The La India mine lies within the Sierra Madre Occidental province, an extensive Eocene to Miocene volcanic field extending from the United StatesMexico border to central Mexico. The La India mine lies within the western limits of the Sierra Madre Occidental province in an area dominated by outcrops of andesite and dacitic tuffs, overlain by rhyolites and rhyolitic tuffs that were affected by large-scale north-northwest-striking normal faults and intruded by granodiorite and diorite stocks. Incised fluvial canyons cut the uppermost strata and expose the Lower Series volcanic strata.

The mine area is predominantly underlain by a volcanic sequence comprised of andesitic, dacitic and felsic extrusive volcanic strata with interbedded epiclastic strata of similar composition. The mineral occurrences present in the mine area, and the deposit type being sought, are volcanic-hosted high-sulphidation epithermal-hydrothermal gold, silver and porphyry-related gold deposits. Such deposits may be present as veins and/or disseminated deposits and/or breccias. The La India mine deposit area is one of several high-sulphidation epithermal mineralization centres recognized in the region.

Epithermal high-sulphidation mineralization at the La India mine developed as a cluster of gold zones (Main, La India, El Cochi and North zones) aligned north-south, and El Realito aligned north-east, within a spatially related zone of hydrothermal alteration in excess of 20 square kilo ........

The La India mine is a collection of deposits grouped into three open pits – North, La India (Central) and Main – that provide ore for a heap leach pad located just west of the North pit. Operations use traditional open pit mining techniques with bench heights of 6 m and utilize front-end loaders, trucks, track drills and various support equipment. The potential development of satellite deposits provides an opportunity to extend mine life.

In 2022, ore production transitioned from the depleted Main Zone pit to the La India and the El Realito pits, resulting in higher gold grades and a higher stripping ratio.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the La India pit was depleted. At El Realito pit, the stripping ratio in the early mining phase was higher than anticipated and resulted in lower ore tonnes being placed on the heap leach. The El Realito rock storage facilities were completed in December 2022 as planned.

The El Realito pit is expected to be mined out late in the fourth quarter of 2023.

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