Aztec Minerals Corporation (AZT.V, US:AZZTF) is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large mineral deposits in the Americas. They are earning into two interesting assets with both solid open pit oxide potential and deep, large scale potential: one is the prospective Cervantes porphyry gold-copper property in Sonora, Mexico. The second is the Tombstone project with bulk tonnage epithermal gold-silver potential as well as deeper high grade CRD silver-lead-zinc potential in southern Arizona.

Aztec Minerals is led by President & CEO Simon Dyakowski (CFA, MBA), who has extensive experience in corporate development, capital markets, equity research and equity sales, and well-known Founder & Chairman Bradford Cooke (MSc Geology), who doesn’t need too much introduction as he is also the founder and Executive Chairman of Endeavour Silver (EDR.TO, C$835M market cap), and the Founder and Chairman of Canagold Resources (CCM.TO). The team and Board of Directors is filled with lots of experience in all necessary fields.

The current flagship 3,650 hectare Cervantes project is a porphyry gold-copper property in mining-friendly Sonora, Mexico.  The interesting part is that 2018 drilling at the California target already indicated a back-of-the-envelope estimate 600-700koz Au oxide heap leachable mineralized envelope near surface, and management is in the midst of lots of drilling. Aztec Minerals also identified very large IP chargeability anomalies at depth, and is looking to find large porphyry sulfide gold-copper mineralization there, which will also be explored in the ongoing drill program. According to my June 2023 estimates, Cervantes could be sitting at 1Moz Au heap leachable gold at the moment.

The second project of Aztec Minerals is the 434 hectare Tombstone project in Arizona. The company is the operator of a 75/25 JV with private Tombstone Partners. Tombstone hosts a historical mine from the old days, producing 32Moz of silver and 240koz of gold, mostly from oxide ores between 1878 and 1939. Historic mining terminated because of lack of technology to counter the water table related inflows at the time. Recent RC drilling at the Contention pit indicated a back-of-the-envelope estimated 600koz Au oxide heap leachable mineralized envelope, and this time management believes there could be large CRD type mineralized potential at depth (150-1000m depth), based on several meaningful deeper drill results, lots of geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys, and indirect indicators like nearby manganese-silver rich mines, and zones of strong manganese oxide mineralization on the property. First drilling generated oxidized high grade step-out results, bringing estimated mineralization to 700koz Au.

At a current market cap of just C$27M with about C$1.8M in the treasury on March 31, 2023, with 2 realistic chances on an economic oxide deposit AND 2 wildcard chances on deep, large scale mineralization, plus inflation running wild which could provide gold with a perfect setup for higher levels, Aztec Minerals seems to be positioned well for a re-rating.

Share price Aztec Minerals: