Government

Mina ‘La Colorada’, en Zacatecas, suspende operaciones por inseguridad

/ Gambusino Prospector / Leave a comment

Por Isaías León / Corresponsal octubre 06, 2023

La empresa Pan American Silver anunció el cierre de operaciones de la mina La Colorada, ubicada en el municipio de Chalchihuites, en Zacatecas.

De acuerdo con un comunicado emitido por la empresa, la suspensión se realizó por motivos de seguridad “en el sitio de la mina y el área circundante”

Continuar leyendo en: https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/estados/2023/10/06/mina-la-colorada-en-zacatecas-suspende-operaciones-por-inseguridad/

López Obrador asegura que México revisa cada concesión otorgada para extraer litio

/ Gambusino Prospector / Leave a comment

Por Reuters Jueves 28 de Septiembre de 2023

El gobierno mexicano está revisando las concesiones de litio en el país, dijo el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador al ser consultado sobre el caso de la minera Ganfeng Lithium de China.

El gobierno mexicano está revisando las concesiones de litio en el país, dijo el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador al ser consultado sobre la presunta suspensión de algunas de ellas denunciada por la minera Ganfeng Lithium de China.

En un documento difundido a fines de agosto, el gigante del litio Ganfeng, que tiene operaciones en el norte del país, informó que las autoridades mineras mexicanas habían anunciado a sus filiales locales que nueve de sus concesiones habían sido canceladas.

El año pasado, el gobierno promulgó una nacionalización radical del litio aprobada en el congreso de mayoría oficialista, para garantizar que el país se beneficie de la creciente demanda del metal ultraligero, codiciado por los fabricantes de baterías recargables de todo el mundo.

Para continuar leyendo el artículo favor de ir al siguiente Link: https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Lopez-Obrador-asegura-que-Mexico-revisa-cada-concesion-otorgada-para-extraer-litio-20230928-0039.html

Cancelación de concesión a Ganfeng Lithium se dirimirá en tribunales nacionales

/ Gambusino Prospector / Leave a comment

Por Roberto Morales Lunes 25 de Septiembre de 2023

La Ley Minera de México fue modificada el 20 de abril de 2022 para designar las reservas de litio del país como parte de su patrimonio nacional. No obstante, en Sonora, Ganfeng Lithium posee 100% de las acciones del mismo.

El Gobierno de México canceló el Proyecto de Litio de Sonora a la empresa Ganfeng Lithium, con sede en China continental y quien construía la mayor mina de extracción de litio en México.

En principio, el caso se litigará en los tribunales nacionales, porque China no tiene un tratado de libre comercio con México (en los que normalmente se integra un capítulo sobre inversión), al tiempo que ambos países aún mantienen negociaciones para pactar un Acuerdo de Promoción y Protección Recíproca de Inversiones (APPRI).

“Ganfeng Lithium tiene la vía ordinaria, como cualquier persona o entidad sujeta a derecho en México”, comentó Alejandro Gómez Strozzi, socio de la consultoría estadounidense Foley Arena.

El Proyecto de Litio de Sonora consiste en la extracción de litio a partir de arcilla de litio en México y Ganfeng Lithium posee 100% de las acciones del mismo.

El último informe del estudio de viabilidad de la empresa indica que este es uno de los mayores proyectos de recursos de litio del mundo en la actualidad, con unos recursos totales de litio que ascienden aproximadamente a 8.82 millones de toneladas de carbonato de litio equivalente (LCE, por su sigla en inglés).

Puede continuar leyendo el artículo en: https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/economia/Cancelacion-de-concesion-a-Ganfeng-Lithium-se-dirimira-en-tribunales-nacionales-20230925-0040.html

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Fourth Week of July, 2023

/ gambusinoprospectormexico / Leave a comment

Diatreme Breccia

By Miguel A Heredia During the 30th week of the year (July 24th to July 30th, 2023), at least 15 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico, and 3 news published by the media, with five communicating production and financial results, four commenting on Mexican issues, three reporting resources and development of their properties, two disclosing deals and corporate issues, two informing on exploration results, and , two announcing financing issues, ON MEXICO ISSUES, Minera Autlan’s revenues in Q2, 2023 fell 51% due to the drop in manganese prices. Grupo Mexico obtained an increase of 37% of its net profits in Q2, 2023 due to the rise in copper prices. Several countries have requested a 10-year moratorium or pause on the exploitation of marine mining, as there is little information about the damage it could cause. Prismo, Silver Tiger and Reyna Gold reported the best drilling intercepts in Mexico on the fourth week of July, 2023. ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Reyna Gold released results from the first ten holes for a total of 1,328m of planned 5,500m from  phase 2 drilling at its La Gloria project. In Sinaloa, Prismo reported results from seven holes drilled at its Palos Verdes project, in the Panuco mining district.  ON MINING, Sierra Metals reported Q2, 2023 production and financial results from its Mexican operations. Mag Silver reported Q2, 2023 production results from its Juanicipio Mine in Zacatecas (56% / 44% Fresnillo plc and Mag respectively). Alamos Gold presented Q2 and H1 production and financial results from its Mulatos Mine in Sonora. Gold Resource announced Q2, 2023 production and financial results from its Don David Gold Mine in Oaxaca.  Agnico reported Q2, and H1, 2023 production and financial results from their Pinos Altos and La India mines in Chihuahua and Sonora respectively. ON FINANCING, Bear Creek closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of CAD $8.2M (Mercedes Mine, Sonora). Excellon announced agreement to extend maturity of convertible debentures (La Negra Mine, Queretaro).  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Silver Tiger released drill results from its ongoing program at El Tigre project in Sonora. Torex provided a Q3, 2023 update on its Media Luna project in Guerrero. SilverCrest provided notice of updated technical report (Las Chispas Mine, Sonora). ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Fortuna announced that it will release its unaudited financial statements and Management Discussions & Analysis (MD&A) for the second quarter 2023 on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, after the market closes (San Jose Mine, Oaxaca). Tocvan acquired 100% interest in Pilar expansion area project in Sonora.  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Fortuna Silver published its fifth annual sustainability report (San Jose Mine, Oaxaca).

ON MEXICO ISSUE

  • Minera Autlan’s revenues in Q2, 2023 fell due to the drop in manganese prices. During the Q2, 2023 the revenues of the Autlán mining company totaled USD $85.8M, that is, they had a loss of 51.2% in relation to the USD $175.7M obtained during the same period of 2022. In addition, between April and June 2023, its operating flow had a 92.9% drop, losing USD $66.4M. In its financial report issued to the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), the company explained that said loss was the result of different factors, one of them the drop in the prices of products such as manganese, for the production of manganese ferroalloys, as well as in the inputs for the production of steel. The mining company reported a net loss of USD $20M, which is added to the USD $11.8M lost in the first quarter of this year, thus totaling net losses of USD $31.8M in the first half of the year.
  • Grupo Mexico reported a net profit of USD $840M, which represented an increase of 37.5% compared to the USD $611M reported during the same period of the former year. In addition to the profits, the company owned by Germán Larrea had an increase in its operating flow of 14.6% to a value of USD $1,628M, that is, USD $227M more than in the second quarter of the previous year. In addition to the gains in its net profit and in its operating flow, the conglomerate that operates three divisions (Minera México, Grupo México Transportes and Grupo México Infraestructura), indicated that its revenues during Q2, 2023 amounted to USD $3,453M, which represented a growth of 7.8% compared to the USDS $3,203 that it reached in the same period of the previous year. Finally, it explained that, in the second quarter of the year, 79.2% of its income came from copper, 9.9% from molybdenum, 4% from silver, 2.8% from zinc, and the rest from income from gold and other byproducts.
  • Several countries including Brazil and Costa Rica, have requested a 10-year moratorium or pause on the exploitation of marine mining, as there is little information about the damage it could cause. The debate in the Assembly allows the 168 Member States of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), not just the 36 Council members, to express their views on this issue and formulate a general policy for the protection of the marine environment. At the Council meeting, governments and delegations from countries such as Norway, Mexico, the United Kingdom, China and Nauru continued to push for the mining code to be adopted as soon as possible. On the seabed, as far as is known, are 96% of the cobalt reserves, 84% of the nickel and 79% of the manganese, which are now crucial for the manufacture of batteries, wind generators and photovoltaic panels.
  • Prismo Metals Inc., Silver Tiger Metals Inc., and Reyna Silver Corp., reported the best drilling intercepts in Mexico on the fourth week of July, 2023. Details are shown in the table below:

ON EXPLORATION

  • Reyna Gold Corp., released results from the first ten holes for a total of 1,328m of planned 5,500m from phase 2 drilling at its La Gloria project in Sonora at La Republicana Zone. Drilling highlights include hole LG-23-39 with 1.09 g/t Au over 21.1m, including 14.20 g/t Au, 49 g/t Ag, and 0.32% Pb over 1m, including 1.67 g/t Au, 20 g/t Ag, and 0.3% Pb over 1m, including 1.20 g/t Au over 1m, including 1.77 g/t Au, 20 g/t Ag, and 0.5% Cu over 0.5m, including 9.14 g/t Au and 79 g/t Ag over 0.5m; hole LG-23-32 with 0.96 g/t Au over 19.90m, including 4 g/t Au and 23 g/t Ag over 1m, including 2.04 g/t Au and 20 g/t Ag over 0.75m, including 12.25 g/t Au, 123 g/t Ag, and 0.3% Pb over 0.90m; and hole LG-23-40 with 0.76 g/t Au over 19.05m, including 3.68 g/t Au over 3.85m, including 1.79 g/t Au and 17 g/t Ag over 0.55m, including 9.28 g/t Au, 96 g/t Ag, 0.5% Pb, and 0.3% Zn over 0.50m, including 19.55 g/t Au, 161 g/t Ag, 1.26% Cu, and 0.1% Zn over 0.35m, including 1.38 g/t Au, 14 g/t Ag, 0.1% Pb, and 0.2% Zn over 0.60m. “Two initial holes into Western Zone targeting a large Induced Polarization anomaly produced long intersections of anomalies of zinc and molybdenum with high levels of sulfides (pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite) and multiple gold intersections correlated with bismuth, adding to the evidence of potential proximity to a mineralized porphyry system”.
  • Prismo Metals Inc., reported results from seven holes drilled at its Palos Verdes project, in the Panuco mining district in Sinaloa. Drilling highlights include hole PV-23-25 with 1.36 g/t Au, 384 g/t Ag, 0.11% Cu, 0.1% Pb, and 0.3% Zn (512 g/t AgEq) over 0.3m, plus 38.2 g/t Au, 1,157 g/t Ag, 0.08% Cu, 0.06% Pb, and 0.1% Zn (4,311 g/t AgEq) over 1.35m, including 102 g/t Au, 3,100 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 0.2% Pb, and 0.3% Zn (11,520 g/t AgEq) over 0.5m; hole PV-23-24 with 0.87 g/t Au, 43 g/t Ag, 0.07% Cu, 0.04% Pb, and 1.46% Zn (178 g/t AgEq) over 2m, including 1.84 g/t Au, 95 g/t Ag, 0.05% Cu, 0.05% Pb, and 1.3% Zn (302 g/t AgEq) over 0.84m, plus 3.3 g/t Au, 32 g/t Ag, 0.14% Cu, 0.4% Pb, and 1.6% Zn (384 g/t AgEq) over 1.83m, including 11.90 g/t Au, 60 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 0.7% Pb, and 3.9% Zn (1,234 g/t AgEq) over 0.49m.; and hole PV-23-20 with 1.58 g/t Au, 0.01% Pb, and 0.01% Zn (189 g/t AgEq) over 0.9m, plus 0.21 g/t Au, 53 g/t Ag, and 0.01% Zn (71 g/t AgEq) over 0.20m.

