• Despite its expansive mining history, most of Mexico is filled with potential mining assets with less than 40% of them having been explored and mined
• Centenario Gold Corp's El Eden project in Sinaloa, Mexico sits in a golden neighbourhood adjacent to Americas Gold & Silver's Nuestra Senora’ producing mine and Prime Mining's Los Reyes property
• Initial sampling showed very encouraging results mirroring the findings in neighbouring properties which has led to the maiden drill program that started in December 2023

Mexico’s long and storied mining history, stretching back five centuries, has powered the nation to be among the most prolific producers of gold and silver in the world.

According to Equifund, Mexico’s mining industry ranks 4th globally for foreign investments, with nearly 40 million oz of gold and 10 billion oz of silver mined over the past 500 years.

But despite its expansive mining history, much of the country’s treasure trove of minerals remain untapped and intact.

“Most of the country is filled with potential mining assets. In fact, less than 40% of them have been explored and exploited. This variety of assets puts Mexico at an advantage since it remains attractive for investors,” says Armando Ortega, President Mining Task Force, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico (CANCHAM), on Mexico Business News.

In Sinaloa, one of Mexico’s top gold producing regions, the state’s Ministry of Economy reports that of the 1,470 mining concessions in Sinaloa, 32% are gold and silver.

“Most are not exploited, so the potential is enormous since the ore has already been found but has not yet been worked. More investment is needed, which we know is complicated. However, we believe that for companies looking for new assets, this is a unique opportunity,” says Felipe Carlos Ibarra Retamoza, Sinaloa’s Undersecretary of Promotion and Economic Competitiveness.

Sinaloa has a terrestrial surface of 57,377 km2, and more than 30% of this surface is considered to have mining potential, an important motivating factor for global companies looking for future projects, says Retamoza in an interview with Mexico Business News.

It is here in Sinaloa that Centenario Gold Corp. (TSXV: CTG), which recently went public, announced it is starting its first drilling campaign to hunt for the region’s untapped gold veins.
 

“We are strategically positioned to learn from our neighbours and tap into a compelling market that is rich with highly underrated opportunities to maximize profitability and stock value.” — Doug Fulcher, President, Centenario Gold Corp.

“There is a lot of mine activity in Sinaloa and there is a lot of mine activity around us,” says Doug Fulcher, Centenario’s President, a 45-year veteran in mining exploration and project management.

“We are strategically positioned to learn from our neighbours and tap into a compelling market that is rich with highly underrated opportunities to maximize profitability and stock value,” says Fulcher.

“The key objective of the drilling program at our El Eden Project in 2024 is to identify these hidden opportunities and quantify the resource,” he says.

Centenario moves into a golden neighbourhood

Centenario’s Eden project in Sinaloa, Mexico is located near the historic mining town of Cosala, in a region known for its significant mineral potential and favorable mining environment.

The project is part of the 'Guadalupe los Reyes' Mining District, which has an extensive mining history stretching back into the 1700s. According to MINING.COM, historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million oz of gold and 60 million oz of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990.

Centenario’s Eden project consists of three adjoining mineral concessions totalling 5,689 ha in size hosting a series of high-grade N to NE trending, epithermal gold and silver vein structures. 

The exploration team of Centenario visited and evaluated more than 12 mineral prospects before finding the Eden gold-silver property. The company has completed a first phase exploration program on the Eden property, collecting over 220 rock samples, and completed an extensive geochemical and geophysical survey over the entire Buenavista mineralized corridor. Additionally, the structural corridor hosting mineralization at El Eden has been traced for more than a 2.5 km trend, the company says.

There is little doubt that Centenario’s Eden project is in a golden neighbourhood. Its northern border is adjacent to Americas Gold & Silver's Nuestra Señora producing mine while the southern border is adjacent to Prime Mining's Los Reyes property's northern border.

Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime Mining has done an excellent job of advancing and developing their project. They have spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and has completed two phases of comprehensive drilling totalling over 100,000 m.

Last May, Prime Mining announced a new resource with a measured and indicated resource of over 1,400,000 oz of AuEq and an inferred resources of over 730,000 oz of AuEq, doubling its original estimates.

“The Project remains underexplored and holds potential for additional discovery and resource expansion,” says Prime Mining in a statement.

“The key elements of our continuing discoveries made over the past two years are the size and scale of the high-grade mineralization,” Prime Mining’s Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kunz says, according to Resource World Magazine. “Ongoing metallurgical test work is confirming the relatively simple, high-recovery nature of the resources.”

For Centenario, the progress and success of its neighbours bodes well for its exploration plans.

Will Centenario be a target for takeover?

Centenario’s first drilling campaign at its Eden project is expected to be completed in early February.  Five holes were completed prior to shutting down for the 2023 holiday season for a total of approximately 700 m, Three of the five holes completed have been logged and sampled and 210 samples have been shipped to the ALS Lab in Hermosillo, Mexico.

The geological and drill crews have since returned to the Eden property in the new year and drilling is expected to restart. Results from the first three holes are expected to be released prior to the end of January. All holes on this initial phase of the program target the strike and downdip extensions of the central portion of the ‘Buenavista’ mineralized structure.

This maiden drill program will consist of 10 to 12 core holes totaling approximately 1,500 m in the property’s Buenavista vein-breccia structure, which has already returned a number of high-grade gold and silver intervals with assays as high as 239.9 g/t Au and 1390 g/t Ag.

“Drill pads are located along a N-NE trending line on the east, southeast side of the Buenavista underground mine workings. The holes are designed to test the down dip extension of the vein-breccia structures along a 400-metre-long portion of the Buenavista corridor. Drill pads and access to the drill pads are all completed. The Mexican mining authorities have approved the drilling permit and local community permits and agreements are in good standing,” Centanario says in a statement.

Geologist, Derrick Strikland, reports in the National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the Eden project that not much was known about the property before Centenario's exploration programs, even though it is in a historic mining area.

“We are going into this phase of our exploration with new found knowledge of the Eden property as well as the history and what is currently happening in the district around us and it is all very positive for moving forward,” says Fulcher, Centenario’s President. If the results and developments from this drill program continue on these lines he is confident that Centenario has the potential to be a takeover target.

“When I look at our property, there are many similarities with the mineralization we have discovered on the Eden property to the mineralization found on the Los Reyes property, some of which was historically mined out on the Los Reyes property. We are confident with the work that we have done over the last two years. There is strong potential of finding further good mineralization close to surface and potentially building that into a resource,” says Fulcher.

“If we can prove this resource up then we will also have a built-in exit strategy for our shareholders. In the marketplace today, we are seeing several junior companies being bought out and that’s a real solid point for us. If we can see an exit strategy here it will be a real bonus for our shareholders,” adds Fulcher.

Learn more about Centenario Gold Corp. on its website and on social media:

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