Capitan Silver’s Cruz de Plata: resource update and pit shell notes for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Capitan Silver’s Cruz de Plata project in Durango has increased inferred contained metal at the Capitan Hill deposit to 39.8 million tonnes grading 0.41 g/t gold (525,000 oz) and 3.3 g/t silver (4.2 million oz), a 72% gold and 129% silver gain over the 2020 resource. The pit-constrained update uses a 0.18 g/t gold cut-off and a C$3,465/oz gold price, based on 12,209 metres of RC drilling in 49 holes. An expanded 15,000‑metre RC programme, two-thirds complete, is now targeting down-dip extensions of the Jesus Maria silver trend and other high-grade zones.
Technical Brief
- Pit-constrained resource uses a 0.18 g/t gold cut-off and C$3,465/oz gold price assumption.
- Update covers only Capitan Hill, which occupies ~1% of the total Cruz de Plata area.
- Inferred ounces increase >120% relative to the 2020 maiden resource for the same deposit area.
- Resource estimate relies on 12,209 m of RC drilling from 49 holes completed in 2020–2021.
- Current 15,000 m RC programme is ~two-thirds complete, with drilling scheduled to 20 December 2025.
- A further 6–7 RC holes are planned pre-holiday, targeting down-dip Jesus Maria silver trend extensions.
- Capitan Silver’s market capitalisation sits at ~C$282.1 million, with shares trading C$0.22–C$2.48 over 12 months.
Our Take
With Cruz de Plata’s Capitan Hill representing only about 1% of the project area yet already hosting 39.8 Mt of inferred material, the update suggests substantial upside if similar low-grade, bulk-tonnage mineralisation is confirmed along the wider Jesus Maria silver trend.
The pit-constrained cut-off of 0.18 g/t gold and grades of 0.41 g/t Au and 3.3 g/t Ag place Cruz de Plata firmly in the low-grade, large-tonnage camp; in our database, such systems in Durango typically rely on scale, low strip ratios and heap leach or bulk milling to be competitive against higher-grade underground silver projects like La Parrilla.
Capitan Silver’s C$282.1 million valuation and share price trading near its 12‑month high signal that the market is already pricing in exploration success; for practitioners, this often tightens the window for accretive JV or royalty deals compared with earlier-stage Mexican gold–silver stories in our coverage.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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