Endeavour Silver acquires more Mexican exploration properties

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian primary silver producer Endeavour Silver has acquired two small but prospective mineral property groups, Calicanto and Veta Grande, located in the historic silver mining district of Zacatecas, in Mexico.

All of the properties host old mines and/or known silver/gold veins that were underexplored by modern methods and are being acquired for their near-term mine exploration and development potential, given their proximity to Endeavour's El Compas mine and La Plata plant, also located in the Zacatecas district.

"We are very happy to add these new properties to our exploration portfolio in Zacatecas. The two transactions confirm there are good opportunities to consolidate a larger mineral land position in Zacatecas, one of the largest historic silver mining districts in Mexico. Drilling is now under way at the Calicanto properties and we expect to permit and drill the Veta Grande properties later this year,” CEO Bradford Cooke commented in a news release.

The Calicanto properties were bought from Arian Silver for $400 000. They cover 75 ha over five known, silver/gold/lead/zinc veins known as Calicanto, Vicochea, Nevada, Misie and Buenaventura, within an area of 1.2 km x 1.2 km.

The veins were discovered around 1600 and supported small scale, high-grade production of silver off and on for about 350 years. The mines were historically developed down to about 150 m depth by seven old shallow shafts, which were closed in the mid-1950s. The upper mine workings are still open but the lower mine workings are now flooded.

In the past decade, Arian drove two short ramps into the Calicanto and Buenaventura veins, drilled 16 core holes totalling 3 149 m with “encouraging” results, Endeavour said.

The Veta Grande properties were bought from Impact Silver for $500 000 by issuing 154 321 Endeavour common shares at $3.24 apiece. They cover 152 ha over six known, silver/gold/lead/zinc veins plus 14 ha of surface lands covering the dormant Santa Gabriela 200 t/d processing plant and tailings facility.

The properties are in the vicinity of one of the largest veins in the Zacatecas district, the Veta Grande vein, and cover the Nueva Granada splays to the Veta Grande vein and several other subparallel veins. The properties saw historic, small-scale, high-grade production as shown by old mine workings and dumps. Access to the old workings is limited and many are now flooded, but historic sampling of dumps and trenches have returned values up to 1 070 g/t silver with significant lead and zinc values.

The Santa Gabriela plant is located next to Endeavour's La Plata plant, 5 km north of the city of Zacatecas and it last operated between 2006 and 2009 as a 200 t/d flotation toll mill. The plant has been dormant since then and none of the concessions have seen modern exploration.

Both assets has potential for positive synergies with Endeavour’s El Compas mine development project, in Zacatecas.