided an outlook for 2021 and plans to deliver a PEA at Los Ricos South in January; to conduct an aggressive 10,000m drill program at Los Ricos North to test 10 of the more than 100 targets identified to date; and deliver an initial mineral resource at Los Ricos North in the summer of 2021.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Megastar Development Corp., announced results of its 2020 annual general meeting for shareholders (Yautepec property, Oaxaca).
  • GR Silver Mining Ltd., and Mako Mining Corp., amended an agreement in which the first would acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Marlin Gold Mining Ltd., and to enter into a definitive agreement on or before December 31, 2020.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Gold Resource Corporation reported a fatality at its Arista mine in Oaxaca. The incident involved a light vehicle in an unauthorized and inactive area of the Arista underground mine. The Company is working with authorities in an ongoing investigation to establish the exact cause of the accident. 

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, a hydrothermal breccia in a prospect in Durango, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Third Week of December, 2020.

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Fault slickenside

By Miguel A Heredia

During the fifty one week of the year (December 14th to December 20th, 2020), at least 22 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 4 news published by the media, with seven disclosing deals and corporate issues, five communicating production and financial results, four informing on exploration results, three announcing financial rounds, two discussing social issues, two reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, and two  commenting on Mexican issues.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, Great Panther restarted operations at its Topia mine in Durango, after experiencing contagious of COVID-19 among the workforce. The Chihuahua Mining Cluster appointed its new board president. The Association of Miners of Sonora (AMSAC) decided to extend the current board for one year.  ON EXPLORATION, In Baja California Norte, Comet announced that a drilling program will commence in 2021 at its Santa Teresa project. In Sonora, Silver Viper released drill results from its El Rubi project. In Chihuahua, Monarca Minerals announced its intention to conduct an initial 5,000m of drilling at its San Jose project. In Sinaloa, Vizsla released surface and underground sampling results from its Panuco project. ON MINING, GoGold presented Q3, 2020 production and financial results from its Parral Tailing operation in Chihuahua. Prime reported Q2, 2020 financial results. ON FINANCING, Silver Dollar granted stock options to its directors, officers, and consultants (La Joya property, Durango). Gatos Silver provided an update and announced inclusion in the Russell 2000 Index, as well as in the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) (Los Gatos, Chihuahua).  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Southern Silver reported drill results from its Cerro Las Minitas property in Durango. Capitan Mining released RC drill results from three holes collared at its Peñoles project in Durango. Gatos Silver commenced a 58,000m infill and extensional drilling program at its Cerro Los Gatos deposit in Chihuahua. GR reported drill results from 2 holes collared at its Plomosas property in Sinaloa. Fabled started an 8,000m drilling program at its Santa Maria project in Chihuahua. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Aztec Minerals and Kootenay entered into a JV option agreement for the Cervantes project in Sonora. Defiance acquired option to purchase royalty at the Tepal property in Michoacan. Pan American appointed a new member to its board of directors (La Colorada, Zacatecas). Equinox announced friendly acquisition of Premier Gold (Mercedes Mine, Sonora). Canuc appointed a new special adviser to the company (San Javier property, Sonora). Santacruz reached an agreement with Peñoles to extend the Zimapan Mine lease until June 30, 2021.   ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Minera Media Luna, a subsidiary of Torex Gold invested MXP $1.8M to improve the Nuevo Balsas Health Center. Grupo Mexico donated eight thousand plants in Colima.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • Great Panther Mining Limited, restarted operations at its Topia mine in Durango, after have experienced contagious of COVID-19 among the workforce. Mining resumed on December 17 and the plant is expected to begin processing ore on December 21.
  • The Chihuahua Mining Cluster appointed its new board president. This event was joined by the special presence of the state leadership of the Association of Mining Engineers, Metallurgists and Geologists of Mexico; the direction of the Mining Chamber of Mexico; guild suppliers, as well as the new director of mining for the state government.
  • The Association of Miners of Sonora (AMSAC) decided to extend the current board for one year as a result of the pandemic that paralyzed multiple activities in the sector.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Comet Resources Limited announced that a drilling program will commence in 2021 at its Santa Teresa project in Baja California Norte. Comet has identified sources of water for the drilling program and has improved roads to the drill sites. It is also in the process of getting the drill permit to commence the drilling in 2021. In addition, Comet has engaged a local geological consultancy to assist them with all geological programs, including permitting for drilling.
  • Silver Viper Minerals Corp., released drill results from its El Rubi project in Sonora. The most significant drill interval was encountered in hole LV20-283 with 0.72 g/t Au and 50 g/t Ag over a true width (TW) of 13.89m, including several intersection as 2.55 g/t Au and 226 g/t Ag over a TW of 0.64m, 3.26 g/t Au and 215 g/t Ag over a TW of 1.92m, 1.58 g/t Au and 108 g/t Ag over a TW of 3.84m, 4.38 g/t Au and 282 g/t Ag over a TW of 0.64m, 33.8 g/t Au and 67 g/t Ag over a TW of 1.6m, and 77.9 g/t Au and 133 g/t Ag over a TW of 1m. Silver Viper informed also that it has conducted initial bottle roll leach tests on four 500 g composites of mineralized material from El Rubi with extracting recoveries of 90-95% for Au and 62-76% for Ag. The company plans to conduct more detail test work.
  • Monarca Minerals Inc., announced its intention to conduct an initial 5,000m of drilling at its San Jose project in Chihuahua. Monarca plans to drill 10 holes to test some IP targets to depths of up to 500m. Monarca is looking to sign a surface agreement with the local Ejido as well as to apply to obtain the drilling permit.
  • Vizsla Resources Corp., released surface and underground sampling results from its Panuco project. Sampling highlights include 11.55 g/t Au and 2,091 g/t Ag (3,042 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 1m, and 6.7 g/t Au and 723 g/t Ag (1,304 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 1.2m at Agua Zarca target; 2.23 g/t Au and 264 g/t Ag (456 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.9 at El Batel target; 0.77 g/t Au and 315 g/t Ag (368 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 4.1m, including 1.28 g/t Au and 892 g/t Ag (958 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 1.3m at La Bomba target; and 0.67 g/t Au and 225 g/t Ag (275 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 10.5m, including 1.34 g/t Au and 371 g/t Ag (473 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 4m at Huaco target. These results will help to generate drill targets for 2021.

