Blog posts

By Miguel A Heredia

During the 14^th week of the year (April 3^rd to April 9^th, 2023), at least 16 press releases were announced by companies working in Mexico, with five informing on exploration results, four reporting resources and developments of their properties, four disclosing deals and corporate issues, one communicating production and financial results, one commenting on Mexican Issues, and one announcing financing issues. ON MEXICO ISSUES, Silver Tiger was the only mining company reporting drilling intercepts in Mexico on the first week of April, 2023. ON EXPLORATION, In Sonora, Colibri reported assays results of sampling completed at its recently acquired El Plomo project, and Prismo released assay for 277 samples collected at its Los Pavitos project.  In Chihuahua, Kingsmen expanded its land position at its Las Coloradas project in the southeast part of the Parral mining district. In Coahuila, Monumental reported assays results and proposed drill targets from its Jemi rare earth elements project. Minaurum provided an update on its corporate strategy to develop and acquire a pipeline of potential Tier One precious metals projects.  ON MINING, GoGold reported Q1, 2023 production results from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua.  ON FINANCING, Golden Minerals announced that it is selling gold-rich pyrite concentrates from its Velardeña properties on improved terms to a buyer in Manzanillo. ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT, Heliostar filed a technical report on an update of the 2017 pre feasibility study on the Ana Paula deposit in Guerrero, and announced re-scoping plans for its gold deposit. Avino reported metallurgical results from the testwork program on its oxide tailings project at its Avino property in Durango. Silver Tigre reported drill results from its El Tigre project in Sonora.  ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES, Impact Silver closed the acquisition of the Plomosas mine in Chihuahua. Excellon announced the reversal of a USD $22M liability from its March 31, 2023 consolidated balance sheet (La Negra Mine, Queretaro). Teck and Agnico Eagle completed the San Nicolas project joint venture agreement. Silver Viper re-negotiated terms of the Rubi-Esperanza option agreement.  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, No relevant news.

ON MEXICO ISSUE

• Silver Tiger Metals Inc., was the only mining company reporting drilling intercepts in Mexico on the first week of April, 2023. Details are shown in the table below:

   

  ON EXPLORATION

  • Colibri Resource Corporation reported assay results of sampling completed at its recently acquired El Plomo project in Sonora. Twenty-five grab samples returned values > 1.0 g/t Au, including 6 with values > 5 g/t Au. “A total of 62 grab samples taken by Colibri returned Au assay values > 0.1 g/t Au. Channel sample values range from 8.03 g/t Au to 0.089 g/t Au over sample lengths (true widths) of 1.7m to 0.1 m. The occurrence and general distribution of higher-grade samples (> 1.0 g/t Au) evident in the historical work was validated with the due diligence sampling”.
  • Prismo Metals Inc., released assay for 277 samples taken at its Los Pavitos project in Sonora, from which 175 samples collected at the Santa Cruz area returned 0.5 g/t Au or more (several with values above 5 g/t Au over widths of 0.20 to 1m, and the best returned 20.3 g/t Au over 0.6m), and seven samples returned over 100 g/t Ag. Pathfinder elements As and Bi are also generally strongly anomalous. “At least six other target areas have been identified for additional detailed work to develop drilling targets for later this year. Drilling permits are in process and drilling is expected to begin in Q2 2023”.
  • Kingsmen Resources Ltd., expanded its land position at its Las Coloradas project in the southeast part of the Parral mining district in Chihuahua, with the acquisition of a new claim. The new 342 hectares claim is adjacent to its Las Coloradas project and covers prospective geology and structural and geophysical targets.
  • Monumental Minerals Corp., reported assay results and proposed drill targets from its flagship Jemi rare earth elements project in Coahuila. The company has completed four months of exploration consisting of detailed geological mapping, regional stream sediment sampling, ground radiometric geophysical surveys, and lithogeochemical sampling. “A total of 296 assays have been received for surface rock chip samples from Jemi Dykes and Veladora North. Samples that are both peralkaline and anomalous in REEs, Ta, and Nb (116 samples) define four discreet priority areas within Monumental’s mineral concessions”. “Three-dimensional modeling of airborne magnetic data indicates that a larger intrusive body and potential source for the mineralized dykes may lie at a shallow depth (less than 300 m) beneath the dykes. Based on these results, six preliminary drill targets have been chosen and a drilling program is anticipated to commence in June 2023”.
  • Minaurum Gold Inc., provided an update on its corporate strategy to develop and acquire a pipeline of potential Tier One precious metals projects, through a portfolio containing silver projects totaling 37,928 hectares; gold projects totaling 25,933 hectares; and copper projects totaling 12,856 hectares. “Key initiatives for each flagship project include: underground rehabilitation to be followed by mapping, sampling and underground drilling at its Alamos Silver project in Sonora. Results will serve as a basis for an initial resource estimate; at Santa Marta Copper-Gold Project in Oaxaca, an initial drill program has been designed and is awaiting a drill permit from SEMARNAT, the Mexican federal environmental permitting agency; and at Aurifero Gold Project in Sonora, a drill program to test deep targets has been designed and drill permits have been applied for, actively working to further consolidate the district. Minaurum expects to advance the remainder of its projects through strategic joint ventures in exchange for a combination of royalties, carried interests, and payments such as it received in option agreements with Fortuna Silver Corp. and Infinitum Copper Corp”.

