High gold prices have put Mexican mining projects into the spotlight. Ground that sat idle when precious metals were cheaper now looks more appealing.
Mining Americas Inc (TSE: MAI) (OTCMKTS: MAIFF) (FRA: PYC0) rose 14.7 per cent to C$6.48 in Toronto after Mexico’s federal environment department approved the two main permits for Cerro de Oro, its gold project in northern Zacatecas. These approvals cover the change of land use and the environmental impact study.
The company still has to pay the fees that complete the land-use permit. After that it will seek remaining licences and work toward a construction decision in 2027. Chief executive Darren Blasutti called the news the culmination of years of work with Mexican authorities and said it opens a path to more gold output in the medium term.
Mining Americas’ 2023 preliminary economic assessment for the project estimated average annual production of 58,400 gold ounces over an 8.2 year mine life, once built.
“Cerro de Oro was shown to be a robust, open pit, heap leach gold project at a base case gold price of US$1,600 per ounce based on the 2023 PEA, “said Mining Americas chief executive Darren Blasutti in a news release. “We are excited to now evaluate the project in the context of significantly higher gold prices and their potential positive impacts to both the size and economics of the project.”
Read more: NevGold adds new CFO ahead of Limousine Butte engineering study
Zacatecas leads nation’s industry
Zacatecas is Mexico’s top gold-producing state. The most recent full-year figures from the national mining chamber, for 2024, put its share at 34.9 per cent of mined gold nationwide (about 41,000 kilograms).
Official data for the first nine months of 2025 still ranked the state first, with more than 31,000 kilograms. Cerro de Oro sits near large working mines such as Newmont Corporation‘s (TSE: NGT) (NYSE: NEM) (FRA: NMM) Peñasquito project, Equinox Gold Corp‘s (TSE: EQX) (NYSEAMERICAN: EQX) (FRA: 1LRC) Camino Rojo operation and Fresnillo plc‘s (OTCMKTS: FNLPF) (FRA: FNL) Saucito silver-gold asset.
The Aranzazu copper-gold mine run by Aura Minerals Inc (TSE: ORA) (OTCMKTS: ORAAF) (FRA: A531) and Minera Frisco SAB de CV‘s (OTCMKTS: MFRVF) (FRA: MF5) El Coronel and Tayahua pits also add more metal in the same northern belt.
Nevada pays the bills for now
Mining Americas still draws almost all of its sales from the Pan Mine in Nevada. That pit is the only site Mining Americas sells gold from today.
Management has said it often contributes about US$15 million to US$18 million a quarter. These funds are then used to advance Cerro de Oro, Copperstone in Arizona and Pan’s neighbouring Gold Rock operation.
The firm moved from the junior board to the Toronto Stock Exchange in early July after a share price climb driven by bullish sentiment about precious metals. With the Mexican permits in hand, the cash from Nevada now becomes more essential for turning a permitted project into a producing mine.
Read more: NevGold files technical report backing Limousine Butte gold-antimony resource
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