ON MINING

  • GoGold Resources Inc., presented Q3, 2020 production and financial results from its Parral Tailing operation in Chihuahua. The company produced 605,723 Oz AgEq at a cash and AISC of USD $11.97 and USD $14.31 per Oz AgEq respectively. GoGold reported revenue of USD $39.5M, a net income of USD $43.1M, and cash flow from operations before working capital changes of  USD $5.5M, including free cash flow from Parral of USD $6.5M.
  • Prime Mining Corp., announced Q2, 2020 financial results.   The company reported a net loss of CAD $1,656,466, cash, cash equivalent and short-term investment of CAD $7,678,959, total current liabilities of CAD $655,545, total liabilities of CAD $1,668,247, and total shareholder´s equity of CAD $19,921,788 (Los Reyes project, Sinaloa).

ON FINANCING

  • Silver Dollar Resources Inc., granted stock options to its directors, officers, and consultants to purchase up to 2.55M shares of the company. Shares are exercisable at $1.75 per share for five years (La Joya property, Durango).
  • Gatos Silver Inc., provided an update and announced inclusion in the Russell 2000 Index small capitalization stocks index, effective December 2021. Gatos recently completed an IPO with gross proceeds of USD $173M resulting in the largest precious metals IPO since 2010 and the largest precious metals equity financing during 2020. The company also announced the inclusion in the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) (Los Gatos property, Chihuahua). 

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Southern Silver Exploration Corp., reported drill results from Mina La Bocona target area at its Cerro Las Minitas property in Durango. Significant drill intersects were encountered at hole 20CLM-125 with 1.41 g/t Au and 36 g/t Ag (201 g/t AgEq) over a 28.5m, including 5.1 g/t Au and 72 g/t Ag (552 g/t AgEq) over 2.8m, and a deeper intersection of 0.45 g/t Au, 421 g/t Ag, 5.5% Pb, and 1.9% Zn (704 g/t AgEq or 17.9% ZnEq) over 6.1m (true width of 4.0m), including 0.64 g/t Au, 1,420 g/t Ag, 16.8% Pb, and 00.6% Zn (2,012 g/t AgEq or 51% ZnEq) over 0.9m (true width of 0.6m). This drill result is part of a 10,000m, 2020-2021 core drilling program on the Cerro Las Minitas project. Two additional holes have been completed at Mina La Bocona target. Seven holes totaling 2,470 metres have now tested the Mina La Bocona target area with assays still pending from each hole.
  • Capitan Mining Inc., released drill results from three holes collared at its Peñoles project in Durango. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in holes 20-CARC-12 with 0.63 g/t Au over 73.15m, including 0.91 g/t Au over 36.5m; hole 20-CARC-09 with 0.69 g/t Au and 21 g/t Ag over 64.01m, including 1.26 g/t Au over 13.72m; and hole 20-CARC-08 with 0.58 g/t Au over 48.77m, including 0.82 g/t Au and 16 g/t Ag over 28.96m.
  • Gatos Silver Inc., commenced a 58,000m infill and extensional drilling program at its Cerro Los Gatos deposit in Chihuahua. The program is expected to cost USD $6.1M. Drilling has already begun with a program of 27,000m with an expected cost of USD $2.8M and is focused on definition and extension of the Cerro Los Gatos deposit. Completion of the program is anticipated by June 2021. A second program focused on expanding resources throughout the Los Gatos district is planned to initiate in early 2021.
  • GR Silver Mining Ltd., reported drill results from 2 underground holes collared at its Plomosas property in Sinaloa. Hole PLI20-01 intersected 30 g/t Ag, 0.01 g/t Au, 1.3% Pb, and 2.8% Zn (254 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 16m, including 55 g/t Ag, 0.01 g/t Au, 4% Pb, and 8.3% Zn (424 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 4m; and hole PLI20-02 intersected 18 g/t Ag, 0.3 g/t Au, 1% Pb, and 1.7% Zn (130 g/t AgEq), including 107 g/t Ag, 1.7 g/t Au, 6.6% Pb, 9.6% Zn, and 0.2% Cu (778 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 4.2m. GR also reviewed and validated historical data from holes SD-62 and SD-67, confirming the presence of Au-Cu rich mineralization in other levels of the Plomosas Mine area. Hole SD-62 encountered  31 g/t Ag, 0.12 g/t Au, 0.8% Pb, 1.4% Zn, and 1.3% Cu (200 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 25.3m, while hole SD-63 intersected 115 g/t Ag, 1.04 g/t Au, 11.3% Pb, 5.4% Zn, and 0.7% Cu (800 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 6.1m.
  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., started an 8,000m drilling program at its Santa Maria project in Chihuahua to test 11 new IP anomalies identified during the first ever geophysical survey conducted at the property. A 3-D IP survey covered the entire property at 50m-line spacing and was 16 blocks in size with penetration to -500m minimum. In addition, 27km of ground magnetic was completed over the property resulting in the creation of several products such as total field, first derivate, reduce to pole, and 3D inversion magnetics.  “Fabled’s management team strongly believes that the Santa Maria Property is an under-explored, high-grade silver-gold project with significant exploration potential to expand mineral resources and identify new discoveries”. 

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Aztec Minerals Corp., and Kootenay Silver Inc., entered into a JV option agreement for the Cervantes project in Sonora. Aztec has already completed its earn-in and exercised its option to acquire a 65% interest in the property. Now Aztec hold 65% interest in the property while Kootenay the remaining 35%. Both parties will keep their interest at Cervantes through share ownership in Aztec Minerals JV Corporation through its wholly owned subsidiary, Minera Azteca Dorado S.A. de C.V.
  • Defiance Silver Corp., acquired option to purchase the 2.5% NSR of the Tepal property in Michoacan from Minera Tepal, over four years for a total consideration of USD $4.85M.
  • Pan American Silver Corp., appointed a new member to its board of directors (La Colorada, Zacatecas).
  • Equinox Gold Corp., announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Premier Gold Mines Limited to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Premier. Premier will spin-out to its shareholders shares of a newly created US-focused gold production and development company to be called i-80 Gold Corp. On closing of the transaction, existing Equinox Gold and Premier shareholders will own approximately 84% and 16% of Equinox Gold, and Equinox Gold and existing shareholders of Premier will own 30% and 70% of i-80 Gold, respectively, on an issued share basis.
  • Canuc Resources Corporation appointed a new special adviser to the company (San Javier property, Sonora). 
  • Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., reached an agreement with Minera Cedros S.A.de C.V., a subsidiary of Industrias Peñoles S.A.B. de C.V. to extend the Zimapan Mine lease from December 31, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Minera Media Luna, a subsidiary of Torex Gold invested MXP $1.8M to improve the Nuevo Balsas Health Center, which will serve close to four thousand inhabitants of communities such as Nuevo Balsas, San Nicolás, La Fundición, Real del Limón, Acalmantlila, Balsas Sur, San Luis and Tomixtlahuacán. This center seeks to provide decent medical care since the areas that are farthest from the municipal capitals are severely affected in their health services due to the conditions of difficult access and remoteness.
  • Grupo Mexico donated eight thousand plants to the City Council and to the  Integral Development of the Family (DIF) of Colima to reforest the public gardens of the rural communities contributing to improve the environment and quality of life of the families of the municipality of Colima.

