Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSXV: SSV, OTCQX: SSVFF) has announced a key step toward expanding its mineral footprint in Durango, Mexico. The company has reached an agreement to acquire the Puro Corazon mining claim, an area contiguous to its flagship Cerro Las Minitas project. The move aims to hasten development, improve project efficiencies, and ultimately boost the economics of the broader operation.
The Puro Corazon mine primarily produces silver-lead and zinc concentrates and processes around 60 tonnes of ore daily. Southern Silver plans to incorporate this operation into its larger Cerro Las Minitas project, which hosts significant high-grade silver, lead, and zinc resources in Mexico’s renowned Faja de Plata. This border region is famous for deposits like Penasquito and San Martin, along with the Cerro Las Minitas project itself. Bringing Puro Corazon into the fold could unlock both capital savings and operational synergies while providing an early-stage boost to resource growth.
The company intends to begin a 12,000-meter infill drilling program at Puro Corazon right away. Drilling is expected to focus on high-grade, near-surface targets already identified, with the goal of supporting an updated technical report and a Preliminary Economic Assessment by the first quarter of 2026. This step follows the company’s strategic focus on de-risking its projects through more targeted exploration, leveraging past data and exploration results.
The transaction will not involve issuing new shares. Instead, Southern Silver will make cash payments over a 40-month period to acquire the claim outright, a structure designed to avoid diluting existing shareholders. This approach reflects the company’s focus on capital efficiency and prudent resource management, allowing it to strengthen its project without raising additional equity capital at this stage.
The move to include Puro Corazon into the Cerro Las Minitas project is rooted in broader potential gains. The company believes that this integration can help improve project economics by enabling early mining of the higher-grade, near-surface mineralization at Puro Corazon. Incorporating these resources sooner in the mine plan could increase throughput capacity and boost the project’s net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). Additionally, these efficiencies could translate into cost savings and streamline permitting and environmental management efforts.
Robert Macdonald, Vice President of Exploration, is confident that the high-grade, shallow mineralization already identified on the Puro Corazon claim will add meaningful value. With historical data guiding their exploration efforts, he anticipates that new drilling will strengthen the resource base of Cerro Las Minitas and support an optimistic outlook as the project advances.
This strategic acquisition aligns with Southern Silver’s broader focus on developing large-scale, high-grade mineral deposits in jurisdictions with known mining histories. Besides Cerro Las Minitas, the company owns or is exploring other assets, including the Oro porphyry copper-gold project in New Mexico and the Hermanas gold-silver vein project.
Recent updates on Cerro Las Minitas highlight ongoing advancements. An updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) published earlier this year forecasts a post-tax NPV of approximately $501 million at a 5% discount rate, representing a 45% jump from the 2022 initial PEA. The revised study also increased the project’s mine life by 2.6 years to 17, supported by higher throughput capacity and better economics. Annual production is projected to reach around 5,300 tonnes daily, peaking at 7,800 tonnes in year four, with all-in sustaining costs estimated at $12.23 per ounce of silver equivalent.
The addition of Puro Corazon could further bolster these fundamentals by enabling earlier access to higher-value mineralization, potentially increasing throughput and efficiency. With work already underway to update the resource estimate based on the planned drilling, Southern Silver appears focused on maximizing its asset’s value through targeted exploration and integrated project planning.
The Puro Corazon acquisition exemplifies Southern Silver’s pragmatic approach: expand resource base, optimize project economics, and move toward development with a disciplined financial framework. While risks remain, such as execution risks with the drilling program and integration, the company’s strategic emphasis on capital efficiency and resource development suggests it’s looking to build on recent successes with Cerro Las Minitas.
