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CANU
IOCG discovery
MINING | CANUC RESOURCES
C RESOURCES
y potential in a historic Mexican silver mining district
Canuc Resources still bears the name it was christened with in 1954 when it focused exclusively on uranium mining prospects in Canada (Canuc = Canadian nuclear). The company has experienced several evolutions over the ensuing decades, most recently switching its focus from a gold project in Ecuador to silver-gold tenements in Mexico, which is the world’s largest producer of what Canuc describes as ‘the indispensable metal’ – silver – owing to its applications across myriad modern devices. “Electrical conductivity makes silver an indispensable metal in the electrification of the global economy,” explains Canuc president and CEO Chris Berlet. “It’s used in solar panels, circuit panels, cell phones and more, and is more conductive even then copper. On a scale of 0-100, the electrical conductivity of copper would be 96; whereas silver is 100. Charged ions on the surface of silver metal also give it anti-microbial properties,” he says. Berlet joined the board of Canuc in 2008 and was a key driving force behind the company’s interest in the San Javier SilverGold Project, which is located in a historic mining district in Sonora State, Mexico. In addition to San Javier, Canuc operates a group of natural gas wells in the US state of Texas, which provide stable cash flow for the company’s corporate overheads.
MINING | CANUC RESOURCES
Berlet and co were first drawn to the San Javier project in 2009 after they visited an old silver mine and found extensive high to bonanzagrade silver in the veins of underground workings, along with concurrent gold mineralisation. He recalls that the average recorded grade from the artisanal mine workings was 388 g/t silver with a 2 g/t gold credit, while average head grades for today’s producing silver mines is somewhere around 160 g/t silver. “We’d seen reports previously written to the boards of Hecla Mining and Endeavour Silver, written around the 2003 timeframe, recommending purchase of the mine and accumulation of claims along trend,” says Berlet. “While the project was deemed too small by those companies, it presented an opportunity for us - as a private company
at the time - to accumulate
mines; Fresnillo’s now 100%
mineral discoveries,” Berlet
claims along the 3 km trend.
owned La Herradura. The
proclaims.
By 2017, we had 17 contiguous
State also hosts the most
claims and were able to vend
value-accretive recent silver
Canuc has spent the last four
them into Canuc Resources
discovery on the TSX, after
years exploring its principal
by way of an RTO [reverse
the Las Chispas deposit sent
claims across the San Javier
takeover].”
SilverCrest’s stock from 25
project with the intention
cents to C$15.
of making a significant new
The home of Mexican mining
silver discovery that could also “Mines get permitted in
contain a meaningful gold-
The presence of major mining
Sonora, there’s an experienced
copper endowment.
houses such as Hecla and
labour pool and geology is
Endeavour in Sonora State
conducive to metal inventory
During this period of
is now very much the norm
discovery and mineral
exploration, the company has
in what is one of the busiest
wealth creation. Overall, it’s
gradually built a hypothesis
mining jurisdictions in Latin
a fantastic place to create
around the potential for an
America. Sonora is home to
shareholder value through
IOCG (iron oxide copper
one of Mexico’s largest gold
MINING | CANUC RESOURCES
gold) deposit to exist at San
Geological Engineering at the
Javier. The company’s latest
Colorado School of Mines.
findings provide the most solid evidence yet in support of this
“IOCG potential in the San
theory.
Javier area was first postulated in a site visit report written
IOCG deposits are known for
by Dr Hitzman in 2006.
being very large and extremely
In particular, the report
valuable, high-grade metal
references all the hallmarks of
resources hosted in iron
IOCG deposit types in this area
oxide assemblages. IOCGs
and prerequisites the presence
were only properly classified
of magnetite as indicating
in the 1990s, largely thanks
the lower levels of an IOCG
to the work of Dr Murray W.
system.”
