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Mexico has been pulling silver out of the ground longer than most countries have existed as nations. Legislative changes in the 1990s reopened the country to foreign investment after a period of nationalization, causing an explosion in mining activity that helped cement Mexico’s place as a top global producer. Today that reputation is backed by hard numbers. Mexico remained the leading silver mine-producing country in 2024, followed by China, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Silver production reached 6,300 metric tons in 2025, an all-time high. Almost all of this mining is concentrated in the northwest, in states such as Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and the main producer, Zacatecas.
The industry is not just large, it is deep-rooted in terms of geology and infrastructure. The states of Zacatecas, Durango, and Chihuahua account for 80% of the country’s total silver output. The world’s largest primary silver mine in 2024 was Juanicipio in Mexico, operated by Fresnillo plc, part of the historic Fresnillo Silver Trend. That kind of output does not happen by accident. It reflects a geological endowment that has attracted some of the largest mining companies on earth, and it also creates a well-understood framework for junior explorers looking to find the next significant system within those same belts.
One of those juniors is now moving faster than almost anyone else in the space. Capitan Silver Corp. (OTCQX: CAPTF / TSXV: CAPT) announced that a fourth drill rig has arrived on site at its Cruz de Plata silver-gold project in the state of Durango, Mexico. The new core rig joins a reverse circulation rig and two other core rigs already drilling on the property, bringing the total to four rigs operating simultaneously, the highest level of activity in the company’s history.
The scale of what Capitan is attempting here is worth putting in context. The company is running a 60,000-metre drill program for 2026, the largest it has ever undertaken. The newly arrived rig’s first focus will be testing high-grade targets east of the Peñoles Fault, near the historically producing San Rafael area, while also working to confirm vertical continuity in a developing zone that has so far only seen widely spaced, shallow drilling. The other rigs are targeting depth extensions and lateral expansion across three distinct target areas within the same system.
The grade numbers from earlier holes give a sense of why management is pressing this hard. Previous drilling at Target A returned results including 2,571 g/t silver equivalent over 1.5 metres within a broader zone of 368.1 g/t silver equivalent over 19.8 metres. At Target C, a hole completed by a prior operator intersected 3,567.4 g/t silver equivalent over 0.9 metres within a wider zone of 381.1 g/t over 13.7 metres. These are not marginal numbers. With 61 holes currently pending final assay results, the company has a steady pipeline of upcoming announcements that could define the shape of this system considerably further.
Four simultaneous drill rigs at a junior silver explorer in one of the world’s great silver-producing states is an unusual sight. Mexico’s silver belt has rewarded patient, well-funded exploration before, and the geological argument at Cruz de Plata appears strong enough that Capitan is making its biggest bet yet on what sits below the surface in Durango.