 ON MINING

  • Sierra Metals Inc., reported Q2, 2023 production and financial results from its Mexican operations. At Bolivar Mine, Chihuahua, the company processed 405,987 tonnes of 0.92% Cu, 20 g/t Ag, and 0.42% Au with metallurgical recoveries of 92.92%, 80.45%, and 66.38% respectively, to produce 7.65M Lb Cu, 207K Oz Ag, and 3,678 Oz Au (10.72M Lb CuEq). At Cusi Mine, Chihuahua, Sierra Metals processed 51,750 tonnes of 160 g/t Ag, 0.14 g/t Au, and 0.33% Pb with ,metallurgical recoveries of 81.67%, 58.06%, and 86.54% to produce 217K Oz Ag, 131 Oz Au, and 326K Lb Pb (241K Oz AgEq). In both cases, CuEq and AgEq were calculated at realized prices of USD $3.99/Lb Cu, USD $24.17/Oz Ag, USD $1,977/Oz Au, and USD $0.96/Lb Pb.
  • Mag Silver Corp., reported Q2, 2023 production results from its Juanicipio Mine in Zacatecas (56% / 44% Fresnillo plc and Mag respectively). The project operator (Fresnillo plc) processed 377,018 tonnes with an average grade of 498 g/t Ag to produce 5.27M Oz Ag, 10.6K Oz Au, 7.62M Lb Pb, and 12.14M Lb Zn.
  • Alamos Gold Inc., presented Q2 and H1 production and financial results from its Mulatos Mine in Sonora. During the period Q2, 2023, the company produced 60.3K Oz Au and sold 60.2K Oz Au for a cost of sales of USD $70.9M. The company reported a cost of sales for Oz Au of USD $1,178 per Oz Au sold, a total cash cost and AISC of USD $847 and USD $894 respectively per Oz Au sold, and a capital expenditures (sustaining, growth and capitalized expenditures) of USD $6.5M.  For the period H1, 2023, Alamos has produced 110.8K Oz Au and sold 113.5K Oz Au for a cost of sales of USD $133.3M. The company reported a cost of sales for Oz Au of USD $1,175 per Oz Au sold, a total cash cost and AISC of USD $843 and USD $903 respectively per Oz Au sold, and a capital expenditures (sustaining, growth and capitalized expenditures) of USD $9.2M. The company also provided its 2023 outlook. It plans to produce 175K-185K Oz Au at a total cash and AISC of USD $900-950 and USD $950-1,000 respectively per Oz Au sold; and capital expenditures (sustaining, growth and capitalized expenditures) of USD $19-24M.
  • Gold Resource Corporation announced Q2, 2023 production and financial results from its Don David Gold Mine in Oaxaca. The company milled 113,510 tonnes of 1.59 g/t Au, 86 g/t Ag, 0.37% Cu, 1.6% Pb, and 3.7% Zn to produce 4,637 Oz Au, 289.8K Oz Ag, 748.2K Lb Cu, 3.1M Lb Pb, and 8M Lb Zn and sold 4,287 Oz Au, 274.2K Oz Ag, 732.5K Lb Cu, 2.95M Lb Pb, and 7.03M Lb Zn at realized prices of USD $2,010 per Oz Au, USD $24.03 per Oz Ag, USD $8,397 per tonne of Cu, USD $2,153 per tonne of Pb, and USD $2,485 per tonne of Zn. Total cash cost and AISC were USD $1,333 and USD $1,900 per Oz Au sold respectively. Year to date highlight include a total of 10.8K Oz Au sold and 569K Oz Ag sold, with a working capital of USD $20.8M at June 30, 2023.
  • Agnico Eagle Mines Limited reported Q2, and H1, 2023 production and financial results from their Pinos Altos and La India mines in Chihuahua and Sonora respectively. At Pinos Altos, Chihuahua, Agnico milled 401K tonnes in Q2, 2023 with an average grade of 1.82 g/t Au to produce 22,159 Oz Au at a production cost of USD $87 per tonne, a production cost per Oz Au produced of USD $1,566, and a total cash cost of USDS $1,282 per Oz Au produced. Year to date, Agnico has produced 765K tonnes with an average grade of 1.97 g/t Au to produce 46,293 Oz Au at a production cost of USD $88 per tonne, a production cost per Oz Au produced of USD $1,461, and a total cash cost of USDS $1,196 per Oz Au produced. At La India, Sonora, the company milled 880K tonnes in Q2, 2023 with an average grade of 0.74 g/t Au to produce 17,833 Oz Au at a production cost of USD $27 per tonne, a production cost per Oz Au produced of USD $1,326 and a total cash cost of USDS $1,385 per Oz Au produced. Year to date, Agnico has produced 1.54M tonnes with an average grade of 0.72 g/t Au to produce 34,154 Oz Au at a production cost of USD $28 per tonne, a production cost per Oz Au produced of USD $1,281, and a total cash cost of USDS $1,348 per Oz Au produced. Open pit mining and crusher operations are expected to be concluded in the Q4, 2023.

ON FINANCING

  • Bear Creek Mining Corporation closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement. A total of 16.725M of shares were sold at a price of CAD $0.49 per common share for gross proceeds of CAD $8.2M. Net proceeds will be used for exploration and production improvements at its Mercedes Mine in Sonora, and for general corporate purposes.
  • Excellon Resources Inc., announced agreement to extend maturity of convertible. The company entered into a binding agreement with holders of greater than 662/3% of its outstanding 5.75% secured convertible debentures in the aggregate principal amount of CAD $17.91M to extend the maturity date of the Convertible Debentures by 367 days from July 30, 2023 to July 31, 2024 (La Negra Mine, Querétaro).  

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Silver Tiger Metals Inc., released drill results from its ongoing program at El Tigre project in Sonora. Hole ET-23-463 intersected 0.95 g/t Au, 2 g/t Ag, 0.01% Pb, and 0.01% Zn (73 g/t AgEq) over 36m on the Open Pit Gold Zone, including 2.79 g/t Au, 2 g/t Ag, 0.01% Pb, and 0.01% Zn (212 g/t AgEq) over 6.4m, including 7.18 g/t Au, 5 g/t Ag, 0.01% Pb, and 0.01% Zn (544 g/t AgEq) over 1.5m, plus 0.13 g/t Au, 610 g/t Ag, 0.61% Cu, 0.4% Pb, and 0.7% Zn (711 g/t AgEq) over 9.9m on the Sulphide Zone, including 0.18 g/t, 827 g/t Ag, 0.83% Cu, 0.6% Pb, and 0.9% Zn (963 g/t AgEq) over 6.2m, including 0.19 g/t Au, 1,431 g/t Ag, 2.08% Cu, 0.5% Pb, and 1.7% Zn (1,713 g/t AgEq) over 0.7m, including 0.14 g/t Au, 1,089 g/t Ag, 1.01% Cu, 1.0% Pb, and 1.5% Zn (1,269 g/t AgEq) over 2.7m, including 0.14 g/t Au, 1,166 g/t Ag, 1.04% Cu, 0.8% Pb, and 0.5% Zn (1,3131 g/t AgEq) over 2m, plus 0.17 g/t Au, 213 g/T Ag, 0.24% Cu, 1.7% Pb, and 1.4% Zn (335 g/t AgEq) over 4m on Elk Tigre Vein Zone, including 0.18 g/t Au, 243 g/t Ag, 0.27% Cu, 2 % Pb, and 1.6% Zn (385 g/t AgEq) over 3.2m; and hole ET-23-464 with 0.04 g/t Au, 63 g/t Ag, 0.08% Cu, 0.2% Pb, and 0.03% Zn (80 g/t AgEq) over 3m on the HW Gold Zone, including 0.04 g/t Au, 167 g/t Ag, 0.18% Cu, 0.6% Pb, and 0.06% Zn (204 g/t AgEq) over 0.7m, plus 0.07 g/t Au, 31 g/t Ag, 0.13% Cu, 0.5% Pb, and 0.4% Zn (72 g/t AgEq) over 12m, including 0.08 g/t Au, g9 g/t Ag, 0.09% Cu, 0.7% Pb, and 1.2% Zn (140 g/t AgEq) over 3m, plus 0.33 g/t Au, 43 g/t Ag, 0.03% Cu, 1.7% Pb, and 11.6% Zn (496 g/t AgEq) over 6.7m on the Sulphide Zone, including 0.21 g/t Au, 39 g/t Ag, 0.04% Cu, 2.6% Pb, and 24.6% Zn (936 g/t AgEq) over 0.7m, plus 0.26 g/t Au, 14 g/t Ag, 0.02% Cu, 0.7% Pb, and 0.7% Zn (64 g/t AgEq) over 3.1m. The company plans further drilling to the north and south of the Sulphide Zone to expand this area of known mineralization.
  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., provided a Q3, 2023 update on its Media Luna project in Guerrero. The company reported that development activities continue to advance with the project remaining in budget and on schedule, with 35% complete across engineering, procurement, underground development, and surface construction. With USD $143.6M of expenditures incurred through H1 and the quarterly spend rate expected to increase further, full year guided expenditures are trending towards the lower end of the guided range of $390M to $440M. As of June 30th, 45% of upfront project expenditures had been committed or incurred. The Guajes Tunnel has advanced 4,500 metres with breakthrough on track for early Q1 2024, if not earlier. At South Portal Lower, the main spiral ramp was completed post-quarter end and the primary tunnel has advanced 2,075 metres. Civil works on both sides of the Balsas River continued during the quarter, and concrete installation will commence as the site-wide concrete contractor is selected.   “With development activities tracking to plan, robust financial liquidity, and strong ongoing cash flow from El Limón Guajes, we are well positioned physically and financially to deliver Media Luna on time and on budget, with first concentrate production in Q4 2024 and commercial production in early 2025.”
  • SilverCrest Metals Inc., provided notice of updated technical report (Las Chispas Mine, Sonora). The company announced that it will release results from its updated Technical Report on Monday, July 31, 2023 after market close.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., announced that it will release its unaudited financial statements and Management Discussions & Analysis (MD&A) for the second quarter 2023 on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, after the market closes (San Jose Mine, Oaxaca).
  • Tocvan Ventures Corp., entered into a binding letter of intent with a private title owner for the 100% acquisition of 2,172.7 ha immediately adjacent and north of its Pilar Gold-Silver Project Sonora, Mexico. Prior to closing a definitive agreement, the acquisition is subject to a 60-day due diligence period effective July 25, 2023.  Terms of the agreement include a cash payment of USD $4M and USD $2.5M in common shares which should be issued over the 5-year term of the agreement. A total minimum work commitment of USD $1 million USD is considered over the agreement. The title owner will retain a 2% NSR on the properties acquired. After the initial 5-year term the company can elect to extend the agreement an additional 10 years by starting advanced royalty payments or purchase full title ownership through an additional cash payment of USD  $500K. On Closing of a Definitive Agreement, an initial payment of USD $250K will be made. 