   

  ON MINING

  • GoGold Resources Inc., reported Q1, 2023 production results from its Parral Tailings project in Chihuahua. The company produced 173.7K Oz Ag, 2,106 Oz Au, and 320.3K Lb Cu (400.1K Oz AgEq).

  ON FINANCING

  • Golden Minerals Company announced that it is selling gold-rich pyrite concentrates from its Velardeña properties on improved terms to a buyer in Manzanillo. The Company had previously planned to construct a BIOX facility at Velardeña in order to recover the gold in the pyrite concentrate. The Company is now evaluating the economics of a restart of the Velardeña operation without the need for major capital expenditures for the BIOX facility and ancillary equipment. Golden made its first shipment of 142 tonnes of previously produced and stockpiled gold-rich pyrite concentrate under the new terms last week and is currently processing 3,000 tonnes of previously mined and stockpiled mineralized material from the Santa Juana mine for future shipments.

  ON RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Heliostar Metals Limited filed a technical report on an update of the 2017 pre feasibility study on the Ana Paula deposit in Guerrero, and announced re-scoping plans for its gold deposit. The Ana Paula deposit has a proven and probable mineral reserve of 14.1M tonnes with grades of 2.38 g/t Au and 6 g/t Ag for a total of 1.08M Oz Au and 2.5M Oz Ag contained. Ana Paula deposit is permitted for open-pit mining. The after-tax NPV (5% discount rate) of the Ana Paula Project is estimated assuming long-term metal prices of $1,600/Oz Au and $20/Oz Ag. The after-tax NPV (5%) of the Ana Paula Project is estimated at $278.6M with a projected after-tax IRR of 30.5%. “The Ana Paula re-scoping program has four key areas of technical study: engineering, metallurgical, resource modelling, and geotechnical. These studies are designed to evaluate Ana Paula as a high-grade underground mine with a simplified and de-risked milling flow sheet”.
  • Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd., reported metallurgical results from the testwork program on its oxide tailings project at its Avino property in Durango. The tailings project hosts gold and silver from past producing historic operations with a 5.7 M tonnes of measured and indicated resource grading 95 g/t of silver equivalent. The project consists of three types of tailings that are categorized by grade as well as identified in three stratigraphic layers within the deposit based on the time period when they were processed. They are, Ancient Oxides, Recent Oxides and Sulphides, and each type was sampled and tested separately. Metallurgical recoveries for the Ancient Oxides are 89.5% for Au and 90.4% for Ag; for the Recent Oxides are 85.8% for Au and 83.4% for Ag; and for the Sulphides are 82.8% for Au and 76.1% for Ag.
