Mercado Minerals Ltd (CSE:MERC, OTCQB:MRMNF, FRA:M2R), the Mexico-focused silver exploration company, has signed a community access and exploration agreement with Ejido Rincon de Ibonia in Sinaloa.
The agreement covers part of the Zamora project and allows Mercado to advance the drill permitting process for the Campanillas area.
Mercado said the agreement positions it to advance the permit process, while negotiations continue with other ejido groups to secure access to the remainder of the project.
Under the agreement, Mercado will pay an annual fee of 100,000 Mexican pesos (about $ 5,911) with a one-year renewal option, and 3,000 pesos (about $178) for each drill pad constructed on ejido land.
Zamora is located approximately 110 kilometers north of Mazatlán and 23 kilometers southwest of Cosalá in Sinaloa.
The property contains 14 high-grade silver-gold vein occurrences and historic small-scale mines with more than 8 kilometers of cumulative vein strike that have not been drill tested.
Historic sampling at Campanillas returned grades of up to 14,561 grams per tonne of silver and 15.53 grams per tonne of gold.
A sample at El Triunfo returned 286 grams per tonne of silver and 2.54 grams per tonne of gold over 1 metre.