Copper mineralization was first identified on the Sierra del Marqués (the intrusive is now called La Verde) in the early 1900s. Mining on a small scale was undertaken intermittently for the first part of the 20th century. The La Verde property has seen new interest since the 1960s due to the global search for low grade, large tonnage porphyry copper deposits.

The La Verde property is located in west central Mexico, approximately 320 kilometres west of Mexico City and hosts porphyry copper style mineralization.  The property consists of 2 concessions (known as claims in Canada) totalling approximately 16,900 ha. Within the concessions mineralization is hosted within a mid-Tertiary granodiorite/quartz monzonite intrusive complex roughly 5.5 kilometres long, 1 kilometre wide and up to 750 metres above mean sea level (msl) known as the Sierra del Marqués intrusive complex. Since the 1960’s several medium to large scale mining companies have completed several millions of dollars worth of exploration work on the property.  Historic exploration work included geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys as well as 80,000 metres of drilling.

This exploration work identified two large mineralized zones known as the East Hill and West Hill deposits. The East Hill zone is a combination of 4 mineralized intrusive phases that conform to a typical copper porphyry system. The West Hill zone is a series of east-west striking chalcopyrite-rich veins that are focused within an elliptical-shaped body in plan and may represent the surface expression of a typical porphyry system. Although the La Verde property has been explored aggressively over many years, there are several geochemical and geophysical anomalies that have not been adequately tested. These anomalies, plus geological features such as an abundance of mineralized intrusive breccias, alteration styles and sulphide mineral assemblages, suggest that the Sierra del Marques intrusive complex may represent the upper portion of a much larger porphyry copper system.

Weston and MacLean idealized porphyry Cu model for La Verde

Several historic mineral resource estimates have been generated but are not compliant with current CIMM and NI 43-101 guidelines.  However, these estimates have demonstrated the potential for possible economic mineralization and have led, in each case, to the advancement of the property. The last publically released historic mineral resource of 72.6 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.7% copper was included in the 1972 feasibility study completed on behalf of Lytton Minerals Ltd. and was calculated prior to the enactment of NI 43-101.  International mineral industry consultants Micon International Ltd. performed the property of merit report and consider the historical estimates at La Verde to be relevant today, as defined in NI 43-101, Item 2.4.