Golden Minerals Co. (TSX: AUMN; NYSE-AM: AUMN), has released an initial resource estimate for its Yoquivo silver-gold project, in northwest Chihuahua state, Mexico.
The project hosts an inferred resource of 937,000 tonnes grading 410 grams silver per tonne and 2.1 grams gold for 12.3 million oz. of contained silver and 64,000 oz. of contained gold.
"We are very pleased to announce the first mineral resource ever reported for the Yoquivo district. At 570 grams silver equivalent per tonne, this is an exceptionally high-grade initial mineral resource estimate. We believe there is excellent potential for Yoquivo to ultimately develop into a producing property," Warren Rehn, Golden Minerals' CEO, said in a news release.
Rehn believes the company will be able upgrade a significant portion of the resource, which was based on three phases of drilling that Golden Minerals has completed at Yoquivo to date, to measured and indicated in the next resource update. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the company began a fourth round of drilling of roughly 3,000 metres.
"In addition, we note this initial resource estimate covers just a small portion of the strike length of the veins included in the estimate and a fraction of the total number of veins at Yoquivo, at least some of which have potentially economic intervals already drilled but with insufficient drilling to include in the estimate," Rehn said.
In October 2017, Golden Minerals acquired the right to purchase concessions covering the Yoquivo district, a past-producing, underexplored epithermal gold and silver district located 35 km southeast of the Ocampo mining district.
The 19.8 sq. km. Yoquivo property is subject to net smelter return royalties of 2-3% on production, capped at US$2.8 million in the aggregate.
Golden Minerals operates one gold-silver mine in Mexico, Rodeo, and has over a dozen projects across Argentina, Mexico and United States.
The company's shares shot up 10% on the TSX by 11:50 a.m. ET on the news. The Colorado-based miner has a market capitalization of US$40.6 million.