Cerro Caliche Poised To Capitalize On Careful Exploration

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Sonoro Gold’s Cerro Caliche gold project has managed to effectively prove its potential and is ready to launch its transition from exploration to development thanks to its satisfactory drilling results, reports project leader Kenneth Macleod.

As President, CEO and Director of Sonoro Gold, MacLeod is member of a highly experienced management team that has a proven track record in the successful financing of projects and the development of resource deposits. MacLeod has over 35 years of experience as a financier and developer in the international resource sector. Collectively, Sonoro Gold’s management and technical teams have discovered and developed a total of 12 gold and copper mines. All of these accolades and accomplishments have played a large part in what MacLeod describes as the great success of Sonoro Gold’ flagship project, the gold-focused Cerro Caliche, with its portfolio being rounded out by gold and silver project San Marcial.

MacLeod explained that Cerro Caliche was additionally benefited by its prized location. The state of Sonora, where the project is located, is defined by MacLeod as a “pro-mining jurisdiction.” The mine also is benefited for being a three-hour drive from both the state capital of Hermosillo and the US city of Tucson, Arizona, where many prominent suppliers and service providers can reach the project and address its needs. MacLeod referred to the infrastructure that was available to the project as “first-class”. In addition, the project is located next to four neighboring gold mines: Equinox Gold’s Mercedes Gold Mine, Goldgroup’s Cerro Prieto Gold Mine, Agnico Eagle’s Santa Gertrudis Gold Project and Magna Gold Corp’s San Francisco Mine. 

MacLeod explained that Sonoro Gold could take advantage of these prominent geographic conditions to map out a drilling campaign that could be built around the sites of nearby historical mines, such as Cabeza Blanca, Japonesas, El Colorado, La Española, Las Abejas, El Boludito and Veta de Oro. The total concession area of Cerro Caliche covers 1,350 hectares, within which a total of 10,760 meters has been drilled in 105 holes. Sonoro Gold ended up greatly increasing the scope of this historical exploration by drilling a total of 47,500 meters in 433 holes. 

This activity led the project to reach a mineral resource estimate that was based on 31.5 metric tons of total material processed within the resource pit shells. The potential mineralization outside of the resource pit shells, identified by limited exploration drilling, was calculated as ranging from 19.25 to 34.37 metric tons, containing 204,000 to 365,000 ounces of gold and 1,683,000 to 3,005,000 ounces of silver. In an interview with MBN, Jorge Díaz, Vice President of Operations at Sonoro Gold, stated that Cerro Caliche is one of Sonora’s most promising mining projects. While highlighting the potential of Cerro Caliche, which he assures was key when the company decided to acquire it. VP Díaz revealed that they were working hard in transforming the property into an “economic resource” by optimizing operating parameters. Sonoro Group has an “aggressive” operational plan for the property by the end of 2021, on track to start production in 2022, he added.

MacLeod remains positive that, based on these results, the project will be able to move to its next phase in a short time. “Based on the success of the last three drilling years, we are now heading toward construction in the Cerro Caliche Gold project.” MacLeod admitted that access to financing has been notoriously difficult for junior resource companies despite brief windows of enthusiasm for gold projects that shut down quickly. He concluded by mentioning that the project’s next catalyst was to obtain its multilateral investment agreement and finalizing its land use agreement with ranch leaders who currently own the land, adding that environmental studies have shown that the project poses no outstanding environmental concerns.