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, a fault slickenside in a Mn-Fe occurrence in a prospect in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

GR Silver Mining Reports Significant Drill Results at the Plomosas Silver Project

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20-12-15_GR-Silver-News-Release-Final

VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 15, 2020 /CNW/ – GR Silver Mining Ltd. (TSXV: GRSL) (FRANKFURT: GPE) (OTCQB: GRSLF) (“GR Silver Mining” or the “Company”) – is pleased to report drill results from the Company’s recently announced surface and underground core drilling program in the Plomosas Mine Area, as well as validation sampling results from historic drilling at its 100%-owned Plomosas Silver Project (“Plomosas Project”) in Sinaloa, Mexico.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the First Week of December, 2020.

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Quartz blade (boiling texture)

By Miguel A Heredia

During the fifty eight week of the year (November 30th to December 06th, 2020), at least 25 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 7 news published by the media, with fourteen disclosing deals and corporate issues, six informing on exploration results, four discussing social issues, three reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, three commenting on Mexican issues, and two communicating production and financial results.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, Fernando Alanis, President of The Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX) declared that mining is one of the most regulated sectors that care for the environment.  There is a great hope to reactivate the economy of Naica, Chihuahua.  Newmont Corporation, operator of the Peñasquito mine in Zacatecas, reported to the Ministry of the Interior the progress of the definitive agreement to end the conflict with ejidatarios.   ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Tocvan and its JV partner Colibri announced the commencement of a 1,500m RC drilling program at its El Pilar project and Tarachi released drill results from its la Dura mine. In Chihuahua, Golden Minerals reported that it has completed a 3,400m drilling program in 15 drill holes at its Yoquivo project. In Sinaloa, Prismo has commenced a 500m drilling program at its Palos Verdes project. In Durango, Mithril provided an update on the drilling activities carried out at its Copalquin project.  ON MINING, Mexus announced that leaching commenced at its 250,000 tonnes leach pad at its Santa Elena mine in Sonora. Santacruz announced Q3, 2020 financial results from its Mexican operations.  ON FINANCING, no relevant information.  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Capitan Mining released RC drill results from the first seven holes collared at its Peñoles project in Durango, expanding the known gold mineralization. Endeavour intersected high grade mineralization at its Bolañitos mine in Guanajuato. VanGold reported underground channel sampling results from its Pinguico mine in Guanajuato, with assays up to 1,136 g/t AgEq.  ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Almaden announced that the court decision upholded the original, 14,000 Ha larger concessions, which the Company originally held at its Ixtaca project in Puebla. Auxico announced the resignation of one of its directors and the appointment of a new member to its board of directors (Zamora property, Sinaloa). Barksdale announced that its common shares commenced to trade on the OTCQX best market in the USA under the symbols “BRKCF” (San Javier project, Sonora). Defiance announced that it has entered into an option agreement with Pan American Silver to acquire 100% interest in the Lucita property in Zacatecas. Fabled closed its previously announced acquisition of the Santa Maria mine in Chihuahua. Fortuna Silver provided and update on the status on a dispute royalty on one of its extracting mining concessions at its San Jose mine in Oaxaca. Magna Gold announced the change of its fiscal year-end from March 31 to December 31 (San Francisco mine, Sonora).  Orex announced management changes (Sandra-Escobar project, Durango).  Orla Mining appointed a new member to its board of directors (Camino Rojo project, Zacatecas). Prismo announced that it has entered into an option agreement to acquire the remaining 25% interest in the Palos Verdes property in Sinaloa. Silver Spruce signed a definitive agreement to acquire 50% interest in the Jackie property in Sonora. Tarachi announced the appointment of its new CFO and its Corporate Secretary (La Dura mine, Sonora). Vizsla appointed its new CFO (Panuco project, Sinaloa). ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, The Sonora Mining Cluster recognized 40 partners for their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), during the closing of the MINNOVACIÓN 2020 Forum. Fresnillo plc donated 30,000 face masks to the Zacatecas State Government.  Newmont Peñasquito delivered pantries and cleaning kits in localities of Mazapil. The mining sector in Mexico has supported efforts to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • Fernando Alanis, President of The Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX) declared that mining is one of the most regulated sectors that cares for the environment. The mining sector makes strong investments to promote social development at its communities, invests in environmental issues and is one of the main producers of trees and reforestation. Mining complies with 1,077 federal, state and municipal requirements in compliance with standards, laws and regulations.
  • Economy in Naica, Chihuahua could be reactivated since there has already been a proposal acceptable by members of the Naica Ejido and the Peñoles Mining Company for the extraction of water for agricultural use, and in turn the company will start with the exploration works contemplating a possible opening of the mine. For now, the hiring of 40 people is contemplated to work in the mine, and the ejidatarios will start fallow work.
  • Newmont Corporation, operator of the Peñasquito mine in Zacatecas, reported to the Ministry of the Interior the progress of the definitive agreement to end the conflict with ejidatarios.  The company reported that 95% of the ejidatarios have received a payment for the rental of lands for exploration. It also confirmed that a permit was obtained from the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) for the drilling of a domestic water well, which will benefit Ejido Cedros.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Tocvan Ventures Corp., and its JV partner Colibri Resource Corp., announced the commencement of a 1,500m RC drilling program at its El Pilar project.  This RC drilling has been designed to confirm selected historical drilling and extend mineralization in the Main Zone along strike. It also will provide information to better define drill targets to test deeper mineralization based on geophysical results and structural interpretations.
  • Tarachi Gold Corp., released drill results from its la Dura mine in Sonora. Significant results were encountered in hole JAB-20-06 with 3.95g/t Au over 8m (from 2.25m to 10.25m),  5.05 g/t Au over 200.75m (from 22.25m to 43m), including 14.5g/t Au over 6.10m (from 27.65m to 33.75m).
  • Golden Minerals Company, reported that it has completed a 3,400m drilling program in 15 drill holes at its Yoquivo project to test the Pertenencia, San Francisco and Esperanza vein systems. Drilling results will be announced within the next few months.
  • Prismo Metals Inc., announced the commencement of a 500m drill program at its Palos Verdes property in Sinaloa. The program will consists of four to five holes, with the longest planned at 150-175m to test the vein lateral to, and below, high-grade intercepts drilled in the past. The best intercept from that program was 8.4 g/t Au and 2,336 g/t Ag, over 0.8m true width.
  • Mithril Resources Ltd., provided an update on the drilling activities carried out at its Copalquin project. Recent drill results from El Refugio target with 15-30m quartz breccia zones indicate the top of a large hydrothermal system at El Cometa project, characterized by extensive surface alteration and rhyolite dome intrusions. This alteration is observed to extend at least 1.5km west of El Refugio in addition to the widespread alteration and rhyolitic dome intrusives in the Copalquin district. The drilling at the El Refugio target now extends for over 300m with highlights including  hole CDH-022 with 1.93 g/t Au and 124 g/t Ag (3.48 g/t AuEq) over 5.05m, including 3.28 g/t Au and 140 g/t Ag (5.03 g/t AuEq) over 2.15m; hole CDH-024 with 1.59 g/t Au and 37 g/t Ag (2.05 g/t AuEq) over 15.75m, including 3.27 g/t Au and 53 g/t Ag (3.93 g/t AuEq) over 5.93m, and  14.75 g/t Au and 150 g/t Ag (16.63 g/t AuEq) over 1m; and hole CDH-025 with 0.8 g/t Au and 34 g/t Ag (1.22 g/t AuEq) over 7m, including 1.81 g/t Au and 70 g/t Ag (2.68 g/t AuEq) over 2m (within 27.55m of 0.41 g/t Au and 20 g/t Ag, or 0.66 g/t AuEq).

