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Updated analysis on Brigadier Gold – gold and silver explorer in Mexico’s Sierra Madre

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TSX Venture listed Brigadier Gold (TSX-V:BRG / OTC:BGADF / FRA:B7LM) is a fast-moving junior exploration venture which has positioned itself well between two other projects that are yielding exceptional drilling results.

In summary:

  • Exploration led by a highly experienced geologist with regional expertise and significant involvement in multiple high profile Mexican mining ventures
  • Well-situated in one of the richest gold and silver producing areas in the world
  • Close proximity to a pair of other projects yielding bonanza results
  • Competitively priced vis-à-vis peers
  • First round of exploration shows positive gold, silver and copper results
  • Fast capital raise demonstrates interest from mining investors
  • Good logistics and port connectivity enhance value for bigger miners who may want to develop the site

While there are many junior miners out there, when it comes to rich gold and silver deposits, it is hard to beat Mexico’s Sierra Madre region.

In Mexico’s Sinaloa State, junior miner Brigadier Gold (TSX:BRG/OTC:BGADF)  has completed phase 1 of a fully-funded drill program in the very intriguing Picachos Project.

The exploration project is looking to extract samples from a large and unexplored copper porphyry target as well as other high-grade gold and silver veins which have never been tested before. Brigadier Gold has set out to prove the existence of high-grade, gold-silver veins under the Mexican soil that can be developed via underground mining techniques.

Brigadier Gold’s Picachos Project

The Picachos Project constitutes 3,954 hectares, sited less than 15 miles from the gold and silver discoveries of Vizsla and GR Silver. While the site has over 160 historic mines and workings, Brigadier Gold is the first company in the project’s history to drill test high priority targets using diamond core drilling.

The geology does look very exciting: Picachos lies between the GR Silver and Vizsla claims, overlapping one of the most contiguous and highest amplitude anomalies for gold, silver and base metals, in the Western Sierra Madre.

The historic high grade San Agustin mine, which Brigadier is focusing on, represents 665m of underground development, and over three rounds of test mining in 2014 yielded 15.8g/t Au and 63g/t Ag across 2.5 metres. It has veins that are open at depth that have never been tested with diamond core drilling.

First phase of drilling completed

Brigadier Gold completed the first phase of its diamond drilling program on the Picachos site in May 2021. This constituted 5057 metres of drilling in 50 holes across 11 different prospects on the property. There have been some excellent first phase results, including 7.45 g/t gold and 51 g/t silver across seven metres in its DH-BRG-001 drill hole at the San Agustin mine. The company has now mapped and sampled 29 newly discovered mine workings near the intersection of the Cocolmeca Vein system and the El Placer system.

At the San Antonio gold-copper mine, also on the project, Brigadier Gold produced results of 12.62 g/t and 78 g/t silver with 4.5% copper across 0.8m. At the La Gloria historic mine values of 10.65 g/t gold was achieved across one metre in a larger interval of 2.29 g/t gold across 8 metres (hole DH-BRG-028).

At the time of writing, assays were still pending for 518 metres of drilling, most of it from a three hole fence drilled across El Placer Norte, where underground sampling returned grades of up to 12.79 g/t.

This phase of exploration has identified several high priority targets, which Brigadier says it plans to follow up on. This will include a copper and base metal porphyry at the north end of the project.

Proximity to other successful projects

We also like the project’s proximity between GR Silver Mining and Vizsla Resources, both of which have made significant discoveries.

GR Silver Mining has been exploring the Plomosas project, which is about 15 miles as the crow flies southeast of Picacho. Channel sampling here has uncovered a high-grade polymetallic mineralisation, with a continuous intersection. Part of the assayed length revealed 1313g/t of silver equivalent.

Travel north-west of Plomosas, across Brigadier’s Picachos claim, and you arrive at Vizsla Silver’s Panuco project. Here Vizsla has uncovered one of the top tier, highest grade silver deposits in the world. It currently has eight rigs operating on the property and there is talk of this site potential producing 12m oz/y of silver.

Highly experienced team

We also like the fact that renowned mining geologist Michelle Robinson is involved in the project. Robinson assembled the Picachos land package over 10 years ago and is intimately familiar with the intricacies of the asset. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has been heavily involved in the Mexican mining scene specifically for decades. A Qualified Person, she worked for a number of mining enterprises in the 1990s and 2000s, among them Noranda, Cominco (now Teck Resources) and Anglo American’s Vancouver exploration group.

Robinson moved to Mexico in 1998 and domiciled several junior mining explorers in the country, so knows the country and the geology well.

Listen: Podcast with Michelle Robinson, Chief Geologist, Brigadier Gold

Logistics and capital raise

The Picachos Project is 4 hours by road from the port of Mazatlan on the Pacific coast of Mexico. There are a further 20km of roads that are internal to the project, allowing for low cost, easy access to high priority drill targets. This would enhance its attraction from the perspective of a possible acquirer of the project.

Brigadier Gold closed a private placement for $1m in February 2021 and also retired $100,000 of debt with an arm’s length creditor.

Why we are fans of Sinaloa as a mining region

Sinaloa has a long history of silver mining which goes back to the 1500s and the local port of Mazatlan has played a key role in shipping silver out of Mexico over the last 400+ years. What is more, miners keep discovering more of it. This is testament to the local geology, where restless tectonic activity has created the Sierra mountain ranges as well as rich gold and silver deposits.

Mexico is the biggest producer of silver in the world, according to numbers from the US Geological Survey. In 2019, it produced 6,300 tons of silver, versus 3,800 tons from second-placed China. That’s out of 27,000 tons mined globally last year.

We continue to like Brigadier Gold because of the expertise of its senior geologist, its close proximity to some considerable and fruitful projects, and because of its exposure to some key metals markets that we are very bullish on right now. Although much of the focus is on gold and silver exploration, readers should not ignore the copper piece here.

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This article does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research or consult a professional advisor.

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