Location Durango State, Mexico
Land Area 1,866 hectares
Property Description Formerly operating gold-silver open pit mine
Metals Gold and silver
Ownership 100% owned; 2 claims
Project Stage Rodeo concluded mining operations in Q2 2023. The last doré pour was in September 2023.
Rodeo is a formerly operating 1,866-hectare gold mine located in Durango State, Mexico. From inception in January 2021 through September 2023, we produced 31,126 ounces of gold and 126,151 ounces of silver from Rodeo. Cash costs per payable gold ounce, net of silver by-product credits averaged $1,275 during that period. We ceased mining activities at Rodeo during Q2 2023. During Q3 2023, we processed stockpiled material from Rodeo until August 2023, stopping when the grades dropped to an uneconomic level. The last doré pour from Rodeo occurred in September 2023.
Over its operating life, Rodeo generated over $57 million in revenue and $18 million in net operating margin, with total capital costs of less than $2M.
* 2023 revenue includes sales of concentrates from the Velardeña Properties as well as sales of slag material from the Rodeo mine.
Rodeo is located two kilometers east of the town of Rodeo in Durango State, Mexico and is accessed by a short stretch of unpaved road from the Nazas-Rodeo highway. Basic amenities are available in the town of Rodeo. The property is located approximately 80 kilometers west of our Velardeña Properties -- within trucking distance of the oxide mill at Velardeña.
We own the Rodeo and Rodeo 2 claims covering 1,866 hectares of land located 80 kilometers west of our Velardeña Properties in Durango State, Mexico. Golden acquired the Rodeo property subject to a royalty interest (due to La Cuesta International) in 2015.
The Rodeo concessions lie on the eastern boundary of the Sierra Madre Occidental, a dissected volcanic plateau elongated in a NNW direction. It is approximately 1,200 km long with an average altitude of approximately 2,000 m above sea level. The geology of the Sierra Madre Occidental is divided into two principal volcanic groups:
The formation of these volcanic complexes can be related to late Mesozoic and Tertiary subduction processes along the Middle America Trench. The dominant structural event affecting these rocks, particularly the Upper Volcanic Supergroup, is a tensional one, possibly coeval with the spreading episode which was opening the Gulf of California to the Northwest. This event led to the formation of a complex of normal faults within and on the margins of the volcanics. Displacements on these faults is never very great, particularly on the eastern margin of the Sierra Madre Occidental but tilting of structural blocks was extensive. Wedges of coarse clastic rocks now fill the associated half grabens. A number of these faults have been the loci of possible late-stage volcanic alteration/silicification/mineralization events which are the targets for exploration efforts.
The immediate Rodeo deposit area is approximately 300 m along strike and 200 m wide and extends to a depth of 200 m below surface. The deposit strikes at 330° and dips to the ENE with various vein phases dipping from sub-vertical to 30°. The deposit is entirely hosted within Tertiary Rodeo volcanics, which are strongly silicified and brecciated. The deposit is bound to the east by the Rodeo Fault, however drilling to date has not demonstrated that the deposit reaches or is truncated by the fault. Along strike to the north and south, the mineralization is offset slightly by near vertical faulting; mineralization does not terminate at these faults, but the intensity of the trend is either diminished or has yet to be located.
Mineralization at the deposit is epithermal low-sulfidation (quartz-adularia) type. Although very little mineralization is hosted in or centered on the Rodeo Fault itself, it is likely the fault played a role as a pathway at depth for the Rodeo deposit. Quartz veins 15 m or greater in width have been located throughout the property. The high-grade Au mineralization appears limited to a distinctive veining event. Evidence of ancillary veining events pre- and post-dating the high-grade event carry low-grade to anomalous level of Au mineralization.
Final Drill Results, reported November 10, 2021
Rodeo 2020 Drill Program: Final Drill Results, reported October 1, 2020
Rodeo 2016 Drilling Results, reported September 1, 2016
Tetra Tech, Rodeo Technical Report Summary. March 2023. Prepared under SEC S-K 1300 guidelines.
Tetra Tech, Rodeo Project, Technical Report Summary. March 2022. Prepared under SEC S-K 1300 guidelines.
Tetra Tech, Rodeo Project, Preliminary Economic Assessment Update. Oct. 31, 2021. Prepared under Canadian NI 43-101 guidelines.
Mineral Resources Engineering, NI 43-101 Technical Report: Preliminary Economic Assessment, Rodeo Project, April 1, 2020. Prepared under Canadian NI 43-101 guidelines.
Tetra Tech, NI 43-101 Technical Report - Mineral Resource Estimate, Jan. 26, 2017. Prepared under Canadian NI 43-101 guidelines.