JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Mexican Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) has issued a notice temporarily suspending operations at TSX-V-listed Santacruz Silver Mining’s Veta Grande Mill until appropriate documentation has been filed with regulatory bodies confirming that Santacruz’s Mexican operating subsidiary, Impulsora Minera Santacruz, holds the Veta Grande mine’s environmental licence directly in its name.
Santacruz advised shareholders on Friday that it had submitted all the appropriate documentation to Profepa and the Secretariate of Environment and Natural Resource and that the agencies had confirmed that the company’s documents were in order. Therefore, the Santacruz expects operations at Veta Grande mill to resume imminently.
The company continued mining during the suspension of operations, thereby building a “substantial stockpile of mineralised material” while completing mill maintenance activities.
Santacruz entered into a definitive agreement with Minera Contracuña, in November 2015, through which Minera Contracuña had granted Santacruz the right, for 30 years, to explore, mine and operate its Veta Grande and Minillas silver/gold/zinc/lead mineral properties in central Mexico’s Zacatecas state.