TEPAL GOLD COPPER PROJECT
Commodity:Gold-CopperLocation:NW Michoacán, MexicoNearest City:170 km south of Guadalajara, 18km south of the Jalisco State borderInfrastructure:Excellent with paved roads and low topographyUtilities:Water, power, deep sea port access at Manzanillo and Lazaro Cárdenas.Labour:Experienced technical Mexican geologists and local laborCommunities:Town of Tepalcatepec, 15.5 km from the Tepal projectSize:1,440 haStage:43-101 M&I Resource, PEA & PFS (MIA Permitted)Ownership:100%
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS:
- The Tepal project is located in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, a short distance from the Jalisco State border, lying roughly equidistant between the two international commercial sea ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cárdenas and the international Airports of Manzanillo and Guadalajara, a city of 5 million people.
- The project is a 15-minute drive via paved highways and well maintained ranch roads from the commercial centre of Tepalcatepec (municipality population 45,000).
- The region has a history of established international scale agribusiness and has a long history of local independent mining operations, both indicative of a supportive community and social relationship.
- The project area has excellent infrastructure and a work pool of highly trained technical talent and local labor.
- The results from 443 holes totaling over 82,895 meters of core and reverse circulation drilling has delineated the North, South, and Tizate zones in the Measured & Indicated category.
- Tepal’s current NI 43-101 contains 1.8 million ounces of gold and 813 million pounds of copper at grades of 0.30 g/t gold, 0.2% copper, 1.54 g/t silver, and 0.004% molybdenum in the Measured & Indicated Categories within the resource pit shell.
- The resource uses a US$5/tonne equivalent value net smelter return (NSR) cut-off and a $1,250 gold price, $2.50 copper price, $18.00 silver price.
- Sulphide and oxide gold recoveries are estimated to be 83% and 78%, respectively, and 87% for copper in sulphide material.
- Past exploration focused on bulk porphyry-style mineralisation but recent work indicates the presence Au-Ag epithermal feeder zones that remain largely untested.
- Mineralization follows these newly identified structural controls and feeders whose strike and depth potential remain unexplored.
- There is potential to add ounces by drilling along strike and dip, with potential to improve grade within the existing resource by angled drilling of high angle structures.
- Defiance owns 100% of the Tepal Project.
- Tepal was originally acquired by Defiance through a merger with ValOro Resources in 2018; ValOro was previously known as Geologix Explorations.