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Silver Storm Launches 6,000-Metre Underground Drilling Campaign at La Parrilla Complex
Silver Storm Mining has commenced a 6,000-metre underground drilling programme at its wholly owned La Parrilla Silver Mine Complex in Mexico, located roughly 76 kilometres southeast of Durango State.
The initiative will focus on three key targets within the broader La Parrilla Complex: the Quebradillas, San Marcos, and Rosarios mines.
The wider complex comprises 40 adjacent mining concessions, all reported to be in good standing, which collectively span an area of 38,128 hectares.
The underground drilling program will focus primarily on exploratory step-out and infill work to support the planned development of the Quebradillas, San Marcos, and Rosarios mines within the La Parrilla Complex.
At the Quebradillas Mine, a total of 3,500 meters of drilling is planned across several zones, including C460, C550, Norte Sur, La Estrella, and San Nicolas. The C460 Zone consists of a sulfide replacement body trending north-northwest for 460 meters, with a vertical extent of 500 meters and a maximum thickness of 8.5 meters. Drilling here will target the southern strike extension and deeper levels. The remaining zones contain sulfide-bearing fault veins and breccias, where drilling will focus on defining their strike and downdip extensions.
At the San Marcos Mine, 1,000 meters of drilling will be directed at the San Marcos and C1100 zones.
The San Marcos zone features fault-vein oxide mineralization that extends 700 meters in a north-northwest direction, with a vertical depth of 350 meters and a maximum thickness of 17 meters. Drilling here will focus on near-surface and mid-level targets.
In the C1100 zone, fault-vein sulfide mineralization stretches 500 meters to the northwest, reaching 430 meters vertically and up to 1.5 meters thick. Drilling efforts in this zone are designed to explore depths below previously developed areas.
At the Rosarios Mine, a 1,500-meter drilling program will concentrate on the Rosarios and RRFW zones. The Rosarios zone consists of fault-vein sulfide mineralization that has developed into stockwork or replacement zones along its footwall and hanging wall. This mineralization extends west-northwest for 1.75 kilometers, has a vertical scope of 900 meters, and reaches thicknesses of up to 14 meters.
Drilling will target the central and western extensions of the deposit. The RRFW zones consist of five subparallel fault structures located in the western footwall of Rosarios, characterized by sulphide breccias and replacement zones with strike lengths of 150 to 490 metres and vertical extents of 200 to 270 metres. Following a potential restart of operations, Silver Storm Mining plans to carry out an additional 4,000 metres of follow-up drilling as part of its development strategy.
Greg McKenzie, president and CEO of Silver Storm, expressed enthusiasm about the resumption of drilling at La Parrilla. He noted that the initial phase is focused on supporting the current internal mine plan by expanding the indicated and inferred resource base, as the company moves toward a potential restart of operations in the second quarter of 2026. McKenzie also mentioned that surface exploration programmes are scheduled to begin in 2026 across seven target areas within the La Parrilla concessions.
The company plans to release results from this initial drilling phase once assay findings are available. In the meantime, the geology team is actively working on planning further surface exploration and drilling at multiple targets.
Mexico Approves EIA Extension for McEwen’s El Gallo Mine, Paving Way for Mill Construction
McEwen Mining has announced that the Mexican government granted an extension of the Environmental Impact Assessment (Manifestación de Impacto Ambiental) for its El Gallo mine complex in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Located along the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, the El Gallo complex spans more than 1,700 square kilometers of mineral claims.
The approval represents a key milestone, allowing McEwen to proceed with phase one mill construction. The company plans to begin building the mill in mid-2026, with the first gold pour expected by mid-2027.
Phase one of the project is designed to deliver roughly 20,000 gold equivalent ounces per year once commercial production is achieved. Production will come from reprocessing material taken from the historical leach pad, which significantly reduces the need for major development or exploration spending. This approach is expected to boost the company’s free cash flow.
McEwen has already acquired a ball mill, which is now on-site at the El Gallo mine. An estimated $25 million (C$34.43 million) in additional capital is required to complete construction. Meanwhile, the company has started work on phase two, which will target production from the project’s in-situ silver deposits. This second phase has the potential to extend the life of El Gallo well beyond the initial ten years envisioned under phase one.
Across the El Gallo deposit and nearby satellite deposits in the district, historical silver resources are reported as 53.1 million ounces (moz) in the measured and indicated categories, plus 31 moz in the inferred category for areas that have not yet been mined. These resources were estimated using a silver price of $28.50 per ounce and a gold price ranging from $950 to $1,500 per ounce.
McEwen noted that this estimate is historical and plans to update El Gallo’s resource estimates in 2026 based on currently defined resource areas. In July 2025, McEwen signed a binding letter of intent with Canadian Gold to acquire all of Canadian Gold’s issued and outstanding securities, which would result in Canadian Gold becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of McEwen upon completion of the transaction.
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