ON MINING

  • Mexus Gold US, announced that leaching commenced at its 250,000 tonnes leach pad at its Santa Elena mine in Sonora. Mineralized material is under way and returning values of 0.32 to 0.42 g/t Au in solution. Flows are expected to reach 0.6 g/t Au in solution by December 16th. Mexus CEO added that gold production by year end should reach 225 Oz.
  • Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., announced Q3, 2020 production and financial results from its Mexican operations. At Zimapan mine, Hidalgo, the company processed 164,846 tonnes to produce 920,985 Oz AgEq at a cash and AISC of USD $17.45 and USD $18.54 per Oz AgEq respectively. At the Rosario project, San Luis Potosi, it processed 11,794 tonnes to produce 56,693 Oz AgEq at cash and AISC of USD $34.13 and USD $42.07 per Oz AgEq respectively. Santacruz reported revenue of USD $9.44M, gross profit of USD $1.26M, a net loss of USD $163K, and an EBITDA of USD $12K.

ON FINANCING

  • No relevant information.

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Capitan Mining Inc., released drill results from the first seven holes collared at its Peñoles project in Durango. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in holes 20-CARC-06 with 0.34 g/t Au over 111.30m, including 0.63 g/t Au over 45.7m; hole 20-CARC-05 with 0.41 g/t Au and 21 g/t Ag over 76.2m, including 0.68 g/t Au and 28 g/t Ag over 16.8m; hole 20-CARC-03 with 0.4 g/t Au and 11 g/t Ag over 68.6m, including 0.74 g/t Au and 16 g/t Ag over 16.8m;  and hole 20-CARC-02 with 0.4 g/t Au and 26 g/t Ag over 56m, including 0.53 g/t Au over 25.9m. The drill results expand the known gold mineralization reported in the mineral resource estimate released in March, 2015 within the conceptual, open pit shell, and confirm that there is significant room to expand the existing oxide resource.
  • Endeavour Silver Corp., intersected high grade gold-silver mineralization at its Bolañitos mine in Guanajuato. Highlights include the following intersections along the Melladito vein: 12.76 g/t Au and 55 g/t Ag (1,176 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 4.5m, including  43.5 g/t Au and 171 g/t Ag (3,651 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.4m in hole BN-58, and 0.51 g/t Au and 491 g/t Ag (531 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.7m, including 1.74 g/t Au and 2,220 g/t Ag (2,359 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 0.4m in hole BN-52. At San Bernabe Vein, hole BN-59 intersected 7.91 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag (645 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.7m.
  • VanGold Mining Corp. reported results from 267 underground channel samples from its Pinguico mine in Guanajuato, with assays up to 1,136 g/t Ag.  Highlights include Pinguico Shaft with 15m  strike length of grade weighted average of 733 g/t Ag and 5 g/t Au (1,136 g/t AgEq); Pinguico Norte with 47m strike length of of 256 g/t Ag and 1.7 g/t Au (394 g/t AgEq); and San Jose NW Pillar  with 25m strike length of 154 g/t Ag and 1.9 g/t Au (303 g/t AgEq).

