Santacruz Silver Acquires Zimapan Mine

Santacruz Silver has announced the acquisition of the Zimapan Mine assets from Minera Cedros, owned by Grupo Peñoles. The transaction was funded by Trafigura Mexico which facilitated a US$17.6 million loan for the transaction.

Santacruz reported the assets purchased include the Zimapan mill facility, 34 mining concessions and surface and underground infrastructure to carry on day-to-day operations. As described by the company, the Zimapan mill is a 75,000 dry metric tons per month facility with zinc, lead and copper circuits. Over the past five years it has produced an annual average of 12,400 tons of zinc, 3,300 tons of lead, 1,850 tons of copper and 1.29Moz of silver from an average annual throughput of 700,000 tons of mineralized material, reported MBN.

The Zimapan mining district was discovered by Spanish miners in 1575. Located along the southern margin of the prolific Sierra Madre Oriental. Between 1632 and 1920, more than 18 mines were created. Peñoles operated the mine from 1964 until leasing to Santacruz in August 2009. According to Santacruz’s website, from 2011 to 2019, Santacruz completed over 30-kilometer underground drill and mined around 5.9M tons of mineralized material.

Carlos Silva, CEO of Santacruz explained that the acquisition of the Zimapan Mine would represent a new beginning for the company. “Adding the Zimapan Mine, which I have had the privilege to lead throughout the last 12 years, to the company's existing mining projects, would be a transformational transaction for Santacruz. This acquisition is expected to pave the way for the future growth of Santacruz toward becoming a mid-tier silver producer. We wish to thank Peñoles’ management for their support throughout this process,” reported by MBN.

Following the acquisition announcement, Silva expressed his gratitude to Grupo Peñoles as well as Trafigura, “I want to thank everyone at Grupo Peñoles for demonstrating constant support and professionalism throughout this process. I also want to thank Trafigura for supporting Santacruz and providing the loan facility that expedited the closing of the transaction.” He also stated how this acquisition represents those new beginnings that he had mentioned some months prior, “Closing the transaction and acquiring outright ownership of the Zimapan Mine marks a new era for Santacruz that will help pave the road for the continuation of the Company´s growth. Beyond the mineralized zones currently being mined, management believes there is great untapped potential contained in the Zimapan mine´s 5,000 hectares of mining claims.”