The San Ignacio property is underlain by a monotonous package of basalt (Kbas) and andesite (Kanlf) volcanic rocks belonging to the lower Cretaceous La Luz andesite (Randall R. et al., 1994; Stewart, 2006; Baker, 2012). The basalt generally has subtle to well-developed pillow structures that are locally flattened. In a few localities, inter-pillow hyaloclastite is present and is characterized by a fine breccia composed of devitrified glass shards in a fine groundmass. Primary layering and tops-up indicators are generally difficult to determine from the small outcrops typical of the property, but according to Stewart (2006), the San Ignacio property stratigraphy is not overturned.

Locally, these volcanic rocks have interbeds composed of sandstone, siltstone, or fine, pale ash layers (generally sericitequartz). A more coarse-grained felsic (possibly dacite) unit is exposed northwest of the San Jose mine in the southern part of the property. Where observed, bedding is generally shallowly dipping.

Two types of dykes are present on the property, and both are quite rare. In the northern part of the property, a few finegrained mafic dykes are exposed and preserve foliation and fractures like the host volcanic rocks, so these dykes are probably quite early. Fine-grained felsic dykes occur locally near the Veta Nombre de Dios structure, and are generally moderately silicified with minor fine-grained pyrite.

The most important phase of mineralization in the Guanajuato district consists of epithermal silver-gold veins contained within northwest-trending, Cenozoic-age faults. La Luz structure consists of numerous mineralized fractures in a northwesterly trending orientation, which extends for a known strike of approximately 8 km long.

The primary commodities of economic importance are silver and gold with approximately equal contributions of each. Mineralization consists of fine-grained disseminations of acanthite and pyrargyrite (silver minerals), electrum (gold-silver mineral), with accessory pyrite, and very minor sphalerite and chalcopyrite. Mineral textures in this zone are typically fracture filling, drusy, and coliform masses.

The Melladito vein is a steep east dip vein with true width ranging 0.25 meters to 19.5 meters. It has been delineated to a maximum of 1,450 meters along strike and 350 meters below surface. The structure is open at depth and along strike; however, the strongest mineralization has been observed in a core zone 550 meters in strike length and from surface to 150 meters down dip.

The Intermediate vein is also steeply dipping and narrow with true width ranging 0.25 to 8.5 meters. It has been delineated for 400 meters along strike and 350 meters below surface. It is a splay of the Melladito vein and merges into the Melladito vein at approximately 475N. Further south the structure continues as the Melladito vein.

The Nombre de Dios vein is shallow dipping at 45 to 60 degrees to the southwest and narrow with true width ranging from 0.25 to 4 meters. It has been delineated for 600 meters along strike and 180 meters down dip. The vein is open to the south.

The Nombre de Dios 2 vein is shallow dipping at 45 degrees to the southwest and narrow with true width ranging from 0.25 to 4 meters. It has been delineated for 400 meters along strike and 100 metres down dip. The vein is open to the north. To the south, it terminates at line 850N where it may continue in Nombre de Dios 1 with a 40-metre offset to the west.

The Purisima vein dips at 45-50 degrees to the southwest, and ranges in width from 0.5 to 3 meters. It strikes NNW north of the old San Ignacio mine shaft, but at the shaft swings to a northwest orientation, then merges with the Melladito South vein at 400S where it bends back to a north-northwest orientation.

Purisima BO is a footwall splay to Purisima dipping at 75 degrees to the southwest. It includes a 10-meter-wide bulge in the northern part, but generally is 1-2 meters thick vein.

The mining at San Ignacio began in the third quarter of 2013. As of July 31, 2020, a total of 1,012,044 tonnes of ore have been produced. The bulk of the mining is on the Nombre de Dios zones, with lesser production from Melladito and Intermediate zones, and initial development in the Melladito South zone.

Workers operate on three 8-hour shifts from Monday to Saturday. Four separate contractors operate the development and production of the mine. The contractors provide supervisors, and the company provides supervisors and a superintendent to over seen the operation. In addition, there is a services team and a security team.

Cut and Fill mining is used to extract material defined by mining blocks. The main ramp (4.5 metres wide by 4.5 metres high) has a slope of 12%. It was developed using a single-arm electric Jumbo, a 6-yard Scoop Tram, and a combination of conventional 20-tonne trucks and an underground truck.

The mineralized rock is transported by truck to the Cata plant using conventional 20-tonne trucks

Mineral feed from both the Guanajuato Mine and San Ignacio Mine are processed at the GMC metallurgical plant at the Guanajuato Mine.

The processing plant utilized five stages as follows: crushing, milling, flotation, thickening and filtering and produces a concentrate of iron sulphide (pyrite) with high values of gold and silver which are marketed and sold as the final product.

Crushing & Grinding Circuits
The ore from the 1,000-tonne capacity hopper is transferred along a 48-inch-wide belt to a 24 inch by 36-inch PettiBone jaw crusher where the 12-inch feed is reduced to less than 3-inch diameter. The feed from the jaw crusher exits along a 36-inchwide belt and feeds a 6 ft wide by 20 ft long double bed vibrating Ludowici screen. The Ludowici screen separates the feed by size with the upper bed separating material greater than 1 inch and the lower bed separating material less than ¼ inch. This ¼ inch “fine” material is then fed along a 24-inch belt to a ho ........