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Almaden Minerals Ltd.,  announced that all the mining concessions which cover its Ixtaca project in Puebla are not affected by the denial of Almaden´s appeal noted in December 01, 2020 news release. A court decision upholded the original, 14,000 Ha larger concessions, which the Company originally held, confirming that Almaden owns 100% of the property.
  • Auxico Resources Canada Inc., announced the resignation of one of its directors and the appointment of a new member to its board of directors (Zamora property, Sinaloa).
  • Barksdale Resources Corp., announced that its common shares commenced to trade on the OTCQX best market in the USA under the symbols “BRKCF” (San Javier project, Sonora).
  • Defiance Silver Corp., announced that it has entered into an option agreement with Pan American Silver Corp., to acquire 100% interest in the Lucita property in Zacatecas. With this option agreement, Defiance expands its land package on the mining district from 1,600 Ha to 4,300 Ha. The option terms include an initial payment of USD $100K upon signing; USD $100K on or before the first year anniversary; USD $500K on or before the second year anniversary; and a final payment of USD $800K on or before the third year anniversary.
  • Fabled Silver Gold Corp., closed its previously announced acquisition of the Santa Maria mine in Chihuahua. In order to acquire 100% interest in the property, Fabled has to make an initial cash payment of USD $500K in cash and 1M common share on the closing date of the transaction, USD $1.5M in cash 12 month after the acquisition closing, USD $2M in cash 24 months after the closing date, and a total of USD $480K in payments due by the vendor to the optionors under the vendor´s agreement with those optionors as follow: USD $100K on the acquisition closing, USD $120K on 2/4/2021, USD $120K on 8/4/2021, and USD $140K on 2/4/2022. Fabled will also grant the Vendor a 1% NSR with respect to the property upon exercise of the option under the option agreement and will assume from the vendor the obligations in respect of an existing 2% NSR that exists over 3 of the 5 mineral claims that comprise the property.
  • Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., provided and update on the status on a dispute royalty on one of its extracting mining concessions at its San Jose mine in Oaxaca. “In January 2020, the company received notice from the Dirección General de Minas (DGM) seeking to cancel the mining concession if the royalty (MXP $30M + VAT from the period 2011-2019) was no paid before March 15, 2020. Fortuna began legal proceedings against the DGM on February 2020. The District Court in Mexico City admitted the company’s legal proceedings on March 2, 2020 and granted a permanent stay of execution, which protects the company from the cancellation of the concession until a final non-appealable resolution is reached on the legality of DGM’s cancellation procedure. On November 27, 2020 the District Court found that the Company suffered no harm from the notice of cancellation procedure and dismissed the proceedings without deciding on the merit of the Amparo Proceedings and on the validity of the royalty. The company’s legal position with respect to the disputed royalty remains unchanged. The company intends to vigorously defend its position and appeal the Procedural Finding and file an appeal with the Collegiate Court in Mexico by the deadline of December 14, 2020.  A decision of the Collegiate Court is expected during mid-2021”.
  • Magna Gold Corp., announced the change of its fiscal year-end from March 31 to December 31 to align the fiscal year-end of the company with that of its subsidiaries, Molimentales del Noroeste, S.A. de C.V., LM Mining, S.A. de C.V. and Minera Magna, S.A. de C.V., which are required to have fiscal periods for Mexican tax purposes ending on December 31. (San Francisco mine, Sonora). 
  • Orex Minerals Inc., announced management changes. The former CEO has resigned and Ben Whiting has been appointed as President and CEO and as Director of Orex immediately (Sandra-Escobar project, Durango).
  • Orla Mining Ltd., appointed a new member to its board of directors (Camino Rojo project, Zacatecas).
  • Prismo Metals Inc., announced that it has entered into an option agreement to acquire the remaining 25% interest in the Palos Verdes property in Sinaloa. The option gives Prismo control of 100% of the concessions that makes up the property. Under the terms of the option agreement, Prismo will make a cash payment of USD $250K to the optionor an aggregate of US$250K in cash over a four-year period, with the initial payment of USD $30K made on signing. Additionally, 100K warrants will be awarded, with each warrant entitling its owner to purchase one common share of the company at an exercise price of CAD $0.35 per share for two years from the date of execution of the option agreement.
  • Silver Spruce Resources Inc., signed a definitive agreement to acquire 50% interest in the Jackie property in Sonora by making a payment to Colibri for USD $250K and CAD $25K in common shares as the first property payment within 7 days of the TSX approval. Spruce also agrees to spend USD $100K in exploration and drilling expenses with a minimum of USD $50K within 12 months of TSX approval and to pay to Colibri a second payment of USD $25k and CAD $25K in common shares also within 12 months of TSX approval. Upon completion of this terms, Spruce will hold 50% interest in the property and a JV will be formed to direct all exploration and drilling expenses. There are no underlying royalties on the property.
  • Tarachi Gold Corp., announced the appointment of its new CFO and its Corporate Secretary (La Dura mine, Sonora).
  • Vizsla Resources Corp, appointed its new CFO (Panuco project, Sinaloa).

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • The Sonora Mining Cluster recognized 40 partners for their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), during the closing of the MINNOVACIÓN 2020 Forum.
  • Fresnillo plc., donated 30,000 face mask to the Zacatecas State government to contribute to the authorities to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic in the entity. The face mask delivered to the authorities are model L03, which have five layers of protection and comply with all security protocols. This action adds to the effort and commitment that the Mexican mining company has made since the beginning of the pandemic to work hand in hand with the community.
  • Newmont Corporation (Minera Peñasquito) delivered pantries and cleaning kits in localities of Mazapil as a service to the community.
  • The mining sector in Mexico has supported efforts to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mining industry in the state of Zacatecas has joined the efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and through different companies, such as Newmont, Fresnillo plc, Grupo Mexico, and Orla Mining, has supported many communities with the donation of medical equipment and ventilators. In total, 90,692 N95 masks have been delivered , 164 thousand 452 googles, more than one million 221 thousand masks, as well as 513 thousand 378 isolation gowns and 12 thousand 522 masks, according to the Mexican Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX).

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, quartz blade (boiling texture) in a low sulphidation epithermal vein system in a prospect in Durango, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Third Week of November, 2020.

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Barite crystals

By Miguel A Heredia

During the forty eight week of the year (November 16th to November 22th, 2020), at least 29 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 1 news published by the media, with eight reporting on resources and development of their mine operations, six disclosing deals and corporate issues, six informing on exploration results, four commenting on Mexican issues, three  communicating production and financial results, two announcing financial rounds, and one discussing social issues.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, Equinox announced that the community blockade at its Los Filos mine in Guerrero has been lifted and access to the mine has been restored. First Majestic announced its intention to appeal the Circuit Court decision to nullify the Advance Pricing Agreement concluded in 2012 between Primero Empresa Minera and the Mexican tax authority, Servicio de Administracion Tributaria (SAT). Deputies of the mining commission of the State Congress and the State Secretariat of Economy of Sonora will join forces to request to the Federal Government that the Mining Fund returns to the Municipalities of the State.   Great Panther has temporarily suspended the operations at its Topia mine in Durango due to the detection of COVID-19 among the workforce.  ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Canuc started a drone supported, high frequency, magnetic survey over its newly acquired claims at its San Javier project, Silver Tiger reported drill results from its El Tigre project, Colibri released results from the trenching sampling carried out at its Evelyn project, and Riverside and its JV partner Carlyle reported channel sampling results from its Cecilia project. In Jalisco, GoGold released drilling results from El favor target at its los Ricos North project. In the State of Mexico, Impact has commenced a trenching sampling at its Manto America gold target.  ON MINING, Excellon reported Q3, 2020 production and financial results from its Platosa mine in Durango.  Santacruz reported October 2020 production results from its Zimapan and Rosario mines in Hidalgo and San Luis Potosi respectively. Starcore reported Q2, 2020/2021 production results from its San Martin mine in Queretaro.  ON FINANCING, Magna Gold closed the acquisition of the Margarita Silver project in Chihuahua. Telson executed a Trust Agreement with Trafigura Mexico (Tahuehueto project, Durango).  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Azucar resumed drilling at its El Cobre property in Veracruz.  Endeavour expanded its land position at its Terronera property in Jalisco. Elemental Royalties presented Q3, 2020 results from its Mercedes mine in Sonora. Mexus provided an update on its new heap leach pad at its Santa Elena mine in Sonora. Golden Minerals received the final environmental permit for its Rodeo property in Durango. Minera Alamos announced an independent NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate of 630K Oz Au at its Cerro de Oro project in Zacatecas. Sierra Metals announced a significant increase of its mineral resource estimate at its Cusi mine in Chihuahua. SilverCrest announced new high-grade discovery at the Babi Vista Splay Vein within its Las Chispas project in Sonora. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Aura announced a new and improved offtake agreement with Trafigura starting in 2022 (Aranzazu property, Zacatecas). Barksdale appointed its company Senior VP Project Development (San Javier project, Sonora).  Comet changed its provider for shareholder registry services from Advanced Share Registry Services to Automic Pty Ltd (Santa Teresa property, Baja California).  SilverCrest announced the appointment of a new member for its Board of Directors (Las Chispas project, Sonora). Starcore presented results from its annual general meeting of shareholders (San Martin mine, Queretaro).  Silver Dollar announced it has hired a Country Manager for its la Joya Silver project in Durango.   ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Torex achieved 10M hours work without a lost time injury (El Limon-Guajes mine complex, Guerrero).

