Goldplay’s (V.GPLY) San Marcial project consists of 1,250 hectares, located south of the La Rastra and Plomosas historical mines in one of most important multi-million ounces (Au-Ag) mine district in Sinaloa – Mexico. It is a large concession and Marcio Fonseca, the company’s President and CEO, together with Goldplay’s team based in the regions are driving the exploration program towards discoveries of large Au-Ag deposits.
In its press release of April 16, Goldplay reported successful results from its efforts to approach the exploration program on a district scale with the discovery of new Au target at Nava, a new target zone just 1.5 km west of the high-grade-potential open pit hydrothermal breccia-hosted 43-101 silver resource. This delineates a multi-commodity opportunity in the concession for the definition of drill targets aiming resource expansion in the short term.
In the release, Fonseca states, “Over the past months Goldplay has actively explored the 1,250 ha of the San Marcial concession with soil, rock chip and channel sampling, identifying and testing targets that will add value to the San Marcial silver resource, by expanding or discovering new mineralized zones. High-grade gold results with visible (panned) gold from epithermal quartz veins within artisanal tunnels in the Nava Zone provide 2 encouragement for a gold mineralized low sulphidation epithermal system.”
The Nava target was identified by Goldplay’s geologists when the concession was acquired. “We did our due diligence,” said Fonseca. “We walked the whole property and we knew the gold was there. But we decided to begin with the silver. As we were developing the 43-101 silver resource our geos realized the connection between Nava and the resource area, defining a 1.5km long corridor with at least 14 old shallow workings and it clearly defined the immediate “blue sky”. An opportunity to continue discovering and expanding the resources with now Au and Ag mineralized zones – high grade and close to surface.
“it is known, that the artisanal miners were chasing super high-grade veins,” said Fonseca. “Artisanal miners are very good prospectors. They show the gold was there. They’re not stupid.”
Not stupid and the artisanal miners worked hard. They carved three tunnels, two quite close to each other, the other on the opposite side of the hill. For Goldplay, these recent hand cut tunnels offered an opportunity to take samples from deep within the hill, and connect the dots defining a wide mineralized epithermal system.
“We went to the top of a tunnel and we collected material,” said Fonseca. “We crushed the material on site and we were able to pan the free gold it contained”.
In addition to the tunnels there are also several pits which have been dug and which indicate the presence of enough gold to interest the artisanal miners and, therefore, Goldplay.
When I first interviewed Fonseca in July of 2018, he told me that with his background as a geologist/engineer and an investment banker, he was always asking the question, “Is this a mine?” With the Nava target the question is, “Is this an open pit target?”
To answer that question Goldplay is going to trench across the mineralization at Nava. “We want to try to expand beyond the 500 meters of already known target size,” said Fonseca. “We are trenching right now and we hope to have the results in the next couple of weeks.”
Asked if Goldplay would be drilling Fonseca was cautious. “We’re at the sampling stage right now. We have permits to drill but we will wait to finish the trenching, compile all results and de-risk the exploration by making sure we have a good understanding of the mineralization and potential.”
However, the larger picture is about understanding the concession as a district scale play with a variety of deposits. “We have five other good targets to sample,” said Fonseca.
Here is where Goldplay is really going. With a large concession with 6 kilometer of mineralized trend inside it and numerous targets, the company is likely to be on the path for discoveries. These targets can all be accessed from Goldplay’s camp and they are all highly prospective.
Fonseca makes no bones about looking for one or more large companies already looking closely at all Goldplay’s recent success. “The big companies want size & economics,” said Fonseca. “At our 43-101 silver deposit we are looking at the edges. Sampling. Defining new mineralization close to the resource to multiply our 47 M oz AgEq to higher numbers.”
With the expansion of the existing resource and the work on additional resources in hand, Goldplay is becoming attractive to larger companies. “We’re signing non-disclosure agreements,” said Fonseca.
Driving towards a district scale project means that Goldplay has attracted the attention of larger companies. Adding ounces to the current NI 43 101 is one way to grow the district, but adding an entirely new, undrilled gold prospect at the other end of the concession creates the potential the market may be looking for.
Fonseca has been around the mining business and the capital markets long enough that he knows that flat markets can suddenly become exciting markets. Patience, size, keeping the finances on track and consistently adding ounces will all put Goldplay in position when the markets finally take off.