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., published its fifth annual sustainability report, which details the Company´s performance on key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators during 2022. Highlights include that 75% of the directors are independent, 37.5% of the directors are female; there are 5,233 full-time workers, including 2,174 direct employees, from which 16.84% of all employees are female and19.15% of management positions are female; USD $5.64M were spent on community-related investments; 41.85% of employees come from local communities, and 7.71% of suppliers sourced from local communities; 50% of the operating mines are compliant with ISO 14001; 63% of water used is recycled: and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of 17.94 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2eq) emitted per thousand tonnes of processed ore. (San Jose Mine, Oaxaca).

  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 diatreme breccia in a project in Durango, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico: Highlights on the Second Week of March, 2023.

/ gambusinoprospectormexico / Leave a comment

Quartz-Sericite-Pyrite (Phyllic Alteration).

By Miguel A Heredia

During the 10th week of the year (March 6th to March 12nd, 2023), at least 9 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico, and 4 news published by the media with five commenting on Mexican Issues, three informing on exploration results, two reporting resources and developments, two disclosing deals and corporate issues, and one discussing social issues. ON MEXICO ISSUES, Peñoles and Fresnillo plc recognized the role of women in mining, commemorating his legacy from the beginning of his participation in this sector. In Mexico, women in mining have access to salaries up to 30% higher than the national average. According to figures from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), more than 66,000 women work in the mining-metallurgical industry, which is equivalent to 16.3% of the total workforce. Proposals to modify the Mining Law lack support, say experts, since the industry complies with at least 4,000 legal obligations, before starting operations of a mining unit. GoGold and Torex reported the best drilling intercepts in Mexico on the second week of March, 2023.  ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Aztec Minerals reported that it has commenced the 2023 exploration program at its Cervantes project. In Sinaloa, Prismo announced that it has received authorization for drilling its Palos Verdes project.  In Oaxaca, Vortex Metals provided an update on the environmental works it has conducted at its flagship Riqueza Marina project. ON MINING, no relevant news. ON FINANCING, no relevant news. ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, GoGold reported additional drilling results from Los Ricos South, within the Eagle and Main Deposits in Jalisco.  Torex released results from the drilling program conducted at its Media Luna project in Guerrero. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Guanajuato Silver announced that a new shareholder has acquired a significant equity position in the company (El Cubo, Valenciana, and San Ignacio Mines in Guanajuato). Bear Creek provided an update on the USD $25M payment to Equinox Gold for the Mercedes mine in Sonora. ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Endeavour published its inaugural climate strategic report (Guanacevi mine, Durango).

ON MEXICO ISSUE

  • Servicios Industriales Peñoles S.A.B. de C.V., and Fresnillo plc recognized the role of women in mining, commemorating his legacy from the beginning of his participation in this sector. Both companies have maintained a strong gender agenda that offers equal opportunities to women and men, equal salaries that depend on the responsibilities of each employee, programs to prevent harassment and to reinforce female leadership.
  • In Mexico, women in mining have access to salaries up to 30% higher than the national average, with remunerations that exceed MXP $11K a month, above the MXP $5K and up to MXP $7K received by workers in the agricultural and construction sectors, textile employees, drivers and merchants, according to sector estimates. The mining industry has made progress on issues of diversity and inclusion, since in the last 13 years the participation of women has increased, going from 33,260 at the end of 2008 to 66,037 by 2022, according to data from Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX).
  • According to figures from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), more than 66,000 women work in the mining-metallurgical industry, which is equivalent to 16.3% of the total workforce. The number of women who are entering careers in mining engineering, metallurgy and geology is increasing and therefore their presence in the productive field and in the management of the operation of mining units is increasing. Of the total number of women who participate in the industry, 10% hold directive positions and 14% hold management positions.
  • Proposals to modify the Mining Law lack support, say experts, since the industry complies with at least 4,000 legal obligations, before starting operations of a mining unit. The reform initiatives to the Mining Law that have been presented in the Congress of the Union lack support in the real circumstances of this industry or refer to issues that should be the subject of other legal regulations, as uncertainty for this activity. The experts explained that issues such as creating or increasing taxes and/or rights must be ruled out in the legislative drafts, since mining entrepreneurs pay, like any other taxpayer, the Income Tax, the Special Tax on Production and Services, in addition to they also pay mining rights and some local contributions, such as payroll and property taxes, as well as some of the so-called ecological taxes. They added that it is estimated that the tax burden of mining in Mexico is high, compared to other countries with mining activity. Mining is an industry misunderstood and unknown by many, even by those who promote changes to its legislation, for which they trusted that the voice of those who know and participate directly in the industry will be heard.
  • GoGold Resources Inc., and Torex Gold Resources Inc., reported the best drilling intercepts in Mexico on the second week of March, 2023. Details are shown in the table below:

ON EXPLORATION

  • Aztec Minerals Corp., reported that it has commenced the 2023 exploration program at its Cervantes project in Sonora. The plan of the company is to conduct a surface exploration program which will consist of road cut, reconnaissance outcrop, and soil sampling, Terraspec SWIR data collection, and geological mapping. It will comprise collecting over 1,300 geochemical samples, including 950 roads cut, 120 soils, and 250 outcrop chips.
  • Prismo Metals Inc., announced that it has received authorization for drilling its Palos Verdes project, located in the historic Panuco-Copala mining district in Sinaloa. The company plan is to complete a 2,500m drilling program to test the strike length of the Palos Verdes Vein that was not previously accessible until now.
  • Vortex Metals Inc., provided an update on the environmental works it has conducted at its flagship Riqueza Marina project in Oaxaca. Vortex has completed the environmental work activities and has interpreted and organized the information according to predetermined formats required for the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). Additionally, the company is working closely with the community looking that a beneficial relationship is established and the general assembly confirms and seals the agreements.

ON MINING

  • No relevant news.

ON FINANCING

  • No relevant news.

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • GoGold Resources Inc., reported additional drilling results from Los Ricos South, within the Eagle and Main Deposits in Jalisco. Drilling highlights include hole LRGAG-22-117 on Eagle Deposit with 1.09 g/t Au and 133 g/t Ag (2.87 g/t AuEq or 215 g/t AgEq) over25m, including 1.96 g/t Au and 307 g/t Ag (6.06 g/t AuEq or 454 g/t AgEq) over 9m, including 8.08 g/t Au and 1,460 g/t Ag (27.75 g/t AuEq or 2,066 g/t AgEq) over 1m; hole LR-GAG-22-125 on Eagle Deposit with 2.14 g/t Au and 128 g/t Ag (3.84 g/t AuEq or 288 g/t AgEq) over 42.3m, including 9.66 g/t Au and 486 g/t Ag (16.13 g/t AuEq or 1,210 g/t AgEq) over 7.3m; including 15.35 g/t Au and 866 g/t Ag (26.89 g/t AuEq or 2,017 g/t AgEq) over 2.8m; and hole LRGG-22-232 on Main Deposit with 2.60 g/t Au and 61 g/t Ag (3.41 g/t AuEq or 256 g/t AgEq) over 10.2m, including 24.60 g/t Au and 238 g/t Ag (27.77 g/t AuEq or 2,083 g/t AgEq) over 0.8m.  The Eagle Deposit adjoins the Main Deposit and represents a northern extension of the previously defined Mineral Resource Estimate in the Los Ricos South PEA.
  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., released results from the drilling program conducted at its Media Luna project in Guerrero. This program was focused on upgrading Indicated Resources to the Measured category and targeting spatial gaps in prior drilling to expand Inferred Mineral Resources. Drilling highlights include hole ML22-823D with 40.48 g/t Au, 87 g/t Ag, and 2.76% Cu (46.05 g/t AuEq) over 28.40m; hole ML22-804D with 10.79 g/t Au, 101 g/t Ag, and 3.09% Cu (17.08 g/t AuEq) over 58.08m; hole ML22-768D with 13.98 g/t Au, 112 g/t Ag, and 3.69% Cu (21.39 g/t AuEq) over 26.39m; hole ML22-762A with 13.27 g/t Au, 17 g/t Ag, and 0.46% Cu (14.23 g/t AuEQ9 over 22.43m; hole ML22-835D with 6.72 g/t Au, 29 g/t Ag, and 0.92% Cu (8.58 g/t AuEq) over 34.75m; hole ML22-767D with 4.57 g/t Au, 80 g/t Ag, and 2.50% Cu (9.63 g/t AuEq) over 26.15m; hole ML22-913 with 4.75 g/t Au, 29 g/t Ag, and 1.76% Cu (8 g/t AuEq) over 25.43 g/t AuEq over 25.43m; hole ML22-910 with 1.06 g/t Au, 54 g/t Ag, and 1.25% Cu (3.78 g/t AuEq) over 48.05m; hole ML22-877A with 1.53 g/t Au, 25 g/t Ag, and 0.73% Cu (3.03 g/t AuEq) over 26.77m; and hole ML22-915 with 1.94 g/t Au, 6 g/t Ag, and 0.34% Cu (2.56 g/t AuEq) over 18.05m.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd., announced that a leading US based institutional investor has acquired a significant equity position in the company through the purchase of 24M common shares representing the majority of the equity position previously held by Great Panther Mining Ltd. (El Cubo, Valenciana, and San Ignacio Mines in Guanajuato).
  • Bear Creek Mining Corporation provided an update on the USD $25M payment to Equinox Gold Corp., for the Mercedes mine in Sonora. Bear Creek has revised the terms of the heads of agreement with Equinox to amortize over a two-year period payment of the final USD $25M purchase price installment. “The Revised Terms provide for converting the Deferred Payment into a secured interest bearing promissory note (the “Note”). The Note bears a nominal rate of interest equal to 12.5% per annum plus the greater of (i) 90-day average Secured Overnight Financing Rate and (ii) 2.50% per annum, and matures after a term of two years on October 21, 2024 (the “Maturity Date”). Commencing March 3, 2023, the Note will amortize at a fixed rate of USD $700K per month during the first year until March 3, 2024 and thereafter at an amount per month equal to the greater of (i) USD $700K and (ii) 50% of the free cash flow generated from Mercedes”. In addition to the Note, the Company will issue to Equinox Gold 2,750,000 common shares of the Company.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Endeavour Silver Corp., published its inaugural climate strategic report in which provided specific information in four areas: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets (Guanacevi mine, Durango).

