Sonoro Gold Corp (TSX-V:SGO, OTCQB:SMOFF) has filed a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its Cerro Caliche project in Mexico’s Sonora State which it says highlights its intrinsic value.
The company noted that the National Instrument 43-101 technical report is based on a total of 55,360 meters (m) of drilled data including 498 drill holes, 17 trenches and assays for 53,865m of the drilled data.
“This is an important milestone in Cerro Caliche’s development. With only 30% of the property’s known mineralized zones drilled and assayed to date, the report once again highlights the intrinsic value of the project,” Sonoro president and CEO Kenneth MacLeod said in a statement.
“The economic impact of the MRE on our proposed open-pit, heap leach mining operation will be disclosed in a subsequent technical report, expected to be filed by end of the second quarter in 2023,” he added.
READ: Sonoro Gold announces updated Mineral Resource Estimate for Cerro Caliche gold project
Mineral Resource Estimate highlights:
- Indicated Mineral Resources of 19.9 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.44 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and 3.5 g/t silver (Ag) grade;
- Contains within an optimized pit shell: 280,000 ounces of Au, 2,240,000 ounces of Ag, 290,000 ounces of gold equivalent (AuEq);
- Inferred Mineral Resources of 10.5 Mt at 0.42 g/t Au and 4.0 g/t Ag grade;
- Contains within an optimized pit shell: 140,000 ounces of Au, 1,345,000 oounces of Ag, 150,000 ounces of AuEq;
- 65% of the combined resource tonnage is within the Indicated category; and
- Amenable to a combination of open pit mining and heap leach extraction.
Mineral Resource Estimate
Sonoro noted that the updated MRE report for Cerro Caliche is based on data with a cut-off date of January 4, 2023, and is reported with an effective date of January 26, 2023.
It said SRK Consulting, which prepared the report, also commented favorably on the upside potential of the project in terms of exploration. The current geological volumes and grade estimates, located outside of the pit shells, are considered too limited to establish grade continuity to meet the present requirements for Reasonable Prospects of Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE) for the mineralized area to be considered Mineral Resources. SRK has defined the ranges for the potential exploration targets outside of the current pits shell and are within the current modelled mineralized zones, the company added.
It also cautioned that the potential quantity and grade ranges noted are conceptual and insufficient exploration has been conducted to define the material as a Mineral Resource. It is also uncertain if further exploration will result in these exploration target estimates being delineated as Mineral Resources or converted to Mineral Reserves in the future, the company added.
Furthermore, it said SRK cautions that estimates of exploration targets are not a Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)-defined category, are not Mineral Resources and are too speculative to fulfill the definition of Mineral Resources.
The company said there are additional opportunities along strike and parallel to the current vein trends and this potential may be quantified through additional drilling. In addition to drilling, it said surface mapping and sampling suggest that several mineralized trends have the potential for additional resources along strike.
Further exploration drill programs are warranted, Sonoro concluded.
Sonoro Gold is a publicly listed exploration and development company holding the near-development-stage Cerro Caliche project and the exploration-stage San Marcial project in Sonora State, Mexico. It has highly experienced operational and management teams with proven track records for the discovery and development of natural resource deposits.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com