Southern Empire is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of metals and minerals deposits in the American southwest and México. To achieve its goals, Southern Empire has assembled a team of directors, all veterans in exploration, mine development, permitting and operations and mine/corporate finance, that will guide the future development of the company.
“We firmly believe that Oro Cruz has exploration potential for more than a million ounces. We’ll explore the property using modern geological theory and high tech methods of exploration, and see what we can do.”
Dale Wallster, CEO, Southern Empire Resources Corp.
In Imperial County, California, approximately 22.5 kilometres (14 miles) southeast of the operating Mesquite gold mine of Equinox Gold Corp, Southern Empire’s Oro Cruz Project has the potential to re-establish gold production from a moderate tonnage oxide gold deposit. As part of the larger American Girl Mining Joint Venture (“AGMJV”) operations (1987-1996; Hecla and predecessor companies), the Oro Cruz gold deposit was the site of significant definition drilling and underground development. Following development, the Oro Cruz open-pit and underground mines operated successfully for only one year (producing about 61,000 ounces of gold) before collapsing gold prices caused the entire operation to be shuttered and decommissioned.
Today, our wholly-owned Oro Cruz property hosts a remaining historical inferred mineral resource (reported in 2011) estimated at 341,800 ounces gold, based on 4,386,000 tonnes averaging 2.2 grams gold per tonne at a cut-off grade of 0.68 g Au/t. The underground infrastructure at the site, including a 2.4 kilometre haulage ramp, sublevels and draw points, remains in excellent condition and the open pit was abandoned just after stripping was completed prior to the start of Stage II pit expansion.
Southern Empire is currently finalizing U.S. Federal and California exploration permits that will allow 65 exploration, confirmation and metallurgical drill holes at Oro Cruz to support a new resource estimate, and to also test the potential of waste rock and decommissioned heap leach piles on the property to yield residual gold production.
La Loma | Pedro | Centauro – Gold Projects in Mexico with “Carlin Style” Potential
“Carlin-type deposits are some of the largest hydrothermal gold deposits in the world.”
Dale Wallster, CEO, Southern Empire Resources Corp.
In northern México (Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango), Southern Empire has four projects that comprise a leachable copper prospect and three gold projects having bulk- tonnage potential.
Our Mexican gold projects are:
- Centauro Gold Project, Escalón, Chihuahua;
- Pedro Gold Project, Mapimí, Durango; and,
- La Loma Gold Project, Nazas, Durango.
These gold projects are located along what Southern Empire is calling the Mapimí Gold Corridor, a 150-kilometre, southeast-trending Oligocene tectonostratigraphic belt, the regional geological setting of which, together with numerous coincident geological, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics as observed at Centauro, Pedro and La Loma, strongly supports the proposition that the Mapimí Gold Corridor has significant
potential to host bulk-mineable, low sulfidation epithermal and/or Carlin-style gold deposits.
La Loma, Pedro, and Centauro Gold Projects occur within the north Mexican Oligocene Basin and Range physiographic province. These three project areas define a 150-kilometre trend of gold occurrences that are associated with arsenic-mercury-antimony mineralization, together with silica and clay alteration, all hosted in the same package of Cretaceous limestones and mudstones and Tertiary ignimbrite eruptive and polymictic conglomerate lithologies.
“Southern Empire’s La Loma, Pedro and Centauro gold projects support our theory that a northwest trending metallogenic belt of “Carlin-style” and/or low sulphidation epithermal gold deposits extends through northern central México. Our projects all exhibit many of the geological and mineralogical features that define these important precious metal deposit types.”
David Tupper, Southern Empire’s VP of Exploration.
“With Suaqui Verde, I believe that our team can create significant near-term value for Southern Empire shareholders. Copper, which has just been added to the U.S. Department of Energy’s List of Critical Materials, is now often referred to as the ‘new green metal’ as the electrification and decarbonisation of the world will not happen without it. Suaqui Verde presents an exciting opportunity for Southern Empire to enter the green metals arena by acquiring a little-known copper oxide deposit in mining-friendly Sonora. Southern Empire will be able to immediately capitalize on the substantial investments of previous operators as we investigate the significant exploration potential to expand the Suaqui Verde copper deposit at depth. The case for future development is very compelling, especially with the possible implementation of either conventional heap leach processing or innovative in-situ leaching processing.”
Dale Wallster, CEO, Southern Empire Resources Corp.
Suaqui Verde Copper Deposit: Project and Agreement Highlights
- The Suaqui Verde copper deposit comprises oxide copper and secondarily enriched copper sulphide mineralization that outcrops at surface and is outlined by approximately 106 historical Reverse Circulation (“RC”) and core drill holes
- The Suaqui Verde copper deposit is within the world-class Sonora-Arizona porphyry copper province
- Cuprum’s mineral concessions cover approximately 1,952 hectares (“ha”; ~4,823 acres) of Suaqui Grande Municipality in the mining-friendly State of Sonora in northwestern México
- The Suaqui Verde copper deposit has been the subject of a series of unpublished, historical open pit mineral resource estimates, the most recent prepared by Independent Mining Consultants, Inc. (“IMC”) of Tucson, Arizona (see Table 1 and the Cautionary Notice Regarding the Suaqui Verde Copper Project Historical Resource Estimate, below)
- The Agreement provides for water usage rights and unfettered access to the ranch land surface rights that cover the immediate area of the Suaqui Verde copper deposit
- There is good access to the Project area, ~140 kilometres (“km”; 87 miles) southeast of the city of Hermosillo (metropolitan population ~ 850,000) and 116 km (~72 miles) from the port city of Guaymas
- Local infrastructure and workforce is available in the nearby town of Suaqui Grande (8 km; 5 miles)
- Potential development scenarios may include lower-cost open pit mining and bulk heap leaching, or alternatively, in-situ leaching; both possibilities potentially leading to cathode copper production through solvent extraction-electro winning SX/EW processing methods