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-sericite-pyrite (phyllic alteration) in a porphyry copper project in Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.

The Mining and Exploration News in Mexico; Highlights on the First Week of September 2022

/ Gambusino Prospector / Leave a comment

By Jorge Cirett

During the 35th week of the year (August 29th to September 4th, 2022), at least 21 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico. Five companies posted exploration advances on their properties and three presented production results for the second quarter, while one more provided an operational update. One company sold a portfolio of royalties in Mexican properties, one declared a dividend and closed a $5 M concentrate pre-payment facility. On advanced properties, one company reported metallurgical results, one updated its resource base, one released PEA numbers and one more released drilling results. One company is looking for partners for its projects and one more informed on the completion of the bought of their flagship property.  ON MEXICO ISSUES, the lithium government company is to be run by the son of one federal government executive in Sonora. The rescue effort on ten coal miners in Coahuila is changing to a recovery mission. ON EXPLORATION, in Sonora, Tocvan Ventures released drilling results from Pilar; Prismo Metals received the Lidar survey processed data on Los Pavitos. In Chihuahua, Radius Gold presented drilling results from Amalia. Kootenay Silver released drilling results from Columba. In Zacatecas, Zacatecas Silver reported drill results from El Cristo vein. ON MINING, Impact Silver, Santacruz Silver and Magna Gold financial/operational results for the second quarter 2022. Guanajuato Silver Company provided and operational update on Topia, San Ignacio and El Cubo and Valenciana complexes. ON FINANCING, Millrock Resources sold a portfolio of royalties in Mexican properties to Osisko Gold Royalties. Alamos Gold declared a quarterly dividen, Guanajuato Silver Company closed on a $5 M concentrate pre-payment facility.  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Discovery Silver reported metallurgical results from its Cordero project in Chihuahua. Starcore International Mines updated on NI 43-101 complaint resources at its San Martin mine in Queretaro. Southern Silver Exploration released numbers on the recently completed PEA at its Cerro Las Minitas project in Durango. Capitan Mining reported drilling results from the Jesus Maria target at its Cruz de Plata project in Durango. ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Mexus Gold US is seeking a partner for its Santa Elena property in Sonora. Minaurum Gold completed the acquisition of its Alamos Silver property in Sonora, with a final payment in cash and shares. ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Vizsla Silver released its environmental social and governance (ESG) initiative.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • LitioMx. The federal government operation of its newly created Lithium Mining Company (LitioMx) is still hazy, but the possibility has been raised that private companies might participate, also that the current Sonora governor might be involved, and a director has been named, which happens to be a relative of the presidency representative in the State (Although eager to advertise its different way of doing things, this government is making a great effort to replicate the worst practices of past governments).
  • Trapped Coal Miners. Blame put aside, the fate of the 10 trapped miners in Coahuila after the flooding of the coal mine on August 3 is almost defined, and the effort is now changing from rescue to body recovery, which might take months.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Prismo Metals Inc. received results from the Lidar survey carried out at its 5,289 ha Los Pavitos project in Sonora. “Mineralization at Los Pavitos consists of quartz veins and stockworks hosted in metasediments, in shear zones and parallel to foliation and crossing foliation”.
  • Tocvan Ventures Corp. released results from the four final holes drilled at its Pilar project in Sonora. Highlighted drill length intervals comprise 16.78 m @ 0.11 gpt Au; 18.30 m @ 0.24 gpt Au; 50.33 m @ 0.14 gpt Au, 10 gpt Ag (including 10.68 m @ 0.59 gpt Au, 40 gpt Ag); 21.35 m @ 0.13 gpt Au. “All four drill holes were drilled in new areas and intersected alteration and structures known to host gold-silver mineralization at Pilar”.
  • Zacatecas Silver Corp. reported results from the completed phase one diamond drilling at El Cristo vein system in the Zacatecas Silver project in Zacatecas. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 2.1 m @ 204 gpt Ag; 9.0 m @ 149 gpt Ag; 0.53 m @ 200 gpt Ag, 0.34 gpt Au, 0.8% Pb, 0.8% Zn; 0.82 m @ 84 gpt Ag, 0.14 gpt Au, 11.8% Pb, 3.7% Zn; 0.85 m @ 45 gpt Ag, 0.82 gpt Au, 1.9% Pb, 2.4% Zn; 3.0 m @ 250 gpt Ag; 0.55 m @ 198 gpt Ag, 1.6 m @ 175 gpt Ag. “Drill holes targeted the near surface depth extension of the larger surface workings and/or the depth extension of veins around the deeper historical shaft. The 28 holes drilled to date by the Company have been scout holes also designed to test select veins over at least 2 km of strike extension”.
  • Radius Gold Inc. reported results from three drill holes on El Cuervo target at the Amalia project in Chihuahua (Radius 35%, Pan American Silver 65%). Highlighted core length drill results comprise 17.00 m @ 438 gpt Ag, 0.80 gpt Au (including 2.0 m @ 3,182 gpt Ag, 4.49 gpt Au); 13.55 m @ 841 gpt Ag, 10.25 gpt Au (including 5.65 m @ 1,560 gpt Ag, 19.6 gpt Au). “Drilling at El Cuervo has defined mineralization similar to the Amalia structure, consisting of epithermal quartz veins, breccias and veinlets stockworks hosted within rhyolite volcanics along a major fault system. El Cuervo remains open to expansion along strike and to depth”.
  • Kootenay Silver Inc. released another batch of results from its phase 4 drilling program at Columba, Chihuahua. Highlighted core length results comprise 3.90 m @ 574 gpt Ag, 0.2% Pb, 0.7% Zn (including 0.90 m @ 949 gpt Ag, 0.4% Pb, 1.1% Zn) in the D vein, and 17.00 m @ 95 gpt Ag, 0.1% Zn (including 2.05 m @ 221 gpt Ag, 0.2% Zn); 0.4 m @ 325 gpt Ag, 0.2% Pb, 0.6% Zn; 1.58 m @ 425 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.3% Zn; 2.97 m @ 91 gpt Ag, 0.2% Zn; 1.63 m @ 2,330 gpt Ag, 0.8% Zn; 6.5 m @ 156 gpt Ag, 0.1% Pb, 0.1% Zn (including 1.05 m @ 769 gpt Ag, 0.5% Zn); 1.00 m @ 305 gpt Ag, 0.2% Pb, 0.2% Zn; 1.00 m @ 194 gpt Ag, 0.2% Pb, 0.2% Zn.

ON MINING

  • Impact Silver Corp. announced financial and operating results for the second quarter 2022. At its Real de Zacualpan project in Estado de Mexico, 37.2 K tonnes averaging 159 gpt Ag were milled during the period, to sell 151.3 K Oz Ag. Impact has no long term debt and cash on hand stands at $18.4 M. Two underground and two surface rigs continue with the 20,000 meters drilling program for the year.
  • Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. reported its financial and operating results for the second quarter 2022. At Zimapan, in Hidalgo, 200 K tonnes were milled to produce 914.5 K Oz AgEq at $16.71 cash cost per Oz AgEq and an AISC of $20.64 per Oz AgEq.
  • Magna Gold Corp. announced operating and financial results for the second quarter of 2022. At the San Francisco mine in Sonora 5.9 M tonnes were mined, of which 1.4 M tonnes averaging 0.39 gpt Au were placed on the heaps to produce 10,795 Oz Au. Cash at the end of the period was $1.4 M, while working capital was negative $35.4 M. “management believes it is prudent to preserve capital by reducing mining rates and secondary activities across the Company’s portfolio of assets……… the Company’s board and management determined that previously stated guidance for FY 2022 will be retracted and revised at a later date when a more accurate estimate of production impacts is known”.
  • Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd. provided an operational update detailing the integration of El Cubo mine and milling complex with the recently acquired Topia (Durango) and San Ignacio (Guanajuato) mines from Great Panther Mining Ltd. and the San Ignacio mine and Valenciana mines complex (both in Guanajuato). At El Cubo, the development of a 150 m tunnel and ramp reduced the total haulage distance from 7.2 km to 2.5 km with a strong impact on the project economics. Mineral from the San Ignacio mine is being transported to El Cubo mill for processing, and is expected to provide 5 to 6 K tonnes of material per month to the end of the year. At the Valenciana Mines Complex opportunities are being reviewed to restart mining and to process the material at the Cata mill in 2023. At Topia, the sale of 99.2 dry tonnes of Pb-Zn-Au concentrate 97.7 dry tonnes of Zn-Ag concentrate has been reported since the completion of the acquisition.

