VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian junior Santacruz Silver Mining has signed an option agreement with certain private Mexican companies known as Contracuña under which Santacruz aquired an option to buy a 100% interest in the Veta Grande and Minillas properties, for $15.5-million.
The TSX-V-listed company currently operates the properties on a 60%:40% net profits interest basis under an exclusive 30-year right granted by Contracuña.
Santacruz will make five scheduled payments over 48 months to consummate the deal.
"The Veta Grande and Minillas properties, together with our Zacatecas properties represent one of the largest and most historically important land packages within the Zacatecas mining region, and we are very pleased to have this agreement in place which gives us the opportunity to consolidate our mineral interests in the area," stated Santacruz president and CEO Arturo Préstamo.
"This is another important step in our plan to expand our Zacatecas operations into a larger district play and we look forward to its continued development as part of Santacruz's transition into a midtier Mexican silver producer."
Earlier this week, Santacruz announced that it had discovered a new mineralised vein crosscutting the Membrillo silver/zinc/lead/gold vein structure, located about 4 km from the company's Rosario mill, which is located near Charcas, San Luis Potosi, in Mexico.