Projects
La Reyna Project
Panoramic view of La Reyna project
Significant Location.
An exploration project located within the Cusihuiriachic Silver District. 10km SE of Sierra Metals’ Cusi Mine.
Exclusive Area.
Covers the historic La Reyna mine, one of the centers of the historic production of the district. Thea area has been recently consolidated and still in private lands.
Productive Mining Camp.
The Cusihuiriachic Mining District has produced around 80+ Moz silver from 1600s to 1940s. The Cusi Mine, which is the only major mine in the district, has produced 1.03 Moz AgEq in 2019.
Opportunity to Use Modern Exploration.
Other than surface sampling, no modern exploration techniques or drilling had take place in the property. The geological potential is highly favorable.
Located in northern México, in the state of Chihuahua, at the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental, at about a 100 kms to the southwest from the city of Chihuahua.
Lies in the eastern portion of the Cusihuiriachic Silver Mining District, which produced 80+ Moz silver from 1600s to 1940s.
Access from Chihuahua to Cusihuiriáchic is along a 120 Km paved road; from there, it is a 10 Km well-kept dirt road connecting cattle ranches, while the final 7 Km are trails in poor shape connecting to the former Reyna mine.
Mineral rights: The La Reyna project is protected by several mining claims totaling 330 Ha, fully optioned by the Mexican subsidiary of Reyna Silver Corp.
Surface land: Surface land is private property and the present-day use is for livestock. There are no ejidos nor communal land in the surroundings.
Topography: Hilly, with low hills of steep slopes and narrow gorges, altitude is the range of 2,100-2,200 masl
There is no infrastructure in the area, except for that related to the cattle, and the old shafts and foundations of the Reyna mine.
There are no people currently living in, neither religious nor archaeological monuments or vestiges in the property.
The project lies within the Mexican Ag-Zn-Pb belt along the Sierra Madre Occidental province (SMO), which consists of Cretaceous to Miocene granodioritic batholiths and Cretaceous to Paleocene andesites of the Lower Volcanic Series (LVS) and the ignimbrite flare-up rhyolites of the Upper Volcanic Series (UVS). The UVS can be divided into three main pulses of the ignimbrite flare-up (Blue-pink and orange areas). In the south these rocks are covered by younger active volcanic of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.
Locally, the project hosts a window of Lower Tertiary andesites and volcaniclastics, covered by Upper Tertiary acidic volcanics. The units have a shallow NE dip. The main regional fault systems trend are NS, NNE, and NW. No intrusives are evident in the area, except for dark boulders in some of the dumps, which might indicate dikes found at the depth in the mine workings.
- The project’s mineralization indicates low-sulfidation epithermal deposit as shown by the veins, breccia, and stockwork.
- It is hosted in a large structure (La Reyna) that trends NS-NNE and dips steeply to the E (70-80°).
- The main mineral body (3-5m wide) appears to be located in the center of the structure, and that a second mineral body (3m wide), is located along the footwall.
- Other possible sub-parallel structures appear to exist in the area of the La Reyna mine, where small mine workings may be seen 100-200m to the east of the main workings.
- Argillic and subordinate silicic alterations mark the La Reyna structure which is strongly evident on its surface.
- The La Reyna could extend up to 4km strike as evidenced by scatted altered outcrops. It is generally covered by loose materials and locally by the upper rhyolites.
- The Reyna mine is closely linked to the Cusihuiriáchic mine, which was discovered in 1666, having several periods of high mining activity, combined with other of abandonment.
- The Reyna mine was discovered in 1896 and was on continuous operation until the Mexican revolution in 1910, when all the mining activity was suspended (Gonzalez Reyna, 1956).
- According to the Mexican Geological Survey1, the last known production from La Reyna occurred in the 1970’s and early 1980’s including 30,000 tons of silver at average grades of 300 g/t, including several pillars with silver grades of 14 kg/t.
- There is no record of additional mining activity, except for the recollection and transportation of all the dumps directly to the smelter during periods of high silver prices.
- Recent attempts to explore the property were done by a subsidiary of Sierra Metals, but the lack of amalgamation of the mining rights halt the exploration.
- Other than surface sampling, no modern exploration techniques or drilling had take place in the property.
- In 2008, Dia Bras Mexicana, a subsidiary of Sierra Metals, carried out an intensive program of surface mapping and sampling along the whole trend of the La Reyna structure in 2008.
- Dia Bras collected 288 samples (grab, chips, and channels) in structures (some of them underground), breccias, stockworks, and wall rocks.
- Out of the total samples collected by Dia Bras, 62 (22%) assayed over 200 g/t Ag. Several samples analyzed over 1,000 g/t Ag, with a maximum of 5,140 g/t.