ON FINANCING

  • Millrock Resources Inc. sold a portfolio of royalties to Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. with gross proceeds of $1.2 M. The Mexican properties involved include Santa Rosalía (Sonora), El Valle, El Pima (Sonora), Violeta and Guadalcazar (San Luis Potosi).
  • Alamos Gold Inc. informed the company’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.025 per common share (Mulatos, Sonora).
  • Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd. reported that in conjunction with the acquisition of the Topia mine in Durango and the Mine Complex in Guanajuato from Great Panther Mining Ltd., has closed a US$5 M concentrate pre-payment facility with Ocean Partners UK Ltd. “Interest on the loan will be calculated at 12-month LIBOR + 7.5%” (Guanajuato Mine Complex, Guanajuato).

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Discovery Silver Corp. reported results from the metallurgical test program on the pre-feasibility study (PFS) from its Cordero project in Chihuahua. Recoveries of 94-98% Ag, 89-97% Pb, 92-96% Zn were achieved on high grade samples of all major rock types, and recoveries of 83-92% Ag, 85-92% Pb, 81-89% Zn on medium grade samples of blended rock types. “Oxide-sulphide blend testwork establish oxide-specific recoveries of ~60% for silver, ~40% for lead and ~85% for zinc via flotation; co-processing oxide mineralized material via flotation eliminates the need for heap leach processing”.
  • Starcore International Mines Ltd. released its updated NI 43-101 reserve and resource estimates for its San Martin mine in Querétaro. Proven and probable reserves stand at 1.35 M tonnes @ 1.74 gpt Au, 13 gpt Ag containing 75,353 Oz Au, 573 K Oz Ag, and indicated and inferred resources of 1.48 M tonnes @ 1.78 gpt Au, 14 gpt Ag, containing 160,352 Oz Au, 1.22 M Oz Ag. The exploration program for 2022 envisages 10,000 meters of diamond drilling near the current operations.
  • Southern Silver Exploration Corp. reported results from its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on its Cerro Las Minitas project in Durango. The study’s base case envisages an after-tax NPV5% of $349 M, an IRR of 17.9% with Ag at $21.95 per Oz, Cu at $3.78 per Lb, Pb at $0.94 per Lb, Zn at $1.33 per Lb. The indicated mineral resources included on the study comprise 12.3 M tonnes @ 106 gpt Ag, 0.16% Cu, 1.3% Pb, 3.3% Zn containing 42.1 M Oz Ag, 44 M Lb Cu, 358 M Lb Pb, 895 M Lb Zn, while inferred resources comprise 19.6 M tonnes @ 117 gpt Ag, 0.23% Cu, 1.2% Pb, 2,3% Zn, totaling 73.6 M Oz Ag, 98 M Lb Cu, 500 M Lb Pb, 1,009 M Lb Zn. Only sulfide mineralization was included in the study to produce Cu, Pb and zinc concentrates with the recoveries estimated at 91.6% Ag, 60% Cu, 88% Pb, 93% Zn.
  • Capitan Mining Inc. reported exploration results from five reverse circulation holes at its Cruz de Plata project in Durango. “All drillholes were successful in intersecting Jesus Maria style mineralization, expanding the zone between 43m and 114m down-dip along section”. Highlighted drill length intervals comprise 3.0 m @ 52 gpt Ag, 0.10 gpt Au, 1.3% Pb, 3.4% Zn; 19.8 m @ 29 gpt Ag, 0.08 gpt Au, 0.4% Pb, 0.6% Zn; 13.7 m @ 69 gpt Ag, 0.17 gpt Au, 0.5% Pb, 1.0% Zn; 21.3 m @ 84 gpt Ag, 0.05 gpt Au, 0.6% Pb, 0.7% Zn (including 1.5 m @ 189 gpt Ag, 0.02 gpt Au; 2.3% Pb, 2.3% Zn.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Mexus Gold US. continues to seek the right partner for production and/or exploration of its Santa Elena property in Sonora (not to mistake for First Majestic’s Santa Elena mine, also in Sonora).
  • Minaurum Gold Inc. announced the completion of the acquisition of 100% interest in the Alamos Silver project in Sonora. The 37,928-hectare property encompasses the historical 200 M Oz Ag Alamos district including 26 epithermal veins. Minaurum completed all work commitments and option payments and made a final compensation of C$300 K in cash and 443.6 K shares.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Vizsla Silver Corp. announced the continued progression on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives through safety, sustainability and commitment to communities.

On the image below: Banded Specularite-quartz-calcite vein in the Sonoran Desert. Picture by Jorge Cirett.

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

/ Gambusino Prospector / Leave a comment

By Jorge Cirett

During the 23rd week of the year (June 7th to June 13th, 2021), at least 25 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico. To note, six companies posted exploration advances on their properties, three posted on financing ($2.6M, $1.43 M, C$11.5 M) and one on a debt settlement with shares, six more on project development or resource definition and three posted on deals or corporate issues. ON MEXICO ISSUES, The bodies of seven miners killed on a coal mine collapse in Coahuila have been recovered. ON EXPLORATION, in Baja, Comet Resources commenced a drill program at Santa Teresa. In Sonora, Minaurum is re-commencing drilling at its Alamos Silver project; Silver Spruce commenced phase II ground exploration at Jackie; Tarachi Gold released RC drilling results from La Dura mine at its Tarachi project. Radius gold released ground exploration results from Maricela. In Sinaloa, Kootenay Silver released good drilling results at Copalito.  ON MINING, no relevant news. ON FINANCING, Santacruz Silver settled a C$4.5 M debt by issuing shares to debtors. Three companies informed on financing rounds: Silver Viper Minerals ($1.4 M, aggregate $6 M), Mammoth Resources ($2.6 M) and Defiance Silver (C$11.5 M). ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, GR Silver Mining reported drill results from Plomosas, in Sinaloa. Endeavour Silver released high-grade intercepts at Terronera, Jalisco. Advance Gold released (low) lithium drilling results from the Saldivar Salar in San Luis Potosi. GoGold Resources reported drilling results from Los Ricos North in Jalisco. Golden Tag Resources released drilling results from a bulk tonnage target at San Diego, Durango. Golden Minerals reported assay results from expansion drilling at Rodeo, Durango.  ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Millrock Resources and Tocvan Ventures signed a letter of commitment in relation to El Picacho project in Sonora. Telson Mining completed its change name to Altaley Mining. VanGold Mining announced its name change to Guanajuato Mining. ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Peñoles and Fresnillo PLC informed on actions the companies realize to help the environment. Mazapil inhabitants evaluated the water quality they receive with Minera Peñasquito support.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • The bodies of six of seven miners have been recovered after the collapse of a coal mine in Coahuila.
  • Luisa María Alcalde, head of the Secretariat of Work and Social Prevision informed the mine collapse in Coahuila that caused several fatalities was due to strong rains in the region.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Kootenay Silver Inc. released results from five holes at its Copalito project in Sinaloa. The holes are from the 5 Señores vein, which has now been tested on 600 m of its 1 km known extension. Highlighted core length results comprise 35 m @ 75 gpt Ag, 0.6 gpt Au, 0.1% Pb+Zn (126 gpt AgEq) which include 1.70 m @ 43 gpt Ag, 2.56 gpt Au, 0.8% Pb+Zn (218 gpt Ag) and 1.31 m @ 264 gpt Ag, 0.23 gpt Au, 2.3% Pb+Zn (326 gpt AgEq); 19.43 m @ 218 gpt Ag, 0.83 gpt Au, 1.5% Pb+Zn (306 gpt AgEq) including 7.97 m @ 330 gpt Ag, 1.23 gpt Au, 2.0% Pb+Zn (456 gpt AgEq); 15.0 m @ 61 gpt Ag, 0.75 gpt Au, 0.4% Pb+Zn (119 gpt Ag) including 2.0 m @ 220 gpt Ag, 3.79 gpt Au, 0.4% Pb+Zn (475 gpt AgEq); 12.0 m @ 66 gpt Ag, 0.17 gpt Au, 0.8% Pb+Zn (96 gpt AgEq) including 2.20 m @ 241 gpt Ag, 0.42 gpt Au, 0.8% Pb+Zn (289 gpt AgEq); 10.0 m @ 65 gpt Ag, 0.11 gpt Au, 0.3% Pb+Zn (79 gpt AgEq) including 1.68 m @ 210 gpt Ag, 0.45 gpt Au, 0.4% Pb+Zn (248 gpt AgEq).
  • Minaurum Gold Inc. informed on rig mobilization to its Alamos silver property in Sonora. “Drilling will focus on defining emerging silver shoots in previously explored veins as well as discovering new shoots in underexplored veins. Drill targets will be 100- to 150-metre step-outs of, up- and down-dip, and along-strike of mineralized vein zones, with allowances made for plunging shoots. Minaurum is also continuing reconnaissance work to the south and west in the Alamos project to develop new target veins for later drilling”. Some of the zones to be tested include the Europa-Guadalupe, San José, Minas Nuevas, Alessandra, Ana, Promontorio, Púlpito and Cotera.
  • Comet Resources Ltd. Commenced a 2,000 m diamond drilling program at Santa Teresa, in Baja California. This is the first drilling program since Premier Gold tested the property in 2008.
  • Radius Gold Inc. defined high grade and bulk tonnage targets at its Maricela project in Sonora. Rock chip sampling returned up to 3 m @ 4.46 gpt Au, 1,335 gpt Ag; 22.0 m @ 0.15 gpt Au, 39 gpt Ag; 4 m @ 1.23 gpt Au, 111 gpt Ag at Baby Gloria, 25.3 m @0.31 gpt Au, 62 gpt Ag; 10 m @ 0.62 gpt Au, 142 gpt Ag at Virgen de Plata, 4 m @ 0.45 gpt Au, 98 gpt Ag; 10.5 m @ 0.50 gpt Au, 105 gpt Ag at EL Arco; 6 m @ 1.03 gpt Au, 417 gpt Ag at Central. “The project hosts an epithermal silver & gold mineralized vein system extending approximately 1.5km long by 300m wide, within which occurs multiple veins, stockworks and breccias which at intersections have exposed widths +25 meters. Recent mapping and sampling (273 rock chips) identified 6 major veins with combined strike approximately of 5km”.
  • Silver Spruce Resources Inc. commenced phase II ground exploration at the 1,130 ha Jackie property in Sonora. “The work will be performed on a 100-hectare section of the Property with grid-controlled detailed geological mapping and rock sampling focused on a 25-hectare central block covering the core of the gold and silver discovery area with additional wider spaced grid mapping of the surrounding area”.
  • Tarachi Gold Corp. released results from surface reverse circulation holes drilled on La Dura mine within the Jabali concession at the Tarachi project in Sonora. Highlighted hole-length intervals comprise 3.0 m @ 0.63 gpt Au, 9.0 m @ 0.22 gpt Au, 3.0 m @ 0.37 gpt Au, 3.0 m @ 2.35 gpt Au; 1.50 m @ 1.56 GPT Au; 12.0 m @ 7.26 gpt Au (including 6.0 m @ 12.2 gpt Au); 3.0 m @ 1.68 gpt Au, 12.0 m @ 0.23 gpt Au. “The drill program tested the down-dip and potential southern plunge in areas of known gold bearing structures”. 

