Operations

The Rosario Mine is located within the Charcas Mining District which has been the focus of exploration and development interest for over 400 years.  The first mineral discovery in the Charcas area was by Don Juan de Onate in 1563 (INAFED, 2010) with mineral production beginning later from several small mines of the Hacienda de Charcas Viejas around 1570 (Butler, 1972).  Mining has continued in the area at varying rates since the 16th century.

The Rosario Mine area has been the subject of exploration work performed by the Mexican Geologic Service (SGM) since 1978.  Exploration began at the Buena Vista area near the Ejido San Rafael.  From 1982 through 1987, the SGM performed trenching, diamond core hole drilling, and mercury vapor soil sampling.  

Exploration drilling began in 1982 and concluded in 1987 with a total 185 core holes reported as being drilled with a recovery of 24,969.5m on several targets in the area. Rodriguez Moreno (1987) reports that 91 holes, measuring 11,181m, were dedicated to delineating the area of the Rosario veins.  Gustavson has reviewed the data received as well as the plans and sections created by the CRM and counted 62 holes with 91 intercepts. These holes had an average recovery of the mineralized intercepts of 86%.  

From 2011 to 2015, Santacruz executed 44 diamond holes in the Rosario I and II veins, for a total of 8,025.4 m

In 2019, Santacruz carried out geological recognition work on the structure in the area of Membrillo – Jaral, and subsequently executed 4 diamond holes in the Membrillo Vein, for a total of 1,137 m.

From  2012 to 2017 Rosario main was in exploitation, their production was tons with grades of g/t Au, g/t Ag, % Pb,  % Zn

The Membrillo mine is currently in operation and the potential remains open to the nw end, passing through with diamond sweeping programs.