  • Silver Tigre Metals Inc., reported drill results from its El Tigre project in Sonora. Drilling highlights include hole ET-23-445 collared at the Sulphide Zone with 0.24 g/t Au, 130 g/t Ag, 0.16% Cu, 0.8% Pb, and 2% Zn (247 g/t AgEq) over 3.1im including 0.17 g/t Au, 305 g/t Ag, 0.31% Cu, 1.7% Pb, and 4.8% Zn (547 g/t AgEq) over 0.8m, plus 0.24 g/t Au, 115 g/t Ag, 0.58% Cu, 2% Pb, and 3.9% Zn (365 g/t AgEq) over 9.6m, including 0.59 g/t Au, 442 g/t Ag, 2.14% Cu, 7.6% Pb, and 12% Zn (1,270 g/t AgEq) over 1.6m, including 0.52 g/t Au, 857 g/t Ag, 1.74% Cu, 6.4% Pb, and 14.6% Zn (1,700 g/t AgEq) over 0.5m; and hole ET-23-448 collared at El Tigre Vein area, with 0.03 g/t Au, 485 g/t Ag, 0.33% Cu, 0.01% Pb, and 0.08% Zn (522 g/t AgEq) over 4.9m, including 0.04 g/t Au, 1,194 g/t Ag, 0.84% Cu, 0.03% Pb, and 0.2% Zn (1,285 g/t AgEq) over 1m, including 0.05 g/t Au, 1,560 g/t Ag, 1.14% Cu, 0.04% Pb, and 0.3% Zn (1,684 g/t AgEq) over 0.5m.

   

  ON DEALS AND CORPORATE ISSUES

  • Impact Silver Corp., completed the share purchase and sale agreement with Consolidated Zinc Limited to close the acquisition of the Plomosas mine in Chihuahua. Terms of the agreement include a total purchase price of USD $6M consisting of USD $3M in cash and the balance in the form of Impact shares (a total of 11,441,647 shares will be issued), and a 12% net profit interest royalty on production from the Plomosas project to Consolidated. “Contractual restrictions have been applied to 75% of the share transfer component such that IMPACT Shares will be released from restriction in three equal tranches of 25% of the total number of shares issued to CZL, every 6 months, over 18 months from closing. 25% of the IMPACT Shares will be immediately held by CZL (subject to a statutory 4- month hold period from the date of issuance of the IMPACT Shares)”.
  • Excellon Resources Inc., announced the reversal of a USD $22M liability from its March 31, 2023 consolidated balance sheet, relating to the previously disclosed judgment against one of the Company’s subsidiaries in Mexico (La Negra Mine, Queretaro).
  • Teck Resources Limited and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited completed the joint venture agreement to advance the permitting and development of the San Nicolas project in Zacatecas. Agnico Eagle, through a wholly-owned Mexican subsidiary, has agreed to subscribe for a 50% interest in Minas de San Nicolás, S.A.P.I. de C.V. for USD $580M. The joint venture partners are planning to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment and Permit application for San Nicolás in the first half of 2023 and are targeting completion of a feasibility study in early 2024.
  • Silver Viper Minerals Corp., re-negotiated terms of the Rubi-Esperanza option agreement. An addendum of the agreement was signed on April 4, 2023, outlining an overall reduction in this year’s cash payment, and now including the issuance of shares as partial compensation. “The revised agreement provides for the issuance of USD $1.5M in Silver Viper shares issued on signing, followed by a cash payment of USD $200K in June of 2023. In order to complete this agreement, there is a scheduled cash payment of USD $200K, along with the issuance of USD $775K in Silver Viper shares during June of 2024.

  ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • No relevant news.

     

    Content like what you have just read can be seen at https://gambusinoprospector.com/ and at LinkedIn’s Mexico Mineral Exploration Group.

     

    On the picture above, an onyx vein in a prospect in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.  Photo by Miguel A Heredia.