Hitzman, who would later go
CAN U C RESOUR C ES AT A G L A N C E
STOCK TICKER: TSXV:CDA MARKET CAPITALISATION: US$19.3 million (as of June 15, 2021)
on to become the head of the Department of Geology and
j
IOCG potential
surface showed significant
a width up to 600 metres. In
So when Canuc uncovered
silver in magnetite, with
total, there are five discreet
a sizeable breccia zone
sometimes up to bonanza
magnetic anomalies across the
containing high grade silver
grades of silver reported
company’s claims with silver
mineralisation and extensive
within the magnetite veins.
magnetite in one area and
magnetite zones in September
There’s a chance that the large
copper-gold in another.
last year, the IOCG deposit
magnetic anomalies detected
theory was given a significant
could be massive magnetite
All of the aforementioned
boost. The discovery was made
containing silver. That’s our
features of the system are
at the El Tule claim that had
hypothesis at this stage.”
important hallmarks of IOCG
been acquired from a private Mexican firm in October 2019.
geology according to Canuc’s The dimensions of the
chief: “We’ll be drilling into
magnetic anomalies are
these anomalies in the second
“Old mine workings found
impressive enough in that they
half of the year and hope
within the breccia body on
currently show up to 1,000
to confirm the lower levels
metres in strike length with
of an IOCG system, as first
MINING | CANUC RESOURCES
postulated for the San Javier area by Dr Hitzman in 2006.” The TSXV-listed company has fostered a good working relationship with its Mexican drilling partner Minerales y Carbones – the same private metallurgical coal-focused outfit that Canuc acquired the El Tule claim from in 2019. Minerales y Carbones is an extremely credible incountry business partner for Canuc, owing to its decades of experience in the Mexican mineral extraction space. This highly profitable organisation employs around 400 permanent staff and 1,000 contractors. Senior management and engineering staff support its recent pivot into the drilling and prospecting business. “They purchased a new diamond drill and trained a dedicated drill crew who are working with us. This will be everything we need for execution of a successful drill programme at San Javier.
CHRIS BERLET, CANUC RESOURCES PRESIDENT, CEO AND DIRECTOR
“Mines get permitted in Sonora, there’s an experienced labour pool and geology is conducive to metal inventory discovery and mineral wealth creation. Overall, it’s a fantastic place to create shareholder value through mineral discoveries” Chris Berlet, Canuc Resources president, CEO and director
Outside of that we have very
leases covering the current
competent geologists as well
production can support up to
as legal support in Mexico as
12 additional wells, which will
required for defining our title
allow Canuc to accrue cash
and mineral rights.”
flow from these assets for
Crucial cash flow
several years to come.
Away from the San Javier
“Though the cash flow will
project, Canuc continues to
not pay for our drilling in
receive steady cash flow from
Mexico, it does cover our
eight natural gas production
corporate costs and allows
wells that are located around
us to eliminate unnecessary
150 miles North of George
dilution,” Berlet explains.
W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford,
“That is the reason we have,
Texas. Each of the two
and maintain, these cash flow
MINING | CANUC RESOURCES
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MINING | CANUC RESOURCES
assets which are located in a
Referring to the discovery
“We’ve proven the presence
safe jurisdiction. Any money
of mineralised breccia and
of extensive silver, gold
we raise elsewhere goes
extensive magnetite zones
and copper in magnetite.
straight into the ground in
last year, Berlet evokes the old
We’ve studied mineralogy,
Mexico.”
saying ‘where there is smoke
completed magnetic surveys
there is fire’; in this case the
and identified the targets.
A successful outcome at
fire would be a large-scale
We’re set up and fully financed
the San Javier project for
IOCG deposit within the San
for a drill programme on
Canuc Resources would be a
Javier project area.
our 100%-owned claims in
significant silver discovery
a jurisdiction with a great
with additional gold-
“The next step in our process
history for discovery of highly
copper endowment inside
at San Javier is to locate the
economic silver and gold
an overarching IOCG-type
source of the silver at depth
deposits.”
deposit. This is the big prize
and perhaps the mineral rich
that the company is seeking to
chambers in the lower levels
confirm with drilling later this
of an IOCG deposit within our
year.
mineral claim group,” he says.
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
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