Cerro Prieto Project
The Cerro Prieto Project is a 100% owned, ~4,335 ha property, located in the Cucurpe Mining District, Sonora, Mexico, just 52 road kilometers from the regional center of Magdalena de Kino and 150 kilometers northeast of the city of Hermosillo.
The mine has been in production since 2013, and currently produces approx. 11,500 ounces of gold annually. The Goldgroup team is committed to increasing gold output, with plans to expand annual production to over 30,000 ounces through a series of initiatives:
- Doubling Production: Increase daily throughput to 5,000 tons per day (tpd), significantly boosting production and profitability.
- Re-leaching: By re-leaching the existing leach pads, we aim to recover an additional 9,000 ounces of gold annually.
- Exploration and Resource Expansion: Ongoing exploration of advanced gold zones which could extend mine life by an additional 3 to 5 years.
Exploration Potential
As part of the strategy to double production, we are plan to advance exploration in several high-potential areas within the project. Key targets include:
- Nueva Esperanza Zone: This area has been partially drilled, with 17 drill holes returning excellent results. Additional drilling will continue to define the extent of this high-grade zone.
- Reyna Zone: An undrilled exploration target, the Reyna Zone has been trenched with promising results, suggesting it may be an extension of the Nueva Esperanza Zone.
- Newly Discovered Zones: Exploration along a 2.5 km trend SSE from the Centro Pit is underway. This area, part of the southern extension of the main Cerro Prieto shear zone, has produced excellent preliminary surface samples, indicating the potential to add significant resources and extend the mine’s life.
An updated National Instrument 43-101 Measured and Indicated and Inferred mineral resource estimate for the Cerro Prieto Project was prepared in the first half of 2013.
Mineral Resource Estimate Highlights:
- Measured Mineral Resources in veins (Table 1) comprised of 1.18 million tonnes grading 1.56 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 30.28 g/t silver, 0.15% lead and 0.33% zinc for a total of approximately 59,000 ounces of gold
- Indicated Mineral Resources in veins (Table 2) comprised of 4.92 million tonnes grading 1.03 g/t gold, 22.12 g/t silver, 0.32% lead and 0.80% zinc for a total of approximately 163,000 ounces of gold
- Inferred Mineral Resources in veins (Table 3) comprised of 5.025 million tonnes grading 0.75 g/t gold, 20.62 silver, 0.49% lead and 1.28% zinc for a total of approximately 121,000 ounces of gold
- Cerro Prieto remains open to the south of the existing resource along the 7.5 kilometer extension of the mineralized shear zone
- Preliminary column leach test work completed by Kappes Cassidy & Associates, under the direction of Arthur H. Winckers and Associates, a consultant for the Company, at the Project returned gold recoveries of between 47% to 68% with head grades ranging from 0.79 g/t to 0.95 g/t gold over 98 days.
The Mineral Resource estimate for the Cerro Prieto Project was prepared by G.H. Giroux, P.Eng., MASc. and Dr. Duncan J. Bain, P.Geo. who are independent "Qualified Persons" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The technical report title Report on the 2011-2012 Exploration Program Including an Updated Resource Estimation on the Cerro Prieto Project, Magdelena De Kino Area, Sonora State, Mexico" and dated June 10, 2013 is available for viewing on SEDAR (www.sedar.com)