For years, two federal environmental approvals stood between Mining Americas and any path forward at its Cerro de Oro gold project in northern Zacatecas, Mexico. Last week, Mexico's federal environmental agency granted both.
The permits — a land-use change and an environmental impact assessment — were required by SEMARNAT, Mexico's federal environmental regulator, before construction planning could begin. Shares closed 15.44% higher at $4.71 after the announcement, on dollar volume of about $2.3 million.
The approvals clear the main regulatory barrier the company had cited, but Mining Americas says additional licences and permits are still needed before construction can start. The company says it is now planning toward a construction decision it has targeted for 2027.
Cerro de Oro is planned as an open-pit, heap-leach operation — a method that extracts gold by stacking crushed ore in large heaps and running a chemical solution through it to dissolve the metal, without a conventional mill. An early-stage economic study completed in 2023 put the project's initial capital requirement at US$28 million and projected average annual gold output of about 58,000 ounces over an 8.2-year mine life.
That study used a base case gold price of US$1,600 per ounce. CEO Darren Blasutti said in the company's September 3 release that the project will now be evaluated "in the context of significantly higher gold prices." No updated economic estimate was provided.
Before any construction decision, the company says it plans to complete additional permitting, run detailed engineering, and carry out a new drill program. That program will test how far below the current resource depth — roughly 130 metres — mineralization continues. The project's early-stage resource estimate stands at 790,000 ounces of gold, and the company says the deposit remains open at depth.