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • Equinox Gold Corp., announced that the community blockade at its Los Filos mine in Guerrero has been lifted and access to the mine has been restored. Los Filos has commenced a staged restart and workers will resume their duties only after testing negative for COVID-19.
  • First Majestic Silver Corp., announced its intention to appeal the Circuit Court decision to nullify the Advance Pricing Agreement concluded in 2012 between Primero Empresa Minera SA de CV (PEM) and the Mexican tax authority, Servicio de Administracion Tributaria (SAT).   “The Federal Court’s decision directs SAT to re-examine the evidence and basis for the issuance of the APA with retroactive effect, for the following key reasons: (i) SAT’s errors in analyzing PEM’s request for the APA and the evidence provided in support of the request; and (ii) SAT’s failure to request from PEM certain additional information before issuing the APA. The Company’s legal advisors having now reviewed the written reasons continue to be of the view that the Federal Court’s decision is flawed both due to procedural irregularities and failure to address the relevant evidence and legal authorities. The Company intends to appeal the decision to the Circuit Courts by the December 1, 2020 deadline”.
  • Deputies of the mining commission of the State Congress and the State Secretariat of Economy will join forces to request to the Federal Government that the Mining Fund returns to the Municipalities of the Sonora State. The commission reported that the Federal Government has pending the contribution of MXP $1,500M corresponding to fiscal year 2019 to be exercised in fiscal year 2020 in works of high social impact in municipalities with mining activities. One of the deputies stated that the resources of the Mining Fund originated in the State of Sonora, must remain here, because it is a resource of Sonora and must be applied, definitely, to the needs of the State. Sonora ranks first in the country in the extraction of copper, gold, molybdenum, wollastonite, and graphite and second in silver, substances that are exploited by national and foreign companies with investments around the world.
  • Great Panther Mining Limited has temporarily suspended the operations at its Topia mine in Durango due to the detection of COVID-19 among the workforce.   A reduced workforce will remain on site to maintain essential activities for the duration of the voluntary suspension. The health and safety of employees, contractors, and host communities remains a priority.  The company will continue working closely with the local government and regional health authorities to ensure a safe restart of normal operations.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Canuc Resources Corporation, started a drone supported, high frequency, magnetic survey over the 800m in length and 80 m in width silver-bearing magnetite swarms that have been identified within, and proximal to the large silver-bearing breccia structures uncovered in July and August of this year and first reported in a press release dated September 22nd.   
  • Silver Tiger Metals Inc., reported drill results from its El Tigre project in Sonora, where the company is currently exploring with core drilling the Caleigh and Protectora Veins. The company has drilled ten holes and highlights include hole 163 on Protectora Vein with 1,782 g/t Ag and 3.56 g/t Au (2,049 g/t AgEq) over 0.5m, and a second intercept of 1,374 g/t Ag and 0.89 g/t Au (1,441 g/t AgEq) over 0.5m; hole 164 on Protectora Vein with 805 g/t Ag and 10.5 g/t Au (1,593 g/t AgEq) over 0.5m; hole 158 on Caleigh Vein with 815 g/t Ag and 4.09 g/t Au (1,122 g/t AgEq) over 0.7m; and hole 156 on Caleigh Vein with 752 g/t Ag and 7.09 g/t Au (1,284 g/t AgEq) over 0.3m.
  • Colibri Resource Corporation, released results from the trenching sampling carried out at its Evelyn project in Sonora.  Fifty six chip samples from 0.30 to 2.00m in length were taken from trenches at The Cerro Rojo, El Sahuaro, and the West Evelyn targets. Nine samples returned values greater than 1 g/t Au and a total of 16 samples returned values greater than 0.1 g/t Au, with a peak of 23.2 g/t Au at the Cerro Rojo target area. The trenching has defined a northwest-southeast mineralized trend over an approximate strike length of 35 metres with samples ranging from 0.304 g/t Au to 27.5 g/t Au.
  • Riverside Resources Inc and its JV partner Carlyle Commodities Corp., reported channel sampling results from its Cecilia project. Thirty six channel samples were collected from underground working as well as at surface over the San Jose target from brecciated and silicified rhyolite. Over 43% of the samples returned more than 0.2 g/t Au with a peak of 48.3 g/t Au over a width of 0.75m. Other significant results were 0.86 g/t Au over 1.7m; 0.78 g/t Au over  0.85m; 0.66 g/t Au over 1.6m; 0.66 g/t Au over 0.8m; and 0.56 g/t Au over 1.25m.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., released drilling results from El Favor target at its los Ricos North project in Jalisco. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole LRGF-20-005 with 0.11 g/t Au and 74 g/t Ag (1.10 g/t AuEq or 83 g/t AgEq) over 21m, including 0.23 g/t Au and 150 g/t Ag (2.23 g/t AuEq or 167 g/t AgEq) over 9.0m; hole LRGF-20-006 with 2 intercepts, one of 0.2 g/t Au and 96 g/t Ag (1.48 g/t AuEq or 111 g/t AgEq) over 12m, including 0.53 g/t Au and 271 g/t Ag (4.15 g/t AuEq or 311 g/t AgEq) over  3.4m, and 0.97 g/t Au and 113 g/t Ag (2.47 g/t AuEq or 186 g/t AgEq) over 27m, including 3.35 g/t Au and 350 g/t Ag (8.01 g/t AuEq or 601 g/t AgEq); hole LRGF-20-007 with 0.28 g/t Au and 160 g/t Ag (2.4 g/t AuEq or 180 g/t AgEq) over 11m, including 0.53 g/t Au and 291 g/t Ag (4.41 g/t AuEq or 331 g/t AgEq) over 3.5m; hole LRGF-20-008 with 0.69 g/t Au and 255 g/t Ag (4.08 g/t AuEq or 306 g/t AgEq) over 52.1m, including 0.93 g/t Au and 343 g/t Ag (5.51 g/t AuEq or 413 g/t AgEq) over 37.1m, including 5.62 g/t Au and 2,052 g/t Ag (32.98 g/t AuEq or 2,473 g/t AgEq) over 5m, including 8.47 g/t Au and 3,039 g/t Ag (49 g/t AuEq or 3,675 g/t AgEq) over 3.3m; and hole LRGF-20-009 with 2 intercepts, one of 0.43 g/t Au and 148 g/t Ag (2.41 g/t AuEq or 180 g/t AgEq) over 11.6m, including 1.22 g/t Au and 324 g/t Ag (5.55 g/t AuEq or 416 g/t AgEq) over 2.5m, and 0.32 g/t Au and 63 g/t Ag (1.15 g/t AuEq and 87 g/t AgEq) over 32.5m, including 0.64 g/t Au and 171 g/t Ag (2.93 g/t AuEq or 220 g/t AgEq) over 7m. The drilling program at El Favor target has tested 1,000m along strike of the historic El Favor vein and workings. These first nine drill holes have confirmed the wide zones of mineralization mapped and sampled on surface continue down dip for close to 600m. The company stated that the mineralization is open along strike in both directions and down dip and will aggressively advance this zone towards a mineral resource estimate.
  • Impact Silver Corp., has commenced a trenching sampling at its Manto America gold target in the State of Mexico. Thirty three rock chip samples returning more than 2 g/t Au have been collected on this target, with a peak of 19.5 g/t Au over a true width of 1.2m. Additionally, 67 soil samples taken on a 50m by 25m grid have returned an average of 250 ppb Au. The 900m trenching sampling plans to test an area of 450m by 300m over the strongest Au-in soil anomalies. Previous operators of this target excavated two trenches, the same that were sampled by Impact, returning 0.51 g/t Au over 5.6m in width  and  a length of 23.5m, and 0.3 g/t Au over 5.5m in width and a length of 17.2m.

