Goldgroup Mining Inc. (TSX-V: GGA, OTCQX: GGAZF), a Canadian mining company built on high-grade Mexican gold projects, is making a bigger entrance into the US capital markets. The company began trading today on the OTCQX Best Market, a move that opens up new options for American investors and, potentially, for the company’s own growth ambitions.
For Goldgroup, whose primary listing remains the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, joining the OTCQX means it has met higher standards for reporting, governance, and transparency. This tier is seen as more credible and accessible for US investors in international companies. CEO Ralph Shearing describes the move as a milestone in Goldgroup’s broader plan, the company wants a larger audience as it pursues plans that include doubling gold output at its core Mexican operation and advancing a newly acquired project nearby.
Goldgroup’s story right now is all about two assets in northern and central Mexico. The first is the Cerro Prieto mine, a heap-leach operation tucked into the Cucurpe District of Sonora State. Goldgroup has had a 100 percent stake in this producing mine since 2013. While the mine has produced over 117,000 ounces of gold so far, the real focus now is on what comes next. According to the company, a suite of upgrades and an ongoing exploration campaign are designed to push annual gold production from the current 11,500 ounces to over 30,000 ounces. These upgrades include increasing ore processing to 5,000 tons per day, re-leaching old pads to unlock an extra 9,000 ounces per year, and drilling for more gold in adjacent zones. Early exploration hints at a mine life extension of up to five more years, if expansion targets pan out.
Meanwhile, in Zacatecas, Goldgroup recently finalized the acquisition of its second key asset, the Pinos Project. This is an advanced-stage, fully permitted development situated in one of Mexico’s richest gold belts. The property includes 30 mining concessions spanning almost 4,000 hectares, and hosts multiple quartz-gold veins as well as a larger mineralized stockwork target, both with open-pit and underground potential. Pinos comes with a history of high-grade production dating back to the early 1900s, with some ore averaging up to 80 grams per ton of gold, though modern expansion will rely on a more practical, large-scale mining strategy. Goldgroup is updating its preliminary economic assessment with a view to restart operations, suggesting the company sees near-term opportunity in getting this mine back in business.
So why does trading on OTCQX matter for Goldgroup? For one, it lets the company maintain its Canadian reporting but reach the US market with greater ease, and with real-time information available for American investors. More importantly, Goldgroup is not hiding the fact that it is on the lookout for further acquisitions in the mining sector. With US investors now able to trade shares more easily, the company hopes to tap a bigger pool of both institutional and retail backers, crucial when new projects or expansions demand fresh capital.
The company’s leadership, still fairly new after a CEO change in late 2023, seems intent on turning these ambitions into operating gains. Ralph Shearing, the current CEO, brings more than three decades of hands-on mine development expertise and a record of building up junior explorers into producing miners. He signals a drive to grow both assets and shareholder value not just through organic expansion, but also through targeted deals.
This is an inflection point for Goldgroup. The company is small by comparison to major gold producers but hopes that new access to the US market will build out both its credibility and its capacity to deliver outsized results, whether that is through doubling output at Cerro Prieto, putting Pinos back into production, or landing the next acquisition in Mexico’s prolific gold regions.
