La Trinidad has been one of the highest-grade open-pit heap leach gold mines in Mexico but is presently nearing the end of its mine life.
On December 12, 2019, GR Silver Mining signed a Letter of Intent with Mako Mining Corp. (“Mako”) pursuant to which it was granted the right to acquire 100% of the shares of Marlin Gold Mining Ltd. (“Marlin”). Click here to read the news release. Marlin is a private British Columbia company, 100% controlled by Mako. Marlin owns, amongst other assets, Oro Gold de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (“Oro Gold”) a Mexican company that owns the La Trinidad mine and related infrastructure, currently being decommissioned. Oro Gold also controls 100% of nine concessions totaling 104,094.5 ha located adjacent to GR Silver Mining’s existing portfolio in the historic Rosario gold-silver Mining District, Sinaloa, Mexico.GR Silver Mining is currently conducting its due diligence on La Trinidad. The parties have until December 31, 2020, to complete the transaction.
La Trinidad is located 110 km southeast of the city of Mazatlan and 42 km southeast of the town of Rosario. The property is accessed by way of a paved road from Mazatlan to Rosario then by a 42 km all-weather gravel road. The property is comprised of six contiguous concessions totaling 47,252 ha. La Trinidad includes infrastructure such as a high voltage power line (connected to Mexican Regional Power grid), offices, shops, 80 man camp, infirmary, warehouses, foundations for a processing plant, Taunus open-pit (currently under reclamation), leach pads containing 1.5 Mt of processed oxide ore and other key infrastructure which can be fundamental for future project development.
Gold mineralization at the Taunus Pit occurs in intensely silicified tectonic and quartz matrix hydrothermal breccia, hosted in volcanic rocks. The gold mineralization is reported to be a gold-rich intermediate sulfidation epithermal system.
Oro Gold acquired the La Trinidad property from Minera Camargo S.A. de C.V. in 2005 and subsequently commenced drilling and regional exploration. The property had been previously owned and operated by a subsidiary of Eldorado Gold Corp. (“Eldorado”). Based on Eldorado’s annual reports, production from the Taunus Pit commenced in 1996 and ended in the fall of 1998. A second zone, below what was mined by Eldorado, was discovered by Oro Gold in 2009 and is located approximately 30 m below the Eldorado zone or approximately 150 m below surface. The discovery of this deeper zone was the basis for the NI 43-101 preliminary economic assessment that Marlin filed on SEDAR on June 11, 2012. In 2014, Marlin achieved commercial production of a heap leach open pit operation at La Trinidad, one of the highest-grade open-pit heap leach gold mines in Mexico. While Marlin focused primarily on advancing production at the Taunus Pit, today the remainder of the La Trinidad land package and the surrounding area presents an opportunity for cost-effective exploration and potential discovery of new silver and gold mineralized zones.