MEXICO CITY: Fresnillo is advancing development of a new mining district in Mexico. Country’s biggest silver and second biggest gold producer is aiming to build a 100Moz silver resource in Guanajuato state, David Giles, VP of exploration, told the H1 earnings call.
Mexico’s biggest silver and second biggest gold producer is aiming to build a 100Moz silver resource in Guanajuato state, David Giles, VP of exploration, told the H1 earnings call.
The company is currently drilling in five target areas and advancing drill permits in four further zones in the emerging district, Giles said.
Guanajuato is a past-producing area, with Fresnillo parent company Industrias Peñoles having produced 1Boz silver and 4Moz gold in previous operations, which ended in 1991.
“Last year our resources were about 45Moz of silver and 320,000oz of gold. We are over half way towards finding a new Fresnillo-sized district for our company, and our target is about 100Moz of silver,” Giles said. “With the results we have had this year at Cerro Blanco, Potrerillos and Opulencia [targets], these resources have increased.”
Obtaining drilling permits and access to land is a challenge and is taking more time than previously, Giles told the call.
Fresnillo is drilling permitted targets while advancing drill permits at others, as well as looking at possible acquisitions around Guanajuato and the company’s other districts, he added.
The company is also drilling around its three mining districts (Fresnillo, Ciénega and Herradura) and other targets in Mexico and Peru.
