The Moss mine project is 100% owned by Golden Vertex Corp.
On March 27, 2025, Mako Mining Corp. announced that, it has completed the acquisition of the Moss gold mine.
The acquisition was completed pursuant to the terms of an interest purchase agreement dated March 26th, 2025, between Mako US Corp. as buyer, Wexford EG Acquisition LLC as vendor, EG Acquisition LLC ("EGA") as target and Mako as buyer guarantor, pursuant to which Mako US acquired 100% of the ownership interests in EGA,a recently created private company controlled by Mako's controlling shareholder, Wexford Capital LP, that acquired 100% of the shares of Golden Vertex Corp., the operating subsidiary of the Moss mine, under a CCAA proceeding and related Chapter 15 proceeding in the United States (the "Bankruptcy Process") on December 31st, 2024.
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Summary:
Gold-silver mineralization at Moss occurs as high-level low-sulfidation epithermal veins and stockworks. The mineralization is very similar to that of the main Oatman mining district and may be considered an extension of the Oatman vein system, possibly of the Gold Road vein.
The Moss deposit is a steeply dipping (average 70°) quartz-calcite vein and stockwork system, which extends over a strike length of approximately 1,400 m in the project area, but can be traced for more than 5.6 km in total length.
The main host rock of the Moss deposit is the Moss porphyry, a polyphase monzonite to quartz monzonite porphyry, which intrudes volcanic tuffs, flows, and minor volcaniclastic sediments filling the caldera. The main mass of the Moss porphyry contains coarse grained (4 mm to 10 mm) plagioclase and biotite phenocrysts with lesser hornblende in a very fine grained groundmass of quartz and feldspar. The Moss stock contains more felsic phases and equigranular quartz monzonite to monzodiorite phases. Within the project area the porphyry has undergone weak early propylitic and potassic alteration. Sparsely porphyritic feldspar porphyry and rhyolite porphyry to aplite dikes with quartz eyes crosscut the porphyry and the volcanic wall rocks. Late (post-mineral) micro-gabbro to basalt dikes cut all units along north-trending faults.
The easternmost portion of the Moss project area and the western portion of the patented claims are underlain by the Peach Springs tuff, (formerly the Alcyone Formation), which forms the caldera fill.
Mineralization
The Moss vein system is considered a high level, low-sulfidation (adularia-sericite) epithermal gold-silver deposit in the classification of Heald et al (1987) and White and Hedenquist (1995). Low sulfidation epithermal deposits form from hydrothermal waters in the relatively near-surface environment, typically within 1.5 km of the earth’s surface (Taylor, 2007). They are commonly found associated with magmatism and volcanism, but are somewhat distal (vertically or laterally) from the actual center of magmatism, in environments where meteroric waters have mixed with and diluted magmatic waters.
Epithermal deposits comprise one of three sub-types: high sulphidation; intermediate sulphidation; and low sulphidation. Each sub-type is identified by characteristic alteration and ore-stage mineral assemblages, occurrences, textures and suites of associated geochemical elements. The designation of high sulfidation vs low sulfidation is based on the sulfidation state of the ore-stage sulfide suite, not the abundance of sulfides in the ore. However, precious metals mineralization at Moss is characterized by a low sulfidation suite of minerals and a very low sulfide content (<1%) as well.
The quartz-calcite vein textures at Moss (massive, breccia, vuggy, colloform), are typical of low sulphidation epithermal veins. Gold occurs as very fine native gold and electrum, and silver typically occurs as electrum and very fine grained acanthite, similar to other low-sulfidation precious metals deposits.
The very low (usually trace) levels of base metals in the Moss ores are also consistent with high- level low-sulfidation gold deposits. Alteration related to main-stage precious metals mineralization is confined to silicification and minor sericitization of wallrock adjacent to the veins.
Three main veins and their associated stockworks host the bulk of mineralization defined to date at Moss: 1) the Moss Vein; 2) the western extension of the Moss Vein (the “West Vein”); and 3) the Ruth Vein to the south of the Moss Vein. The Moss vein strikes west-northwest and dips steeply to the south. The Ruth vein and other small veins in the hanging wall of the Moss vein are antithetic veins dipping to the north. Geological mapping combined with Moss Mine Project drill hole logs and assay database indicate the potential for other mineralized veins that are both similar to and subparallel to the Ruth Vein.
Moss Vein
The Moss vein strikes 206° and dips an average of 70° to the south (96°, 70° using the right-hand rule). The vein can be followed for more than 1.4 km across the property, where it forms a series of low west-northwest trending hogbacks with the vein footwall defining the north side of the ridges. The nature of the vein varies both along strike and down dip, from a massive quartz-calcite vein through quartz-calcite vein containing floating clasts of wallrock to stockwork veining. The vein is locally brecciated due to later tectonic movement. Stockwork veins and veinlets are concentrated in the vein hangingwall, where thick zones of low-grade economic mineralization occur. The footwall contact is a fairly sharp, well-defined contact, which varies in nature from an undisturbed fissure-filling contact between vein and wallrock to a fault contact with brecciated vein juxtaposed against footwall host rock.
The footwall of the Moss vein is normally a clearly visible contact between vein and un-veined wallrock, although locally quartz-calcite stringers carrying low-grade precious metal values extend for a few meters into the footwall wallrock. Two such mineralized footwall zones may be associated with dilational flexure zones. In contrast, the position of the upper contact of the hangingwall stockwork is a less well defined contact, picked predominantly on the basis of gold assays as vein density in the hangingwall gradually decreases.
West Vein
The West Vein is an extension of the Moss Vein, lying to the west across the Canyon fault, a major north-northwest linear. The nature of the Moss vein changes across the fault, from a well-defined quartz-calcite vein with hangingwall stockwork on the east side to a wide zone of small veins and stockworks with a less well defined main vein on the west side of the fault. The West vein zone may be considered a zone of horsetailing of the Moss vein. Widespread strong silicification marks the footwall of the structure with only local development of quartz-calcite veining typical of the Moss vein. The stockwork associated with the West Vein (the “West Extension stockwork”) is wider and more extensive than that on the hangingwall of the Moss Vein, but its gold-silver mineralization is lower grade than the Moss Vein. The West Extension stockwork is also contiguous to a stockwork developed to the immediate west of the Canyon fault. The structure of the Moss vein can be followed across the Canyon fault with the same orientation, but there is little apparent displacement across the fault. The Canyon fault may pre-date the Moss vein and have only minor post-mineralization movement.
The mineralogy of the Moss vein system is simple and the mineralization is nearly void of all deleterious elements. Key elements are:
- Gangue consists of quartz and calcite with minor fluorite locally occurring as late stage veins and vug fillings.
- Gold mineralization is predominantly in the form of very fine grained native gold and silver-rich native gold grading to electrum (an alloy of gold and silver with Ag:Au >1:5).
- Silver occurs as electrum and within the silver-rich gold. Minor native silver has also been identified. In addition, minor amounts of very fine grained, grey to black sulphides (dominantly acanthite, Ag2S) are present as disseminations and occasionally in very thin grey bands in unoxidized or weakly oxidized parts of the veins. The silver minerals bring the overall Ag:Au ratio of the deposit to approximately 8:1.
- Base metals (Cu, Pb, Zn) are very low, especially in the upper parts of the system, but show a slight increase with depth, consistent with low-sulfidation epithermal veins.
- No arsenic or antimony minerals occur.
- Mercury is negligible.