Aztec recently released a set of drill results from its Cervantes gold project showing the potential to extend the footprint of mineralization to the north of its California zone, building on a year of successful drilling.
It has been a busy summer for Aztec Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: AZT, OTCQB: AZZTF). The company has been advancing its flagship Cervantes gold project in the right neighbourhood attracting the neighbours’ interest in Sonora, Mexico attracting Alamos Gold ($3.2 Billion market cap) as a strategic investor. The company recently consolidated ownership of the project on strong drill results in order to maximise value and capture any of the potential from upcoming drill results.
Aztec has set itself up in one of Mexico’s most successful gold districts in recent memory. The company’s flagship Cervantes is a prospective porphyry gold-copper property located in southeastern Sonora state, Mexico. The project lies 160 km east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico within the prolific Laramide porphyry copper belt approximately 265 km southeast of Grupo Mexico’s Cananea porphyry copper-molybdenum mine.
“A Good Neighbour Increases the Value of Your Property” - A Czech Proverb
Cervantes lies along an east-west trending gold belt 60 kilometres west of their strategic investor – Alamos Gold’s Mulatos epithermal gold mine, 35 km northeast of the Osisko Development’s (TSX-V: ODV) San Antonio gold mine, 45 km west of Agnico Eagle’s (TSX: AEM) La India gold mine, and 40 km northwest of Minera Alamos’ (TSX-V: MAI) Santana gold deposit.
(Source: Aztec Mineral Corporate Presentation)
These projects host approximately 13 million + in gold resources and reserves, and share similar mining methods for low grade but high tonnage gold deposits. This activity set the region up well for mining with good infrastructure.
|
Project |
Company |
2021 Gold Production |
Gold Resources |
Mining Method |
|
La India |
Agnico Eagle |
63,529 oz. |
157,000 oz |
Open pit |
|
Mulatos Mine |
Alamos Gold |
121,300 oz. |
1,547,000 oz (Proven and Probable) |
Open Pit |
|
La Colorada |
Argonaut Gold |
66,964 oz.*GEOS |
10,599,000 (Indicated +Inferred) |
Open Pit, Heap Leach |
|
San Antonio |
Osisko Development |
n/a |
1,120,000 Au (Ind. + Inf.) |
n/a |
Minera Alamos’s Santana project is a recent discovery, but the company rapidly put the project into production and reported as of July 2022 and a total of 21,000 oz have been stacked on the leach pads of which approximately 10,000 oz have been recovered to date. The company plans to publish a maiden mineral resource in 2022.
“An Earth Moving Exercise”
One developer in the neighbourhood described his project as a simple “earth-moving exercise” characterising the simplicity in mining a near surface bulk tonnage mining operation.
Aztec Mineral’s drill results from Cervantes are demonstrating similarities with these neighbours, possibly making it the next open pit gold operating in the area. The company recently completed a 26-hole, 5,267-metre Phase 2 reverse circulation drill program with some of the following highlights:
|
|
Drilling now covers an area measuring approx. 900m long by 250 to 500m wide, with demonstrated, continuous mineralization up to 265m depth vertically.
Aztec recently completed the first seven core holes totaling 1,607 metres of the current 3,000-metre, 11-hole phase 3 core drilling program at the 100-per-cent-owned Cervantes property in Sonora, Mexico. Drilling commenced in late July 2022. Drill samples have been shipped to the laboratory for geochemical analysis and results are anticipated in the next several weeks.
On October 25, the company completed its phase 3 drilling and released initial results that show the potential to extend gold mineralization to the north of its high-grade gold mineralized California porphyry target from its previous phase 2 reverse circulation drilling.
California North and California zone drill highlights from the latest drill program:
- California North: CAL22-022 -- nine m at 1.72 g/t Au, 16.5 m at 0.34 g/t Au;
- California: CAL22-023 -- 26.7 m at 0.54 g/t Au, 7.5 m at 0.43 g/t Au;
- California: CAL22-024 -- 46.5 m at 0.44 g/t Au, 5.65 m at 0.25 g/t Au.
To date, every hole drilled at California has intersected near-surface, oxidized gold mineralization with minor copper values. The area currently being drilled measures approximately 800 metres long east-west by 730 metres wide, with demonstrated, continuous mineralization of up to 170 metres depth. The porphyry gold-copper mineralization is still open in all directions.
The company has also completed metallurgical studies. Excellent gold recoveries from metallurgical tests on drill core from the California zone back up the case for a heap leach operation with oxide gold recoveries range from 75% to 87%.
It is this combination of geography and geology that attracted a neighbour’s interest.
Drill Results Attracting Strategic Investor, Consolidating for Value
Alamos Gold took the lion’s share of the financing with 7,926,089 Units, for total proceeds CAD$2,377,826.70 out of the CAD$3.4 million financing. Prior to this financing, Alamos held no common shares or warrants of Aztec. Alamos now holds 9.9% of the company’s shares on an undiluted basis and 18.0% on a partially diluted basis assuming the exercise of Alamos’ warrants.
The company consolidated ownership on the project and addressed passed concerns over a joint venture with acquiring the remaining interest. On July 26, 2022, Aztec Minerals Corp. and Kootenay Silver Inc. closed the transaction whereby Aztec indirectly acquired Kootenay's 35-per-cent interest in the joint venture company that holds the Cervantes porphyry gold-copper project in Sonora, Mexico. CEO Simon Dyakowski commented on the transaction:
“We are thrilled to announce this opportunity to consolidate a 100% interest in the Cervantes porphyry gold-copper project and welcome Kootenay Silver as a major shareholder of Aztec. We now look forward to continuing to define the open pit, heap leach gold potential of the porphyry gold oxide cap at the California Zone and evaluating the potential for deeper copper-gold porphyry sulfide mineralization underlying the oxide cap.”
For the 35% interest, Aztec issued to Kootenay 10,000,000 common shares at a price of C$0.25 per Aztec Share for $2,500,000, and Kootenay retained a 0.5% Net Smelter Return Royalty. As a result of the transaction, Aztec wholly owns Cervantes.
I continue to grow my investment position in Aztec turning it into one of my top five gold exploration holdings. With cash in the bank, pending drill results providing near-term upside potential, a strategic gold mining investor and focused ownership, Aztec Minerals is setting itself as the new kid on the block in prime Mexico gold real estate!
To continue your research and learn more about Aztec Minerals, please visit AztecMinerals.com
This report’s analysis was produced with the work of Nicholas LePan, GoldSeek.com
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