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Mexico

Taxco Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • Lead
  • Zinc
  • Silver
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Cut & Fill
  • Room-and-pillar
  • Shrinkage stoping
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SnapshotTaxco mine has been on strike since July 2007. The Taxco complex includes several underground mines (San Antonio, Guerrero, and Remedios) and a flotation plant. The ore contains lead and zinc concentrates, with some amounts of gold and silver.

After several legal procedures, in August 2015, the Supreme Court decided to assert jurisdiction over the case and to rule on it directly. As of December 31, 2023, the case was pending resolution without further developments. It is expected that operations at the Taxco mine will remain suspended until the labor issues are resolved.

There was no mine exploration drilling at Taxco during the three-year period ended December 31, 2023, due to the strikes.
Related AssetIMMSA Operation

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Grupo Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. 88.87 % Indirect
Ownership Tree
Industrial Minera Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (together with its subsidiaries, the “IMMSA unit”) operates five underground mines that produce zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold, a coal mine and a zinc refinery.

IMMSA’s principal mining facilities include Charcas, Santa Barbara, San Martin, Santa Eulalia and Taxco.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

The Taxco district is stratigraphically formed of rocks from Jurassic to recent periods, which are described below, with emphasis on the mineralization control characteristics. The Taxco schist is composed of a series of schists and fylites, most likely from a volcanicsedimentary sequence of tufa and limonites. They represent a sequence of metamorphological arch and its age has been defined as Jurassic Medium. The Morelos formation from the Upper Cretaceous age (Apian-Turonian) lies on a discordant form over Taxco schist and its contact is several times marked by a clay zone (mylonites) and breccia, which implies a shifting of this unit over the schist (packs). The Mezcala formation is constituted by a sequence of shale and sandstone with some inter-stratified layers of limestone. Its base is calcarean. Its top tends to be rich in clay with thin limestone layers. The Balsas group is constituted by conglomerates and is sandy on its base, rests in discordance form on an erosioned surface from the Mexcala formation. The Tilzapotla Ryolite is the newest rock, which emerged in the district before the alluvial deposit. It is formed of flux, breccia, tuffaceous, ignimbrites and vitrophyrre of ryolite composition.

There are four types of ore deposits found in Taxco district. In order of importance they are as follows: fissure-filling veins, replacement veins, blanket-like replacement bodies (so called “mantos”), stock works and brecciate chimneys. The three first ones are intimately related and they were formed in the same era, although in different stages.

The veins reach up to two kilometers in length with a variable potency of thirty centimeters up to eight meters, which is the case of copper veins at the mines of Guerrero, Hueyapa and Palo Amarillo at the San Antonio mine; the Remedios mine has among other veins, El Muerto and El Cristo one kilometer long and five meters in average potency.

Economic ore is found in the deposit in veins. Ore mineral include argentiferous galena (PbS), sphalerite (ZnS), pyrargyrite (Ag3SbS3), and other sulfosalts, and replacement “mantos.” The most mineralized zones are in the vicinity of the veins with the limestone. The mineralization is more intensive in the base of the limestone and consists of sphalerite (ZnS), galena (PbS), pyrite (FeS) and magnetite (FeOFe2O3).

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

Combined production numbers are reported under IMMSA Operation

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018201720162015
Annual milling capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe730 kt730 kt730 kt730 kt730 kt
Daily milling capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,000 t2,000 t

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Financials

Units202220212020201920182017
Book Value M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1.9   2.2   2.4  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required May 21, 2024

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2013

Aerial view:

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