El Tigre Silver-Gold Project is a planned operation in the historic El Tigre Mining District in Sonora, Mexico. The project is fully owned by Canadian company Silver Tiger Metals.
In September 2023, the company announced an Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the high-grade silver-gold project. This was followed by the delivery of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in November 2023.
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Silver Tiger Metals reported the results of the Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for El Tigre Project in October 2024.
The PFS estimated that the open pit El Tigre Project would deliver a total of 43 million payable silver equivalent ounces (AgEq) or 510 thousand payable gold equivalent ounces (AuEq).
Initial capital cost is estimated to be $86.8m.
In December 2024, Silver Tiger Metals started an underground drilling campaign on high-grade vein, sulphide and shale zones on the property.
It will aim to complete a PEA on the underground component of the project in the first half of 2025.
El Tigre Silver-Gold Project Location
The El Tigre Project is located in northeastern Sonora State, Mexico. It is in the Sierra El Tigre area, around 90km south-southeast of the border Town of Agua Prieta.
Overall, the property comprises 59 Mexican Federal mining concessions totalling an area 21,775ha. 55 of these concessions are owned by Silver Tiger subsidiary Pacemaker Silver Mining, while the remaining four are with Compañía Minera Talaman (Talaman), which is in turn owned by Pacemaker.
The location of the property is remote with food, fuel and lodging two-to-three hour drive from the camp in Esqueda.
Background
The historical Lucky Tiger Mine, which produced silver and gold intermittently between 1903 and 1938, is located at the site.
In November 2015, Oceanus Resources Corporation, a precursor company to Silver Tiger, acquired all issued and outstanding common shares of El Tigre Silver Corporation. Subsequently, Pacemaker became an indirectly owned Mexican subsidiary of Oceanus.
In May 2020, Oceanus rebranded itself as Silver Tiger Metals. The company has completed drilling more than 100,000m at El Tigre.
Geology and Mineralisation
El Tigre is situated on the eastern flank of the Sierra El Tigre mountain range within the Basin and Range physiographic province. The central section of Sierra El Tigre comprises a thick sequence of Tertiary volcanic rocks.
It is overlain by granitic basement in the south, Pre-Cenozoic alluvial fanglomerates in the west, and Paleozoic bedded limestones in the north.
The El Tigre historic mine district is located at the northern end of the Sierra Madre silver and gold belt.
The district hosts silver, gold, lead, zinc, and copper mineralisation in fissure veins within a narrow, north-trending belt 5.3km long. Nine such veins have been identified.
These include Sooy, El Tigre, Seitz-Kelly and Combination Veins in the southern area. The northern area features Aquila, Caleigh, Fundadora, Protectora and Escondida Veins.
Silver and gold mineralisation is found both in the fissure veins and in a low-grade stockwork halo around the veins.
Vein mineralisation includes quartz and zinc, iron, lead, copper, and silver sulphides in different proportions. Gold is found with copper silver sulphides.
Tetrahedrite and galena are the primary silver-bearing minerals, gold is found as µm-sized specks and as inclusions in galena and chalcopyrite.
El Tigre Project Reserves
El Tigre Project is expected to host Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve of 40.3Mt at average grades of 0.40 g/t Au and 14.9 g/t Ag.
Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource total 200Moz AgEq grading 92 g/t AgEq contained in 68 million tonnes. Inferred Mineral Resource stands at 84 Moz AgEq grading 180 g/t AgEq contained in 14.5 million tonnes.
Mining at El Tigre Project
The El Tigre Project will be mined via a single open pit mining operation using conventional equipment. Mid-sized diesel-hydraulic excavators and diesel-powered front-end loaders are expected to be used for operations.
Initially, the ore heap leaching rate will be 7,500tpd until Year 3. This will be ramped up to 15,000tpd subsequently and will be maintained to the end of the mine life.
A mining contractor will be responsible for all drilling, loading, hauling, and mine site maintenance activities. An additional blasting contractor will provide blasthole loading and charging services.
Silver Tiger Metals will be in charge of overall mine management and technical services including mine planning, grade control, geotechnical, and surveying services.
The silver-gold project will utilise multiple waste rock storage facilities, of which the main one will be located to the west of the open pit.
Overall, around 108.6Mt of material will be mined, which will include 68.3Mt of waste rock and 40.3Mt of ore.
Recovery
The process plant facility will be located adjacent to the heap pond infrastructure. It will be designed to support a nominal 7,500 tpd (Years 1 to 3) and 15,000 tpd (Years 4 to 9) of ore with average grades of 0.40 g/t Au and 14.9 g/t Ag.
The flowsheet design includes three stage conventional crushing, and then loading the material onto lined heap pads.
Solution ponds and pumping system will enable irrigation of the ore and obtainment of the pregnant solution.
Subsequently, the pregnant solution will be moved to the Merrill Crowe recovery facility for the precipitation of gold and silver. This precipitate will be smelted at a refinery to produce doré bars.
Key Infrastructure
El Tigre Project will secure water for infrastructure and the process plant through a designed collection and pump system from the nearby Bavispe River.
A 72km 34.5kV overhead power line will supply power from the national grid to the site. The routing of the line will be from Esqueda.
The site currently features an exploration camp with accommodation for drillers and site administration personnel. Power is supplied by diesel generators.
The project site can be accessed by road from Colonia Morelos, located in the Town of Agua Prieta.
Contractors Involved
The pre-feasibility study report for the El Tigre silver-gold project was prepared by P&E Mining Consultants.
Several other companies also provided support including D.E.N.M. Engineering for mineral processing and metallurgy, Consultores Interdisciplinario en Medio Ambiente (CIMA) for environmental aspects, and WSP Canada for geotechncial and hydrogeological engineering.
Silver Tiger partnered with P&E Mining Consultants to develop the mineralisation models, estimates, and reporting criteria for the mineral resources at El Tigre.
