Minera Pafex puts Mexico’s Charay gold-silver project up for sale

Minera Pafex has opened a formal sale process for the Charay Project, a past-producing gold-silver mine in Sinaloa, Mexico, and prefers an outright acquisition. The company is pitching drilled grades, documented recoveries and existing infrastructure as it seeks a new owner or operator for the mine.

Why it matters: - Charay is a past-producing gold-silver project with drilled high-grade mineralization, documented metallurgy and existing infrastructure in northern Sinaloa. - Minera Pafex is seeking an outright sale, which could put a shovel-ready-style asset into the hands of a new operator. - The property sits near roads, rail, power and port access, which can lower the cost and complexity of restarting mining.

What happened: - Minera Pafex opened a formal process to sell the Charay Project, also called Mina El Padre, in the San Blas Mining District of northern Sinaloa, Mexico. - The family-held company owns 100% of the project’s three mining concessions. - Minera Pafex is prioritizing an acquisition, while also considering joint-venture structures for a qualified operating partner. - Project information is available to qualified parties at more information.

The details: - A 27-hole, 1,576-metre core program tested the El Padre vein along 240 metres of strike. - Nineteen holes intersected the structure. - Recompiled results from 2010 showed a weighted average grade of 20.3 g/t gold and 123.7 g/t silver over 1.29 metres true width. - Individual intercepts reached as high as 45.3 g/t gold. - Check assays at an ISO 17025 laboratory reproduced gold values at 91% of the original results. - No hole was drilled below about 50 metres of vertical depth. - Grades increase with depth, and the vein remains open along strike and down-dip. - Under a prior production joint venture, Charay moved from signed agreement to first ore in under four months in December 2014. - The 2015 campaign milled 15,430 tonnes and shipped 393 dry tonnes of concentrate in 14 shipments. - Those shipments contained 3,668 ounces of gold and 24,550 ounces of silver. - The concentrate graded about 288 g/t gold and 1,967 g/t silver. - The mine operated in a sub-US$1,200-per-ounce gold environment. - Bottle-roll cyanidation returned 90% to 94% gold recovery in 72 hours. - The joint venture ended in 2017 after the operator exited Mexico for portfolio reasons, and the concessions reverted to Minera Pafex unencumbered. - The property covers 380 hectares across three contiguous concessions. - The titles are pre-reform 50-year titles valid to 2041–2054 and recorded in Mexico’s Public Registry of Mining. - The site is about 45 minutes from Los Mochis, a city of 235,000. - A powerline crosses the property 750 metres from the vein. - The FerroMex rail mainline is six kilometres away. - The deep-water port of Topolobampo is within an hour. - Water is encountered at eight metres’ depth. - A parallel vein returned 16.5 g/t gold over 6.8 metres in the only hole that intersected it. - The Charay Breccia is a 500-by-200-metre silicified body with surface samples up to 7.5 g/t gold. - The Charay Breccia has never been systematically explored.

Between the lines: - Minera Pafex is leaning on historical drilling, check assays and production records to argue that Charay is more advanced than a typical early-stage target. - The strongest upside may sit below the shallow drilling horizon, since the deepest holes ended in mineralization and the vein has not been tested below roughly 50 metres. - The project’s logistics and prior mill history may appeal to buyers looking for a restart rather than a pure exploration play. - Luis Palafox said Charay is not a grassroots story and that the company is looking for an owner or operating partner to take it back into production.

What’s next: - Qualified principals and mandated advisors can request information through the inquiry form on the project website. - After a standard confidentiality agreement, interested parties can receive the full documentation package, including drill logs, assays, check assays, the 2010 recompilation, metallurgical certificates, concession titles, registry extracts and 2015 mill and shipment records. - Site visits will be arranged for parties that advance in diligence. - Minera Pafex says technical and legal due diligence remains the responsibility of interested parties.

The bottom line: - Charay is being marketed as a drilled, past-producing gold-silver asset with defined grades, recoveries and infrastructure, and Minera Pafex wants a buyer ready to restart the mine.