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    Pan American’s La Colorada silver mine expansion: grade, phasing and risk notes for engineers

    March 6, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Pan American’s La Colorada silver mine expansion: grade, phasing and risk notes for engineers

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Pan American Silver has identified at least four new high-grade veins — Filomena, Nicolasa, Bernardina and Josefina — at its La Colorada mine in Zacatecas, with about 40% of recent drill holes assaying above 1,000 g/t silver in the Candelaria zones. The company plans to fold the results into a June mineral reserve and resource update and is shifting to a phased development plan targeting higher-grade vein and skarn zones. The expansion comes as Mexico’s silver sector operates under elevated security risk following cartel-related violence and worker abductions.

    Technical Brief

    • Elevated security risk implies stricter access control, convoy protocols and journey management for La Colorada operations.
    • Contractor and exploration crews will require enhanced vetting, tracking and communication systems during drilling and development.
    • Emergency response planning must now factor in armed violence, roadblocks and potential mass-casualty scenarios, not only industrial accidents.
    • Insurance, ESG and lender requirements are likely to push formalised security risk assessments alongside geotechnical and operational risk studies.

    Our Take

    Pan American Silver’s 22.8 Moz full-year 2025 silver output guidance places it at the upper end of primary silver producers in our database, meaning incremental tonnes from La Colorada can materially influence global silver supply-demand narratives in future price coverage.

    The abduction of 10 Vizsla Silver workers in Sinaloa and the prior trapping of eight workers in a Coahuila coal mine underline that Mexico’s silver and coal belts are featuring more often in our safety-tagged items, which is likely to push operators and lenders to price in higher security and ESG risk premia for projects in Zacatecas and neighbouring states.

    Pan American’s 44% interest in the Juanicipio mine JV, combined with expansion at La Colorada, suggests the company is consolidating a multi-asset silver platform in Mexico that can offset jurisdictional risk at assets such as Escobal in Guatemala and operations in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina noted elsewhere in our coverage.

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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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