ON MINING

  • No relevant news.

ON FINANCING

  • Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. announced the settling of a debt of C$4.47 M by issuing 10.3 M shares to Empresa Minera Manquiri S.A. and Minas Guilloyna S.A. de C.V. (Zimapan, Hidalgo).
  • Mammoth Resources Corp. closed its previously announced oversubscribed non-brokered private placement financing to raise up to $2.6 M in gross proceeds (Tenoriba, Chihuahua).
  • Silver Viper Minerals Corp. closed the final tranche of its non-brokered private placement for aggregate proceeds of $1.43 M. Aggregate profits under the offering were $6 M (La Virginia, Sonora).
  • Defiance Silver Corp. closed the previously announced brokered private placement for Gross proceeds of C$11.5 M (San Acacio, Zacatecas; Tepal, Michoacan).

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • GR Silver Mining Ltd. reported drill results from the Plomosas project in Sinaloa. Highlighted true width (TW) intercepts on the northern portion of the Plomosas mine area of polymetallic hydrothermal breccia comprise 16.2 m @ 75 gpt Ag, 0.25 Au, 0.7% Pb, 0.8% Zn, 0.1% Cu (including 5.8 m @ 171 gpt Ag, 0.41 gpt Au, 1.1% Pb, 0.7% Zn, 0.2% Cu); 7.6 m @ 227 gpt Ag, 0.27 gpt Au, 1.7% Pb, 1.4% Zn, 0.1% Cu; 10.7 m @ 12 gpt Ag, 2.48 gpt Au, 1.1% Pb, 1.5% Zn (including 1.5 m @ 17 gpt Ag, 15.81 gpt Au, 1.1% Pb, 3.9% Zn); 3.6 m @ 100 gpt Ag, 0.14 gpt Au, 0.2% Pb, 1.1% Zn, 0.5% Cu; 21.0 m @ 25 gpt Ag, 0.67 gpt Au, 1.6% Pb, 2.4% Zn, 0.1% Cu).
  • Endeavour Silver Corp. announced high-grade intercepts in a number of structures near the Terronera vein at Terronera, Jalisco. True width intercepts comprise 1.12 m @ 0.32 gpt Au, 170 gpt Ag; 2.14 m @ 3.97 gpt Au, 73 gpt Ag; 5.59 m @ 2.17 gpt Au, 177 gpt Ag; 1.35 m @ 9.78 gpt Au, 214 gpt Ag at San Simón, 1.41 m @ 2.20 gpt Au, 54 gpt Ag; 2.88 m @ 6.05 gpt Au, 1,056 gpt Ag; 1.98 m @ 3.38 gpt Au, 347 gpt Ag; 1.39 m @ 2.04 gpt Au, 66 gpt Ag at Fresno, 1.08 m @ 2.63 gpt Au, 25 gpt Ag at Lindero, 1.08 m @ 1.09 gpt Au, 445 gpt Ag at Pendencia, and 1.95 m @ 9.52 gpt Au, 148 gpt Ag; 1.07 m @ 2.81 gpt Au, 54 gpt Ag at Los Cuates.
  • Advance Gold Corp. announced results from four core holes at its Saldivar Salar in San Luis Potosí. One hole averaged 84 m @ 136 ppm Li (232 ppm peak value), 225 ppm B, 1.3 % K; a second hole averaged 77 m @ 142 ppm Li (229 ppm peak value), 213 ppm B, 1.3% K; a third hole averaged 53 m @ 130 ppm Li (214 ppm peak value), 230 ppm B, 1.2% K; a fourth hole returned 50 m @ 137 ppm Li (231 ppm peak value), 226 ppm B, 1.4% K. 
  • GoGold Resources Inc. released results from drilling on El Orito prospect at it Los Ricos North project in Jalisco. Highlighted core length intersections comprise 9.5 m @ 20 gpt Ag, 0.03 gpt Au, 0.10% Cu, 0.3% Pb, 0.7% Zn; 12.4 m @ 38 gpt Ag, 0.08 gpt Au, 0.23% Cu, 2.1% Pb, 3.8% Zn (including 2.6 m @ 93 gpt Ag, 0.09 gpt Au, 0.61% Cu, 5.3% Pb, 9.9% Zn); 3.0 m @ 222 gpt Ag, 1.93 gpt Au, 0.29% Cu, 2.7% Pb, 0.1% Zn; 44.3 m @ 23 gpt Ag, 0.04 gpt Au, 0.08% Cu, 0.7% Pb, 1.2% Zn (including 4.9 m @ 44 gpt Ag, 0.16 gpt Au, 0.16% Cu, 2.5% Pb, 3.5% Zn); 26.6 m @ 14 gpt Ag, 0.04 gpt Au, 0.07% Cu, 1.1% Pb, 1.3% Zn (including 5.1 m @ 38 gpt Ag, 0.17 gpt Au, 0.20% Cu, 4.5% Pb, 1.9% Zn); 29.4 m @ 36 gpt Ag, 0.06 gpt Au, 0.23% Cu, 2.2% Pb, 4.1% Zn; (including 6.3 m @ 90 gpt Ag, 0.09 gpt Au, 0.65% Cu, 5.2% Pb, 9.5% Zn); 23.0 m @ 61 gpt Ag, 0.08 gpt Au, 0.40% Cu, 2.4% Pb, 4.9% Zn; 58.0 m @ 31 gpt Ag, 0.04 gpt Au, 0.19% Cu, 1.2% Pb, 2.6% Zn. “mineralization averaging approximately 30m in width for more than 700m in strike length and up to approximately 300m in vertical depth from surface and is open in all directions….. The known strike length of the El Orito – El Favor structure is now approaching 2,500 meters and is still open in both directions”.
  • Golden Tag Resources Ltd. released results from a diamond hole at the Trovador zone of its San Diego project in Durango. Highlighted results comprise 8.40 m @ 0.58 gpt Au, 30 gpt Ag, 0.3% Pb, 0.4% Zn, 0.09% Cu; 86.64 m @ 0.03 gpt Au, 39 gpt Ag, 0.9% Pb, 0.6% Zn; 169.83 m @ 0.04 gpt Au, 32 gpt Ag, 0.6% Pb, 0.8% Zn, 0.05% Cu (including 14.47 m @ 0.03 gpt Au, 81 gpt Ag, 1.9% Pb, 2.2% Zn, 0.12% Cu); 116.45 m @ 0.03 gpt Au, 42 gpt Ag, 0.6% Pb, 0.7% Zn; 2.71 m @ 0.05 gpt Au, 97 gpt Ag, 0.5% Pb, 3.1% Zn, 0.35% Cu.
  • Golden Minerals Co. released initial results from its expansion drill program at its Rodeo open pit mine in Durango. Highlighted results comprise 14.65 m @ 3.94 gpt Au, 8 gpt Ag; 9.30 m @ 5.38 gpt Au, 10 gpt Ag; 3.70 m @ 7.02 gpt Au, 21 gpt Ag (including 0.90 m @ 21.09 gpt Au, 50 gpt Ag); 13.75 m @ 2.64 gpt Au, 10 gpt Ag, 6.35 m @ 1.41 gpt Au, 36 gpt Ag; 3.80 m @ 2.69 gpt Au, 26 gpt Ag.
  • GR Silver Mining Ltd. reported drill results from high-grade epithermal veining from La Colorada and San Juan veins at Plomosas, Sinaloa. Highlighted core length intervals comprise 9.0 m @ 710 gpt Ag, 1.82 gpt Au, 1.1% Pb, 0.3% Zn, 0.1% Cu (including 0.7 m @ 8,519 gpt Ag, 18.77 gpt Au, 8.9% Pb, 0.7% Zn, 0.2% Cu); 33.0 m @ 20 gpt Ag, 0.11 gpt Au, 0.5% Pb, 0.3% Zn; 11.1 m @ 139 gpt Ag, 0.69 gpt Au, 0.1% Pb, 0.2% Zn; 7.0 m @ 341 gpt Ag, 1.00 gpt Au, 0.2% Pb, p.6% Zn; 2.1 m @ 480 gpt Ag, 0.05 gpt Au, 0.2% Pb, 0.2% Zn. “The La Colorada vein is a hydrothermal breccia that contains Au-Ag-Pb-Zn values in a mineralized quartz and hematite matrix. It is hosted in andesite and ignimbrite country rock. Sphalerite, galena and acanthite (Ag-bearing mineral) are found in the quartz veins.”.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Millrock Resources Inc. signed a letter of commitment with Tocvan Ventures Corp. in relation to 2,414 ha El Picacho gold project in Sonora, west of the San Francisco mine. Tocvan must make make cash payments of US$2 M to the underlying concession owners over a five-year term to acquire 100% interest in the project, pay back taxes and Millrock is to retain a 2% NSR, of Which Tocvan may purchase back 1% for US$1 M.
  • Telson Mining Corp. is completing its name change to Altaley Mining Corp. on June 11, 2021 (Campo Morado, Guerrero).
  • VanGold Mining Corp. announced the name change to Guanajuato Mining Corp. to be effective from June 10, 2021 (El Cubo and El Pinguico, Guanajuato).

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Peñoles and Fresnillo PLC informed on actions the companies realize to help the environment.
  • Mesas Mazapil inhabitants informed on the supervision they do on the water source delivered by Minera Peñasquito.

On the image below:  Felsic volcanic rocks autobreccia with hematite rich matrix in Sinaloa. Picture by Jorge Cirett.

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

/ gambusinoprospectormexico / Leave a comment

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 Second Week of October, 2020.