ON MINING

  • Excellon Resources Inc., reported Q3 2020 production and financial results from its Platosa mine in Durango. The company mined 21,877 tonnes and processed 22,612 tonnes of 483 g/t Ag, 5.3% Pb, and 6.8% Zn, with metallurgical recoveries of 93%, 85% and 80.9% respectively. Excellon produced 326.9K Oz Ag, 2.23M Lb Pb, and 2.75M Lb Zn (or 524.3K Oz AgEq), and sold 310.3K Oz Ag, 2.18M Lb Pb, and 2.28M Lb Zn (or 485.8K Oz AgEq) at  a cash and AISC of USD $12.60 and USD $18.92 respectively per Oz Ag sold. The company reported revenues of USD $9.7M, gross profit of USD $2.5M, net working capital of USD $10.5M, and cash and marketable securities of USD $10.1M as at September 30, 2020.
  •  Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., reported October 2020 production results from its Zimapan and Rosario mines in Hidalgo and San Luis Potosi respectively. At Zimapan mine in  Hidalgo, the company milled 62,543 tonnes of 81 g/t Ag, 0.8% Pb, 2.6% Zn, and 0.32% Cu to produce 114K Oz Ag, 983.3K Lb Pb, 2.45M Lb Zn, and 315.3K Lb Cu (or 363.7K Oz AgEq). At Rosario mine in San Luis Potosi, Santacruz milled 6,319 tonnes of 85 g/t Ag, 0.2 g/t Au, 0.4% Pb, and 1.5% Zn to produce 15.1K Oz Ag, 26 Oz Au, 52.9K Lb Pb, and 169.7K Lb Zn. 
  • Starcore International Mines Ltd., reported Q2, 2020/2021 production results from its San Martin mine in Queretaro. Starcore milled 56,731 tonnes of 1.6 g/t Au and 22 g/t Ag with metallurgical recoveries of 88.5% and 56.99% respectively to produce 2,867 Oz AuEq.

ON FINANCING

  • Magna Gold Corp., closed the acquisition of the Margarita Silver project in Chihuahua from Sable Resources Ltd and Exploraciones Sable S de RL de CV. Magna acquired the property by paying CAD $1.5M in cash plus an additional CAD $800K in cash representing Mexican VAT, and CAD $3.5M in common shares in the capital of Magna, being 3,219,278 Magna shares at a deemed price of CAD $1.0872 per Magna Share. Immediately following the acquisition, the Purchaser exercised the option to acquire the property by payment to the titleholders of the property of CAD $500K in cash, plus an additional $368K in cash representing Mexican VAT; and CAD $1.8M in Magna Shares, being 1,655,629 Magna Shares at the Issue Price. In addition, Magna will pay Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd  a 2% NSR on all products mined and produced from the Property.
  • Telson Mining Corporation executed a Trust Agreement with Trafigura Mexico. Under the terms, Trafigura waived all defaults plus deferred all principal and interest payments until June30, 2021, under certain terms and conditions, related to certain loan agreements entered into between the parties in late 2017.  Additionally, Telson agreed to place its assets into the Trust to guarantee full repayment of all outstanding financial obligations under the loan agreements with Trafigura. Telson has advanced its Tahuehueto construction plans and currently calculates a construction budget at approximately USD $13M, including a 15% contingency. Telson is contemplating to enter into a USD $12M medium term loan facility with Accendo Banco S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple,  the possibility of a small silver stream metal purchase funding or conducting a private placement financing to supplement the Accendo loan for Tahuehueto construction, and to provide working capital.

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Azucar Minerals Ltd., resumed drilling at its El Cobre property in Veracruz. The company is  first deepening hole EC-20-108, which is located at the Primo Zone, in an effort to further delineate resource potential at the project beyond that contained in the initial Norte Zone mineral resource estimate. The Primo Target was discovered in 2019 based on the hole EC-19-086 which intersected 0.4 g/t Au and 0.24% Cu over 200m, including 0.94 g/t Au and 0.56% Cu over 55.6m.
  • Endeavour Silver Corp., expanded its land position at its Terronera property in Jalisco to 20,128 hectares by acquiring two adjacent groups of mineral concessions called La Sanguijuela and Cerro Gordo. La Sanguijuela, which covers the possible NW extension of the Terronera Vein and the possible west extension of the Los Reyes Vein, comprises 2,759 hectares and Endeavour has an option to purchase it by USD $550K in a four years staged payments. The Los Cuates Vein is the main structure at la Sanguijuela and has been traced for over a length of 1.5km with thickness of 2 to 6m with values of 0.5 – 5 g/t Au and 50-300 g/t Ag. Cerro Gordo, which covers the possible southeast extension of four Terronera footwall veins (Pena Gorda-Canoas, Los Venados-La Carbonera, Pena Blanca-El Alacran and El Mirador-Los Tablones) as well as three other veins (El Maguey-El Madrono, Monte Obscuro-Musgos and La Muda-Monte Grande), was acquired by staking 2,200 hectares. The El Maguey-El Madrono vein has been observed over a length of 1.6 km with a thickness of 2 to 4 m, carrying values of 0.6 to 2 g/t Au and 10-30 g/t Ag.  The Pena Gorda-Canoas vein outcrops over a length of 1.7 km with a thickness of 2 to 5 m, returning values up to 0.5 g/t Au and 40 g/t Ag. Vein systems in these two properties have never been drilled and Endeavour plans to test some portion during Q4, 2020.
  • Elemental Royalties Corp., presented Q3, 2020 results from its Mercedes mine in Sonora. The company announced that Mercedes mine was placed on care and maintenance following a decree from the Mexican Federal Government on March 30. 2020 in which listed mining operations as non-essential industry, and restarted activities on July, 2020 following a two-month suspension. Mining activities were focused with a reduce staff on higher grades and are concentrated on the Diluvio-Lupita-San Martin system while also implementing continued exploration, underground development and mill maintenance programs with the intention of returning to full production in due course.
  • Mexus Gold US provided an update on its new heap leach pad at its Santa Elena mine in Sonora. It has completed phase 1 of its new 250K tonnes pad which is expandable to 1M tonnes, and will have crush mineralized material averaging 2.7 g/t Au. Mexus is looking for a return of 0.6 g/t Au in solution. In addition, Mexus is scheduled to begin blasthole drilling to expand its open pit 2 by approximately 1,741 Oz Au at a grade of 2.7 g/t Au.
  • Golden Minerals Company received the final environmental permit for its Rodeo gold-silver property in Durango, which is scheduled to begin gold production in January 2021, delivering mineralized material at its Velardeña mill to process it immediately.   “The Velardeña plant is a typical agitated leach plant rated to handle up to 450 tonnes per day of throughput from Rodeo. It is equipped with a Merrill Crowe circuit and a modern doré refinery, and the attached tailings facility was recently expanded and is expected to be sufficient for the tailings produced from Rodeo’s operations”.
  • Minera Alamos Inc., announced an independent NI43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate of 630K Oz Au at its Cerro de Oro project in Zacatecas. The inferred mineral resource was prepared using an economic pit shell at a gold price of USD $1,450 per Oz and contains 630K Oz of oxide gold mineralization from 48M tonnes of 0.41 g/t Au.  Minera Alamos has also identified a number of high priority targets with potential to expand resources at Cerro de Oro, as well as a limited number of diamond drill holes which have demonstrated the potential for sulphide mineralization to extend to depth below the current estimate area.
  • Sierra Metals Inc., announced a significant increase of its mineral resource estimate at its Cusi mine in Chihuahua. The company increased 18% the measured and indicated resources from 4,557,000 tonnes to 5,356,000 tonnes, and 200% the inferred resources from 1,633,000 tonnes to 4,893,000 tonnes. The updated mineral resource estimate include measured + indicated resources of  5,356,000 tonnes of 182 g/t Ag, 0.12 g/t Au, 0.5% Pb, and 0.6% Zn (215 g/t AgEq) for a total of 31.26M Oz Ag, 20.22K Oz Au, 58.26M Lb Pb, and 67.99M Lb Zn (37M Oz AgEq), and Inferred resources of 4,893,000 tonnes of 146 g/t Ag, 0.18 g/t Au, 0.43% Pb, and 0.69% Zn (183 g/t AgEq) for a total of 23M Oz Ag, 27.7K Oz Au, 46M Lb Pb, and 74.81M Lb Zn (28.82M Oz AgEq).
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., announced new high-grade discovery at the Babi Vista Splay Vein within its Las Chispas project in Sonora as a result of an in-fill drilling program at the northwestern extension of the Babi Vista Vein. Twenty four holes have been collared at this target with a high grade footprint of approximately 300m along strike and average height of 175m. Weighted average results are 74.27 g/t Au and 3,437 g/t Ag (9,071 g/t AgEq) over a true width of 1.6m. The most significant drill intercept was encountered in hole BV20-201 with 555.36 g/t Au and 19,453 g/t Ag (61,105 g/t AgEq) over a true width of 2.4m. This discovery at Babi Vista Splay Vein will be included as inferred resources for the upcoming resource estimation in the ongoing PFS study.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Aura Minerals Inc., announced a new and improved offtake agreement with Trafigura Mexico S.A. de C.V., starting in 2022. The new agreement, in which Trafigura has agreed to purchase 100% of the copper and gold concentrate produced at Aranzazu mine in Zacatecas,  is effective as of the beginning of 2022 and continues until the end of 2024.
  • Barksdale Resources Corp., appointed its company Senior VP of project Development. Its role will be overseeing the advancement of the Company’s project portfolio, including the San Javier copper-gold project in Sonora, Mexico. In connection with this appointment, Barksdale has granted a stock option to purchase 250K common shares, exercisable at $0.68 per share over a three-year period. 
  • Comet Resources Limited, changed its provider for shareholder registry services from Advanced Share Registry Services to Automic Pty Ltd (Santa Teresa property, Baja California).
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., announced the appointment of a new member for its board of directors (Las Chispas project, Sonora).
  • Starcore International Mines Ltd., presented results from its annual general meeting of shareholders (San Martin mine, Queretaro).  
  • Silver Dollar Resources Inc., announced it has hired a Country Manager to work alongside the company at its la Joya Silver project in Durango.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., achieved 10M hours work without a lost time injury (El Limon-Guajes mine complex, Guerrero).

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, barite crystals from a low-intermediate sulphidation epithermal system in a prospect in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.