The Santa María deposit type can be described as an epithermal quartz - calcite vein system. Typical banded epithermal textures are observed in underground workings and drill core. Brecciated mineral textures filled by quartz and calcite are common. Low concentrations of galena and sphalerite and the presence of silver minerals indicate an elevated level of exposure within the epithermal system.

The geology of the property is dominated by rocks of the Parral Formation, rhyolites, granodioritic intrusive and a post-mineral basaltic cap on the eastern edge. The Santa María mineral deposits are hosted in and adjacent to a rhyolitic dike and granodioritic rocks. Veins are observed hosted by skarns and silicified limestones of the Parral Formation and the Tertiary rhyolite dike

Santa María Main Vein
The primary Santa María vein gently curves following the contact of the associated rhyolite dike and can be traced on surface for 1,150 m. The current demonstrated down dip extent is 260 m and remains open at depth and along strike.

The vein occupies a fault zone near the contact between the Parral Formation sediments and the Tertiary dike. Breccia textures healed by quartz gangue are common in the vein. The vein varies in width between 1 and 4 meters with an average width of 2 meters. The dip of the vein is north varying between 75 and 85 degrees. In the underground workings, occasional post mineral normal faults can be observed to offset the min ........

The existing underground facilities would be used to gain access to the new underground Resources using the current adit on the western end of the property. The mine plan includes 353,000 tonnes of mill feed from stoping activities using 2 mining methods: resue cut and fill and sublevel stoping with fill.

The Santa Maria resource is a narrow vein deposit that has with a vertical to near vertical dip. There are two primary structures, the Santa Maria vein and the Santa Maria Dos vein. The true width of the material that may be planned for extraction is 0.6 m to 3.7 m.

The planned extraction uses two types of stoping: Sublevel and Fill, and Resue Cut and Fill. The general operation utilizes handheld pneumatic jackleg drills for the development and production drilling, 2 LCY LHD units for all mucking and filling tasks, and 15 Tonne haul trucks for the transportation of ROM material for both process feed and waste. The mine work force will be sourced locally from the Parral, Chihuahua region with a few transient miners from other regions. The operation will employ 80 to 90 persons including the General and Administrative staff. The mine production schedule is planned to average ±200 tpd (tonnes per day) of ROM material for processing at toll plants in Parral, and ±125 tpd of development waste. Fill requirements will be sourced from development waste and nearby alluvial deposits.

The mining width is the definitive control in the stope type select ........

It is currently envisioned that both mixed and sulfide materials will undergo toll-milling at a facility with sulfide flotation circuits. Per information provided by the facility, the maximum total throughput for the flotation circuit is 250 tonnes per day. The flotation circuit contains both lead and zinc flotation but will be operated as to produce a bulk sulfide silver gold bearing concentrate.

The oxide ore will be cyanide leached at the toll-milling facility. The option for processing mixed and sulfide tailings in the leach circuit exists to improve the recovery of gold and silver as indicated by testwork.

In the event further test work indicates that regrinding is necessary, at present there is no regrind mill in the proposed facility. The inclusion of a regrind mill, most likely in the form of a small tower mill due to generally smaller footprints, would incur additional CAPEX not currently evaluated within the economic analysis. This additional unit CAPEX ........