/ gambusinoprospectormexico / Leave a comment

Rich-Mn jasperoid

By Miguel A Heredia

During the forty one week of the year (October 5th to October 11th, 2020), at least 27 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico and 10 news published by the media, with seven informing on exploration results, seven announcing financial rounds, seven commenting on Mexican issues, six disclosing deals and corporate issues, six communicating production and financial results, three discussing social issues, and one reporting on resources and development of their mine operations  ON MEXICO ISSUES, The Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX) and other organizations in the mining sector urged the federal government to maintain the operations of the Mining Fund, which has counted, until now, with an amount of MXP $22,000M (about $1B). The fate of the Fund for the Development of Mining Production Zones (Mining Fund), which had drastically changed its distribution in the last two years, is now more uncertain. Alvaro Burgos Barrera, the State Secretary of Economic Development of Guerrero, stated that Mining fund distributed MXP $300M for urban infrastructure in seven municipalities of the state, but now this support won´t arrive anymore at the entity after the disappearance of such program, at the initiative of the current federal government. Mining companies operating in Mexico demanded to guarantee the resources of the Mining Fund to the mining communities. The mining sector of Zimapan, Hidalgo spoke against the extinction of the Mining Fund. Mexico loses shine to attract mining investment. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to take a decision on how to manage Mexico’s lithium resources soon.  ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Riverside reported assay results from 55 channel samples and 181 soil samples taken at its Cuarentas property and announced it is preparing a drill program. In Chihuahua, Kootenay released drilling results from its Columba project and announced the discovery of a broad area of Ag mineralization.  In Sinaloa, Brigadier reported exploration results from the El Placer vein system within its Picachos project, Prismo received environmental permit from SEMARNAT to drill 5 holes at its Palos Verdes project, and Vizsla reported drill results from its Panuco property.  In Zacatecas, Advance Gold reported drill results from two holes collared at its Tabasquena project. In Guanajuato, VanGold released assays from underground channel sampling carried out at its Pinguico property.  ON MINING, Aura reported preliminary Q3, 2020 production results from its Aranzazu mine in Zacatecas. GoGold reported Q3, 2020 production activities from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua. Endeavour announced Q3, 2020 production results from their Mexican operations. Great Panther released production results from their Topia mine in Durango and Guanajuato Mine Complex in Guanajuato for the period Q3, 2020. Hecla announced production results from its San Sebastian mine in Durango for the period Q3, 2020.Torex reported Q3, 2020 production results from its El Limon-Guajes mine complex in Guerrero. ON FINANCING, Almadex announced a proposed non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of approximately $1.35M (El Chato project, Puebla). Barksdale granted stock options to its directors, employees and consultants (San Javier project, Sonora). Comet raised $1M under its share purchase plane with approximately 180 shareholders participating (Santa Teresa project, Baja California). Golden Tag announced that it has initiated the process to have its common shares trading on the OTCQB Venture Market and the repricing of 9.9M incentive stock options. Inomin closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $400,500 (La Gitana project, Oaxaca). Santacruzclosed the first tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $7,629,279.02. Mexus announced that it has completed a 1 for 20 reverse split of its stock (Santa Elena mine, Sonora).   ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Mexus announced that its ball mill gravity gold recovery system is now operational, allowing the company to run high grade material from the Julio quartz vein at its Santa Elena mine located in Caborca, Sonora.    ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Avino announced that it achieved a successful resolution to the strike at its Avino mine in Durango. Gold Resource announced its intent to spin-off in two separate companies its Nevada and Oaxaca Mining Unit (Arista Mine, Oaxaca).  Gray Rock announced the change of its name to Silver Wolf Exploration Ltd (Ana Maria project, Durango). Impact Silver executed a letter of intent to option the Nuevo Taxco project in Guerrero to Road Oak Mining Corp. Osisko announced spin-out of mining assets and creation of a premier North American Gold Development Company (San Antonio project, Sonora).  Silver Dollar reported that it is evaluating to transfer its Canadian exploration projects to a new subsidiary with the aim of position the company to be focus on the exploration and development of its advanced stage la Joya property in Durango. ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Minera Cuzcatlán (Fortuna Silver) fulfilled an agreement with the Oaxaca community to extend the hours of attention to patients at the Health Center of the Municipal Headquarters.  In the Municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, Chihuahua, 11 school domes were inaugurated, of which 6 were made with resources from the Mining Fund and five in coordination with the Municipality and the State. Industrias Peñoles SAB de CV faces firmly the new challenges posed by the pandemic.

ON MEXICO ISSUES

  • The Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX) and other organizations in the sector urged the federal government to maintain the operations of the Mining Fund, which has counted, until now, with an amount of MXP $22,000M (about $1.04B),  with an impact on 690 communities. The Mining Fund was created with the objective of benefiting the populations where the resources were generated.
  • The fate of the Fund for the Development of Mining Production Zones (Mining Fund), which had drastically changed its distribution in the last two years, is now more uncertain. The resources collected between 2014 and 2018 have been used for the installation and maintenance of public lighting, sanitary landfills, water treatment plants, drainage works. Public jets and environmental projects such as reforestation, etc. In 2019, it was decreed that these resources be distributed in a general way in the country through the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), which reduces the possibility of continuing with the development of mining communities. It goes against the principles by which it was generated: to distribute the Mining Fund among mining states and municipalities to promote high-impact infrastructure works.
  • Alvaro Burgos Barrera, the State Secretary of Economic Development of Guerrero, stated that Mining fund distributed MXP $300M for urban infrastructure in seven municipalities, but now this support won´t arrive anymore at the entity after the disappearance of such program, at the initiative of the current federal government.
  • Mining companies operating in Mexico demanded to guarantee the resources of the Mining Fund to the mining communities claiming that is was created with the spirit of benefiting the populations where the resources are generated. The Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX) asked the federal government to guarantee the application of resources from the Fund for the Development of Mining Production Zones for the benefit of the more than 690 mining communities in the country located in 212 municipalities in 24 states of the Mexican Republic. That is the commitment 27 made by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his protest, which states: “The tax charged to companies for the extraction of the mineral will be transferred to the mining communities.”
  • The mining sector of Zimapan, Hidalgo spoke against the extinction of the Mining Fund. The federal initiative to disappear 109 trusts with an economic sum of almost MXP $68.5 would cause Hidalgo to stop receiving part of those funds, in different lines, including the one focused on Science and Technology as well as the extractive mineral industry. One of the first impacts would be the cancellation of economic resources for the urban infrastructure of the municipality.
  • Mexico loses shine to attract mining investment. After disagreements between the federal government and the mining industry, last year Mexico fell nine places in investment attractiveness for the mining industry, going from 29th place in 2018 to 38th in 2019. The federal government has been clear that no mining concessions will be granted during this administration. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has declared that 40 percent of the national territory was concessioned and it is about stopping them “because with what has been granted, it is enough for millions of years.” Karen Flores, general director of the Mining Chamber of Mexico (CAMIMEX), refuted this statement and points out that 24 thousand 66 mining concession titles are in force in Mexico, representing 16.83 million hectares, equivalent to 8.59 percent of the national territory, for which is a myth to affirm that practically the entire national territory is concessioned to mining. At least 84 projects were postponed in 2019 due to different factors that affect their competitiveness, such as the price of metals, a higher tax burden, delays or rejections of permits, and uncertainty regarding possible changes in existing regulations, as well as in mining public policies, according to CAMIMEX.
  • President Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to take a decision on how to manage Mexico’s lithium resources soon. As is known, the government considers nationalizing the metal for batteries, whose demand is expected to increase in the coming decades to meet the growing manufacture of electric vehicles. What will be analyzed is to see if the country will opt for a total nationalization or to count with stricter controls on concessions, since all minerals belong to the State under Mexican law. While Mexico is not yet a lithium-producing country, this is expected to change in 2023 when project production begins in Sonora. Sonora is home to one of the largest lithium deposits in the world.

ON EXPLORATION

  • Riverside Resources Inc., reported assay results from 55 channel samples and 181 soil samples taken at its Cuarentas property in Sonora and announced it is preparing a drill program to test some outlined targets. Highlights of the channel sampling include 9.1 g/t Au over 3.4m, including 32.9 g/t Au over 0.8m; 21.7 g/t Au over 1.6m; and 6.3 g/t Au over 1.2m. The soil program was done using a grid of 50 meter spaced lines and 25 meter spacing between samples. The soil sampling has defined a continuous 550 m long high-grade gold-in-soil anomaly which merges the Santa Rosalia and Santa Rosalia Sur as Centro de Rosalia and cumulates more than 1.7 km with higher-grade gold mineralization. Highlights include results of up to 0.9 g/t Au.
  • Kootenay Silver Inc., released drilling results from the J-Z zone within its Columba project in Chihuahua, and announced the discovery of a broad area of at least 320m long, 460m deep, and an average width of 60m with high grade Ag mineralization in hydrothermal breccias.  The mineralized system is open laterally on strike and at depth. Significant drill intercepts were encountered in hole CDH-20-061 with 43 g/t Ag over 30.85m, including 164 g/t Ag over 1m and 63 g/t Ag over 8m, as well as 54 g/t Ag over 7.85m, including 144 g/t Ag over 2m; hole CDH-20-062 with 93 g/t Ag over 11.6m including 115 g/t Ag over 8.3m and including 161 g/t Ag over 1m; hole CDH-20-063 with 91 g/t Ag over 9m, including 187 g/t Ag over 2.49m, including 762 g/t Ag over 0.49m; hole CDH-20-065 with 106 g/t Ag over 7m; hole 69 g/t Ag over 25.5m, including 154 g/t Ag over 9m, including 773 hg/t Ag over 1.5m; hole CDH-20-030 with 76 g/t Ag over 8.9m, including 173 g/t Ag over 3.3m, as well as 200 g/t Ag over 25.85m, including 415 g/t Ag over 11.15m, including 721 g(t Ag over 4.07m, and including 982 g/t Ag over 1.9m; and hole CDH-20-060 with 132 g/t Ag over 64m, including 226 g/t Ag over 9m, including 1,025 g/t Ag over  1m, as well as 229 g/t Ag over 22m, including 608 g/t Ag over 5m, including 1,160 g/t Ag over 1m.  
  • Brigadier Gold Limited, reported exploration results from the El Placer vein system within its Picachos project in Sinaloa. This vein system has been traced now for at least 4km along strike and comprises multiple parallel veins over a trend width ranging from 60 to 160 metres. Sample assay highlights include 7.4 g/t Au over 3.2m; 12.8 g/t Au, 54 g/t Ag, 0.1% Cu, 7.7% Pb, and 6.73% Zn over 0.5m; and 101 g/t Ag, 0.3% Cu, 2% Pb, and 11.6% Zn over 1m.
  • Prismo Metals Inc., received environmental permit from SEMARNAT for its Palos Verdes project in Sinaloa. “The Palos Verdes drilling program will consist of about five holes, with the longest hole planned at 150-175m, designed to test the vein on strike and below the high-grade intercepts from a previous drill program carried out in May 2018. The best intercept from that program was 8.42 g/t Au and 2,336 g/t Ag, over an estimated 0.8m true width”.
  • Vizsla Resources Corp., reported results from its current drill program at its Panuco property in Sinaloa. Significant drill intersects were encountered at hole NP-20-25 with 2.02 g/t Au, 255 g/t Ag, 0.3% Pb, and 0.6% Zn (449 g/t AgEq) over a true width (TW) of 15.3m; and hole NP-20-27 with 8.7 g/t Au, 870 g/t Ag, 0.8% Pb, and 2% Zn (1,696 g/t AgEq) over a TW of 2.58m. 
  • Advance Gold Corp., reported drill results from two holes collared at its Tabasquena project in Zacatecas, to test a 3,500m long continuous high chargeability Induced Polarization (IP) anomaly. Hole AGT-15 intercepted 122 g/t over a narrow interval of 0.33m, 198 g/t Ag over 2.23m, and 664 g/t Ag over 2.15m; and hole AGT-16 intercepted 0.7% Pb and 2.6% Zn over 6.5m, including 2.27% Pb and 5.45% Zn over 1.3m. A new geophysical survey will be underway within days to determine east to west dimensions of the geophysical anomaly at the northern end.
  • VanGold Mining Corp., released assays from channel sampling carried out at its Pinguico property in Guanajuato.  “El Pinguico vein system between the 4th and 6th levels (from approximately 130m to 185m below surface), covering an area approximately 55 meters in height, by 60 meters in width and where the stopped out area, plus remaining vein material, ranges from 1.5 meters to 5.5 meters wide.  This exposure is adjacent to the El Pinguico shaft where crews continue to remove material blocking access to the #7 adit level”. Significant assays are 1.72 g/t Au and 630 g/t Ag (9.59 g/t AuEq or 767 g/t AgEq) over 1.6m; 4 g/t Au and 404 g/t Ag (9.05 g/t AuEq or 724 g/t AgEq) over 1.3m; and 4.59 g/t Au and 4566 g/t Ag (10.41 g/t AuEq or 833 g/t AgEq) over 1.2m. A weighted average grade of the underground sampling was 2.5 g/t Au and 363 g/t Ag (6.71 g/t AuEq or 537 g/t AgEq). Additionally, VanGold announced that a drill program will commence in the third week of November. It will consist of 14 holes for a total of 2,230m of HQ and/or NQ drilling.

