*  
       

Gurpo Catorce S.A. de C.V. is a family-held company (Garcia & Cisneros families) that operated the famous Catorce Mine, SLP before its closing in November, 1990.

Grupo Catorce S. A. de C.V.  (GRUCAT)

GRUCAT had made a JV deal with Britannia Gold Corp. that could have earned Britannia up to 75% of this mine by the end of 1997 but the present status of that deal is unknown. GRUCAT works through several wholly-owned subsidiaries including the following:

Minera Guadalupe S.A. de C.V. (100%) Operated the Real de Guadalupe mine outside of Petatlan, Guerrero. This is a relatively small 50 tpd underground rail-haulage mine opened in 1960 which produced Ag, Pb and Cu concentrates on a froth floatation plant located on site.

Minera Victoria Eugena S.A. de C.V. (100%). At one time this company operated the La Colorada Mine in the Chalchihuates district. This is now a shining star in Pan American Silver's quiver.

Minera Mexicana Sombrerete S.A. (51%) private parties held the 49% of this operation which operated the Sombrerete Mine in Zacatecas at around 200 tpd with a grade of 200-500 gpt Ag and 1.5 to 3% Pb. This underground rail-haulage mine opened in 1947 and also produces Zn, Cu and Au in addition to Ag and Pb. A froth floatation plant with 400 tpd is located on the site.

Restauradora de Minas de Catorce S.A. de C.V. (51%). This was an underground rail-haulage mine which first opened in 1967 and produced around 650 tpd. A floatation and CIP cyanidation plant processed the ore. Brittania Gold Corp optioned 50% and could have gained control of up to 75% of this historic district by the end of 1997. Production from plant with 500 tpd capacity was stopped in 1990. Reserves are 575,000 tonnes at 276 gpt Ag and 1 M tonnes of tailings at 100 gpt. Britannia staff mapped and sampled vein structures to identify a number of potential ore shoots. A 3500m drill program was completed by Britannia in 2Q97 and could have expanded these reserve figures.

WWWinfo 28Jan98
E&MJ Handbook