Alacrán

Alacrán Project (BRI 100%): Silver-Gold-Copper

The Alacrán Project is located approximately 15 km south of the town of Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, and about 50 km south of the international border with the US (Figure 1). The Alacrán project displays mineralization and alteration styles consistent with a large, well developed porphyry system (Figure 2). 

In December 2022, Bendito voluntarily filed a NI43-101 Technical Report for the Alacrán Project. The report discusses in detail historical exploration work undertaken on the project, historical estimates undertaken by previous parties for Mesa de Plata and Loma Bonita, and the exploration opportunities that Bendito is advancing to develop the property.

Numerous mineralization styles are known within the Project area, these include (see Figure 3): 

• High sulfidation epithermal mineralization at the Mesa de Plata and Loma Bonita deposits, and the San Simon, and La Morita prospects;
• Sub-epithermal vein mineralization at the Palo Seco, Santa Barbara, and Alacrán South prospects;
• Mixed porphyry-style and high sulfidation epithermal mineralization at the Gregors prospect;
• Porphyry-copper mineralization at the Cerro Alacrán prospect. 

A number of phases of exploration and drilling have occurred on the project including geological mapping, geochemical sampling, airborne and ground geophysics and exploration and resource drilling. Previous drilling on the Alacrán project totals 306 core and RC holes for a total of 48,903m. Historical estimates were undertaken for both the Loma Bonita and Mesa de Plata high sulfidation epithermal deposits which define lithocap siliceous ridges in the NW of the project area. Extensions of these mineralization styles are noted both to the north and to the south towards San Simon and La Morita target areas. Further to the south and east of the Alacrán project, porphyry-related mineralization and alteration exposed at Cerro Alacrán. A sub-epithermal veining system occurs on the northern and southern flanks of Cerro Alacrán, showing polymetallic quartz veins containing high-grade Zn-Cu-Pb-Ag-Au.

Bendito is currently planning exploration activities, including drilling, to develop maiden Mineral Resource Estimates for the Loma Bonita and Mesa de Plata deposits to be reported in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) Definition Standards and National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).

Earlier stage exploration activities are also being developed to explore the property for the base metal porphyry mineralization styles within the project area.

NI43-101 Technical Report for the Alacrán Project

Historical Estimates

Historical estimates were performed for previous owners Azure for the Mesa de Plata and Loma Bonita deposits. The historical estimates were supported by internal documentation, and prior to Bendito’s technical report on Alacrán had not been disclosed in a technical report under NI 43-101.  Table 1 and Table 2 provide historical estimates for Mesa de Plata and Loma Bonita. These are discussed in detail in Bendito’s technical report on Alacran in section “6.2 Historical Estimates”. Bendito plans to update the geological, structural, and alteration interpretations of these deposits in conjunction with exploration drilling to support new mineral resource estimates.

Table 1: Historical Mineral Resource Estimate, Mesa de Plata

Note: Reported using a ≥ 20 g/t Ag block cut-off grade on capped grade estimates.

Table 2: Historical Mineral Resource Estimate, Loma Bonita

Notes:
• The mineral resource estimate is reported using a block cut-off grade of ≥0.21 g/t Au;
• Grade estimates are capped grades (capped at the 98th percentile of input data);
• The cut-off grade does not consider silver credits;
• Numbers may not sum precisely due to rounding assumptions (up to three significant figures for indicated resource tonnes and grade and up to two significant figures for inferred resource tonnes and grades).

Figure 1: Location of the Alacrán Project 15km south of Cananea. Mines shown on the figure are operated by third parties. Note that the mine shown as starred within the Alacrán Project is a historical mine, and is not currently operating

Figure 2: Prospect styles of mineralization within a schematic porphyry deposit model (Figured modified after Sillitoe, 2010)

Figure 3: Alacrán exploration prospects and mineralization styles