ON MINING

  • Aura Minerals Inc., reported preliminary Q3, 2020 production results from its Aranzazu mine in Zacatecas. It produced 5,881 Oz Au, 101, 379 Oz Ag, and 6,921 Lb Cu (17,909 Oz AuEq).
  • GoGold Resources Inc., reported Q3, 2020 production activities from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua. The company produced 300,740 Oz Ag, 3,414 Oz Au, and 282.2K Lb Cu (a total of 605,287 Oz AgEq).
  • Endeavour Silver Corp., announced Q3, 2020 production results from their Mexican mine operations: Guanacevi in Durango, Bolañitos in Guanajuato, and El Compas in Zacatecas. Figures are summarized in the below table:
  • Great Panther Mining Limited, released production results from their Topia mine in Durango and Guanajuato Mine Complex in Guanajuato for the period Q3, 2020. At Topia, Durango, the company processed 20,292 tonnes of 0.85 g/t Au and 353 g/t Ag, at metallurgical recoveries of 55.5% and 92.5% respectively to produce 308 Oz Au, 213,320 Oz Ag, 1M Lb Pb, and 1.25M Lb Zn (383,897 Oz AgEq). At Guanajuato Mine Complex, Great Panther processed 45,101 tonnes of 1.59 g/t Au, and 131 g/t Ag at metallurgical recoveries of 83.4% and 85.5% respectively to produce 1,919 Oz Au and 161,927 Oz Ag (334,675 Oz AgEq).
  • Hecla Mining Company, announced production results from its San Sebastian mine in Durango for the period Q3, 2020.The company produced 1,931 Oz Au and 0.3M Oz Ag, for a total production of 6K Oz Au and 0.8M Oz Ag during the first 9 months of 2020.
  • Torex Gold Resources Inc., reported Q3, 2020 production results from its El Limon-Guajes mine complex in Guerrero. The company produced 131,790 Oz Au and sold 133,030 Oz Au at an average realized price of $1,880 per Oz. Torex has produced 299,830 Oz Au and sold 304,230 Oz Au  through the first nine months of 2020, at an average realized gold price of $1,735 per Oz.

ON FINANCING

  • Almadex Minerals Ltd., announced a proposed non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of approximately $1.35M. The company intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes (El Chato project, Puebla).
  • Barksdale Resources Corp., granted stock options to its directors, employees and consultants to purchase up to 925K common shares at an exercise price of $0.50 per share  (San Javier project, Sonora).
  • Comet Resources Limited, raised $1M under its share purchase plane with approximately 180 shareholders participating. These funds are in addition to the $2M raised under the previous placement completed in September 2020. Part of the proceeds raised will be used to fund activities at its Santa Teresa project in Baja California.
  • Golden Tag Resources Ltd., announced that it has initiated the process to have its common shares trading on the OTCQB Venture Market and the repricing of 9.9M incentive stock options from $0.325 to $0.33 (San Diego property, Durango).
  • Inomin Mines Ltd., closed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $400,500. The company will use the gross proceeds to establish operations in Mexico to move forward with the La Gitana project in Oaxaca.  
  • Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., closed the first tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $7,629,279.02. Gross proceeds will be used to purchase underground equipment for its Zimapan property in Hidalgo and for general working capital and corporate purposes. Santacruz also announced that due to the strong demand it has further increased the size of the private placement to up to $10M. Closing of remain tranche(s) of the private placement is expected to occur on or before October 14, 2020.
  • Mexus Gold US, announced that it has completed a 1 for 20 reverse split of its stock. The stock will began trading at its new price allowing the stock price to move up and accurately to reflect the value of the company. An increased stock price will also give Mexus the opportunity to uplist the stock once all parameters for doing so have been met. (Santa Elena mine, Sonora).   

ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Mexus Gold US recently announced the discovery of a significant amount of gold trapped in silver chloride at the bottom of the heap leach pad located at its Santa Elena mine. As stated in its recent press release the company noted that its ball mill gravity recovery system would be used to recover this gold, allowing the company to run high grade material from the Julio quartz vein at its Santa Elena mine located in Caborca, Sonora.

ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd., announced that it reached an agreement with the Mexican Mining Union and the strike at the mine has ended (Avino mine, Durango).
  • Gold Resource Corporation, announced its intent to spin-off in two separate companies its Nevada and Oaxaca Mining Unit. The company wants to spin-off its Nevada Mining Unit to shareholders as a separate publicly-traded company. The transaction is targeted to be completed by year-end 2020 or the first quarter of 2021.  With this transaction, the Oaxaca Mining Unit would be focused on expanding and discovering new vein systems since it has only drilled 2% of its 560 square kilometer land package in Oaxaca (Arista Mine, Oaxaca).
  • Gray Rock Resources Ltd., announced the change of its name to Silver Wolf Exploration Ltd., effective October 8, 2020. The company shares will commence trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the new trading symbol “SWLF” (Ana Maria project, Durango).  
  • Impact Silver Corp., executed a letter of intent to option the Nuevo Taxco project in Guerrero to Road Oak Mining Corp. , under which Red Oak will carry exploration of a portion of Impact´s very large land position in Mexico. The Nuevo Taxco project comprises 1,100 hectares and is located on the NW extension of the famous Taxco Silver Mining District, and the area is prospective for high grade Ag-Au mineralization. Red Oak may earn a  100% interest by making staged payments and incurring exploration expenditures over a 3-year period as follow:  a) $50K in cash and 500K Red Oak common shares upon TSXV approval of the transaction and closing of their financing, b) $200K in exploration expenditures on or before September 30, 2021, c) $100K in cash, 1M common shares, and $400K in exploration expenditures before September, 2022, and d) $150K in cash, 2M common shares, and $800K in exploration expenditures on or before September, 2023. IN addition, Impact will retain a 1% NSR that Red Oak may buy back for CAD $1M.
  • Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd., announced spin-out of mining assets and creation of a premier North American Gold Development company (San Antonio project, Sonora). Osisko and Barolo Ventures Corp., entered into a binding letter agreement outlining the terms upon which Osisko Royalties will transfer certain mining properties (or securities of the entities that directly or indirectly own such mining properties), including the San Antonio Gold property in Sonora and Guerrero properties in Guerrero state as well as  a portfolio of marketable mining properties in Canada valued at approximately CDN $116M, to Barolo in exchange for common shares of Barolo which will result in a “Reverse Take-Over” of Barolo under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.
  • Silver Dollar Resources Inc., reported that it is evaluating to transfer its Canadian exploration projects to a new subsidiary that would be spun out to Silver Dollar shareholders. It allows Silver Dollar to be focused on the exploration and development of its advanced stage la Joya property in Durango.

ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Minera Cuzcatlán (Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.), fulfilled an agreement with the Oaxaca community to extend the hours of attention to patients at the Health Center of the Municipal Headquarters, benefiting the inhabitants of the municipality, agencies and ranches. In addition, two specialized spaces were enabled for general medicine and emergency care, and the two municipal ambulances were maintained, one of them equipped for the transfer of patients with COVID-19 symptoms. It is worth mentioning that the agreement will be in force until the health emergency due to COVID-19 is lifted by the Federal Government through the General Health Council.
  • In the Municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, Chihuahua, 11 school domes were inaugurated, of which 6 were made with resources from the Mining Fund and five in coordination with the Municipality and the State.
  • Industrias Peñoles SAB de CV faces firmly the new challenges posed by the pandemic and continues to prepare to create the health conditions required to protect its thousands of workers, highlighting that this has undoubtedly been an extremely complicated year. In addition to the fact that during this 2020 none of its workers will be left without employment. Peñoles today applies the highest standards of health protection to continue operating as a company and also as an industry despite all the circumstances.

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-Mn jasperoid from an epithermal system in a prospect in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.