Of the geological formations associated with the Guanajuato district only the Esperanza and La Luz Formations occur in the Bolañitos mine area with mineralization residing primarily within the La Luz Formation. Mineralization is known to dissipate at the contact with the Esperanza Formation.

The Veta Madre historically was the most productive vein in the Guanajuato district, and is by far the most continuous, having been traced on the surface for nearly 25 km. The vein dips from 35° to 55º to the southwest with measured displacement of around 1,200m near the Las Torres mine and 1,700 m near La Valenciana mine. The most productive veins at Bolañitos strike parallel to the Veta Madre system.

Bolañitos mineralization is directly related to faulting. Mineralization occurs as open-space fillings in fracture zones or impregnations in locally porous wall rock. Veins which formed in relatively open spaces are the main targets for mining.

There are 21 veins within the Bolañitos mine area that are included in the mineral resource estimate. These mineralized veins are known to occur from an elevation of 2300 m down to an elevation of 1900 m.

Mineralized veins at Bolañitos consist of the classic banded and brecciated epithermal variety. Silver occurs primarily in dark sulfide-rich bands within the veins, with little mineralization within the wall rocks. The major metallic minerals reported include pyrite, argentite, electrum and ruby silver, ........

The ground conditions at the San Miguel, La Luz and Lucero mines are considered to be good. The rocks are competent and require no special measures for support other than occasional rock bolting and regular scaling. Cable bolting is sometimes required during the preparation of stopes for longhole blasting. The cable bolts are installed by drilling holes in the hanging wall and fixing the bolts in place with cement pumped into the hole.

Conventional drill and blast methods are used to extract the ore at Bolañitos, and access to the mining areas is provided by ramps and audits. Mine development headings are drilled by jumbo and by jackleg. Traditionally a conventional bottom-up cut and fill mining method was employed with waste rock brought in using diesel loaders. The rock used to backfill the stopes is generated from the waste development underground.

Over the past eight years a transition to a modified long hole method has taken place wherever the width and dip of the vein is applicable to this method.

Once sill development is completed and the limits of the ore have been defined, stope production can begin. For conventional cut and fill stoping, ore is mined upward in horizontal slices using jackleg drills. Cut and fill mining is a method of short hole mining with hole lengths usually less than 2m. For long hole mining the holes are typically 12-16m in length but vary from 6 to 16m depending on the stope.

For cut-and-fill, the pr ........

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