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REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Sun shines on Mithril

by Mark Andrews

T here will be new look about Mithril Resources Ltd in 2020. “As well as being a good project technically, there are good
people behind Sun,” Hutton said.
A well-known acquirer of projects on the ASX, the company
made moves to streamline the business in the past 12 months Stewart and Hall were instrumental in the exploration and
and the tidy up has resulted in a diversified strategy in both development of North American outfit Coeur Mining Inc’s
jurisdiction and commodity. Palmarejo silver-gold mine, which after nine years of production
“We have done three farm-out deals in the past six months or so, boasted proven and probable reserves of 693,000oz gold and
which was a broader strategy to clean up the company. There 50.2 moz silver, as reported in December 2018.
were a lot of projects and in the current environment you can’t Palmarejo is north of Copalquin within the Sierra Madre trend,
spread yourself too thinly,” outgoing Mithril managing director which also hosts Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd’s Pinos Altos, Newmont
David Hutton told GMJ. Goldcorp’s El Suazal Mine (depleted), First Majestic Silver Corp’s
“If anything we have allowed ourselves to be spread too thinly San Dimas, Fresnillo plc’s San Julian and La Cienega mines and
even though we have had a focus on the Billy Hills zinc project in the now shuttered Ocampo mine.
the Kimberley, so it was important for us to bring value-add to the There are multiple opportunities that excite Mithril across the six
lower priority projects to tighten the focus and bringing the focus mineral concessions covering 7,005ha at Sun’s Copalquin, not
down to Billy Hills has allowed us to pursue other opportunities.” the least historical high-grade drill intercepts of 17.77m @ 45.16
The company’s focus will now be on the high-grade Copalquin g/t gold and 118.2 g/t silver from 30.98m at El Cometa mine,
gold-silver project in Durango, Mexico. 7.9m @ 6.54 g/t gold and 140 g/t silver from 143.1m at El Refugio
and 4.53m @ 28.99 g/t gold and 2,350.3 g/t silver from 138m at
Copalquin has been held by private Australian company Sun
the La Soledad mine.
Minerals Pty Ltd which will be acquired 100% by Mithril.
Sun has spent $2.5 million in the last two years at Copalquin
An entitlement issue to existing shareholders to raise $4.9 million
and with a team with over 50 years’ experience in Mexico the
(before costs) is a condition of the transaction while Hutton, who
company will be well positioned to forge ahead at the project with
is a top 20 shareholder, will step down as managing director in
access to the market.
the first half of 2020.
“With the new management and new direction, the Mexican
Hutton’s departure opens the way for Dudley Leitch to become
opportunity will be the clear focus for the company,” Hutton said.
executive chairman of Mithril at Sun’s nomination.
“The constant struggle for juniors is the merry-go-round of raising
Furthermore, Sun’s exploration director Hall Stewart and
capital. It seems when you finish one capital raising you are onto
managing director John Skeet will boost the capacity of the
the next one. If we are successful here, we will do a large capital
company on the ground.
raising that will basically remove the need of every six
months going back to the market and doing a continually
dilutive capital raising. We have always been known as
conservative, with a high level of technical experience,
and that won’t change as the technical guys coming
across to this project are smart operators.”
While Copalquin will take top billing for Mithril, work will
continue at Billy Hills, north-west Western Australia,
where a heritage clearance survey for drill testing at
Firetail was conducted in early November. In addition to
the survey, more mapping and rock chip sampling was
also completed.
“The work we have done has done nothing to diminish
the Billy Hills project and ironically when you think about
the field seasons of the two projects, they are two
different seasons. The Billy Hills season wraps up as
the Mexican field season starts, so they don’t directly
compete for logistics and funds. They do have the ability
Copalquin contains 32 historic underground gold and silver mines, including
La Soledad and El Refugio to work side by side.”

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