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    First Majestic’s Santa Elena expansion: design, access and capex notes for mine planners

    June 27, 2026|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    First Majestic’s Santa Elena expansion: design, access and capex notes for mine planners

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    First Majestic Silver has secured construction permits for two new underground portals at the Santa Elena mine in Sonora, enabling about 800 m of decline development at the high-grade Santo Niño discovery and 1,300 m of underground development at Navidad from H2 2026, backed by an extra US$12 million in 2026 capex. Infill drilling includes 10.87 m at 77 g/t Ag and 1.52 g/t Au at Santo Niño and 14.89 m at 28 g/t Ag and 3.5 g/t Au at Navidad, from 26,904 m and 7,704 m of drilling respectively. A scoping study favours dedicated underground access, with Santo Niño reached via a new portal near the processing plant and Navidad accessed both from its own portal and the existing Ermitaño workings, targeting higher-grade feed and extended mine life.

    Technical Brief

    • Santa Elena and nearby Ermitaño together underpin group guidance of 13–14.4 Moz Ag and 127–140 koz Au in 2026.
    • Santa Elena lies ~1,600 km northwest of Mexico City, influencing logistics, labour sourcing and power interconnection options.
    • Infill drilling at Santo Niño includes 10.87 m @ 77 g/t Ag and 1.52 g/t Au, supporting high‑grade stope design.
    • Navidad infill intercept of 14.89 m @ 28 g/t Ag and 3.5 g/t Au indicates robust gold‑dominant zones.
    • Drilling completed in 2026 totals 26,904 m at Santo Niño and 7,704 m at Navidad, materially tightening geological models.
    • Dedicated underground access concept includes a Santo Niño portal near the plant, minimising haul distance to processing.
    • Navidad’s dual access via its own portal and existing Ermitaño workings offers flexibility for ventilation and secondary egress.
    • Analyst commentary compares Santo Niño/Navidad development potential to Ermitaño, which previously transformed Santa Elena’s production profile.

    Our Take

    The projected 13–14.4 million oz of silver output from four Mexican mines in 2026 lines up with the Silver Institute’s forecasted multi‑year market deficits cited in our coverage, implying that incremental production from Santa Elena could still enjoy structurally tight silver fundamentals rather than flooding the market.

    BMO Capital Markets appears repeatedly in our database across gold and silver coverage, and its presence alongside First Majestic Silver here signals that mainstream sell-side is likely to frame Santa Elena’s Santo Niño and Navidad advances within a broader cost‑pressure narrative tied to energy and consumables highlighted in BMO’s earlier commodity cost analysis.

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    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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