Mining Intelligence and News
Argentina

Martha Mine

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit & Underground
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Shrinkage stoping
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SnapshotThe Martha Project is the site of past exploration for, and surface and underground mining and recovery of, silver and gold. The property consists of mining facilities including a flotation mill and a tailings retention facility.

There was no production at Martha during the year ended December 31, 2024, as Patagonia Gold Corp. did not produce concentrate from Martha after April 2020. Operations at Martha remain on care and maintenance while the Company continues to explore the property.

No exploration activities were undertaken at Martha during the period from 2022 to 2024.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
FOMICRUZ 5 % Indirect
Patagonia Gold Corp. 95 % Indirect
Patagonia Gold S.A (operator) 100 % Direct
The Martha mine is 100% owned by Patagonia Gold S.A. (PGSA). The Patagonia Gold Corp. has a 95% of interest in of PGSA.

Santa Cruz government’s wholly owned mining company, Fomicruz Minero de Santa Cruz Sociedad del Estado (“Fomicruz”) has a 5% interest in the Patagonia Gold S.A.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • Epithermal

Summary:

Silver and gold mineralization at Martha is hosted in Jurassic-aged felsic volcanic rocks of the Chon Aike Formation of the Bahia Laura volcanic complex (BLVC). Host rocks are relatively shallowly dipping ignimbrites, locally inter-bedded with thin sections of sedimentary strata.

Martha mineralization is epithermal, intermediate sulfidation in style, hosted in quartz veins, veinlets and vein breccias cutting the margins of the Jurassic-aged caldera (Primero de Abril Caldera; Paéz et al, 2015). Vein widths vary significantly on surface from a few centimeters up to several meters. Banded textures are common in the wider veins. Adularia is a common gangue mineral in the quartz veins.

Silver and gold mineralization at Martha, along with lesser amounts of base metals, occurs within quartz rich veins, veinlets, breccias and stockworks. The style of mineralization is interpreted to epithermal in original. Epithermal silver and gold deposits, according to Sillitoe and Hedenquist (2003), occur as “both vein and bulk-tonnage styles may be broadly grouped into high-sulfidation (HS), intermediate-sulfidation (IS), and low-sulfidation (LS) types based on the sulfidation states of their hypogene sulfide assemblages”.

Martha Mineralized Zones
Silver and gold mineralization at Martha is located within a series of quartz-rich, locally banded and brecciated, veins and veinlets. The style of mineralization has been interpreted to be intermediate-sulfidation in character (Paéz et al, 2015 and Sillitoe, 2005). The main trend of the mineralized systems is WNW and EW and dip steeply to moderately to the S, SW. On surface, mineralized structures can be several meters wide but often are much less than a meter in true width but may expand in width in the subsurface.

Base and precious metal-bearing minerals at Martha (Paéz et al, 2015 are galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, polybasite [(Ag,Cu)6(Sb,As)2S7][Ag9CuS4], silver-bearing tetrahedrite, pyrargyrite (Ag3SbS3), freieslebenite (AgPbSbS3), acanthite and native silver. Pyrite and arsenopyrite are common. Gold-bearing minerals have not been identified.

Dating of base and precious mineralization is often performed by dating spatially-related minerals. At Martha, Sernageomin (2011), for Paéz’s thesis (Paéz, 2011), dated vein-hosted adularia (a low-temperature variety of orthoclase with the chemical formula KAlSi3O8) at 156.5 mya (million years ago). The host rock was dated at 157.6 mya. Alteration assemblages at Martha have been studied by several workers including the exploration staff at Coeur (Birak et al, 2007) and can be generally grouped into major sets: propylitic, silico-argillic, argillic and silicic. Cedillo Frey (2009) documented the following alteration observations at the Martha Oeste vein, which is situated on strike with, and west of, the Martha vein (translated and paraphrased from original Spanish by the Qualified Person).

“Crystallization of sericite, quartz and adularia occurred from pH neutral, hydrothermal fluids ranging in temperature from 200 ° C to 250 °C. This alteration developed two main zones:
a) An outer zone, extending 1 to 5 meters from the vein with sericite as replacement of potassium feldspar, plagioclase, biotite and phengite (muscovite-like mineral). This alteration increased towards the vein forming muscovite and illite.
b) An Inner zone, extending less than 1 meter from the vein, with massive silicification.

In both zones, adularia can be found but is most abundant in the inner zone.”

The Martha property veins are clustered into several discrete groups with the majority located in the main Martha area.

Veins in the Martha cluster are (from west to east):
- Martha West, Martha, R4, Del Medio System (containing Francisca, Catalina and Belen), Nordeste, Isabel, Futuro, Martha East, Esperanza.
- The new discovery made north of the Martha vein by Hunt (Martha West), is located in this cluster.
- The Wendy vein, another mineralized vein that has received some exploration drilling, occurs about 8 km SW of the Martha cluster.

Veins in the Northern cluster are (from west to east): Isabel Oeste, Betty West, Betty Sur, Martha Norte, Ivana and Betty East.

Veins and targets in the Ana cluster are: Tesoro (sulfidic breccia pipe); Leonor; Angela; Alejandra; Teresa: Beatriz.

In 2017, an extension of the mineralization in the Martha vein was made with mapping and percussion drilling. The extension, “Martha West”, sits approximately 50 meters to the south-southwest of the Martha portal. This small extension is approximately 35 meters by 45 meters (north to south by east to west) in size to-date and extends 20 meters below surface. At its western end, the mineralized structure is narrower than on the west. The mineralized structure is open at depth and appears to plunge to the ESE.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnits202020192018
Gold oz  ....  Subscribe232403
Silver oz  ....  Subscribe65,620181,008
Gold Equivalent oz  ....  Subscribe1,008
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.

Operational metrics

Metrics202120202019
Daily processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe240 t

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20202019
Cash costs Gold Equivalent USD  ....  Subscribe 714 / oz  

Mine Financials

Units202120202019
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe 2.3  
Gross profit M USD  ....  Subscribe 0.7  
Pre-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -0.8  
After-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -1.7  

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 16, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 16, 2025

Workforce

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