Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
Nord Precious Metals Mining (TSXV: NTH) will resume the permitting process as it prepares to mine a bulk sample from the Castle East high-grade silver project, near Cobalt, Ontario. This is a grassroots discovery that has native silver grades up to 89,853 g/t silver, or over 2,500 oz. per ton.
Until earlier this month, Nord PM was known as Canada Silver Cobalt Works.
The company says that restarting the permitting process is a strategic move to advance the Castle East project to advanced exploration. More than 60,000 metres of diamond drilling has been done at Castle East and the former Castle silver-cobalt mine.
Nord PM intends to become a producer of critical metals and lower the impact of mining by placing future tailings underground in historic mines.
“We believe there is great opportunity in the Miller Lake Basin, which, during past mining, witnessed approximately 60 million oz. of silver production at the rim,” said president Matt Halliday.
“However, our focus is on extending operations to the center of the basin, presenting unparalleled prospects. Moreover, there are opportunities to produce low-cost byproducts for the EV market, such as cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate.”
The Miller Lake Basin is in the Gowganda area of the Cobalt camp, which produced well over 500 million oz. of silver and over 30 million lb. of cobalt from more than 100 mines operating from 1903 to 1989.
The inferred resource estimate for Castle East was made in May 2020 and contained 32,900 tonnes grading 7,149 g/t silver plus cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc for a contained total of 75,300 oz. of silver equivalent.
