Mercado hits high-grade gold, silver at 5 Señores Vein, Copalito Project, Mexico – Richard Mills

2026.05.20

Mercado Minerals (CSE:MERC) has received assays back from the first three holes of a 3,000-meter drill program at its flagship Copalito Project, located in Sinaloa state, Mexico.

Highlighted results include 3.45 meters of 445 g/t silver, 2.26 g/t gold, 0.11% lead and 0.24% zinc, within a larger 6.50-meter intercept of 256 g/t silver, 1.46 g/t gold, 0.32% lead and 1.06% zinc (hole COP-26-001).

Hole COP-26-003 cut 7.25m of 89 g/t silver, 0.46 g/t gold, 0.12% lead and 0.49% zinc. Higher-grade intercepts within the section included 4.25m of 149 g/t silver, 0.73 g/t gold, 0.19% lead and 0.77% zinc; and 1.90m of 234 g/t silver, 0.51 g/t gold, 0.14% lead and 0.51% zinc.

“With these first three results we are proving the continuation of 5 Señores and growing the potential of that structure. We are happy with what we are seeing and looking forward to interpreting and analyzing the next batch of results. We have moved onto testing El Agua Vein and then El Pilar with a similar approach to what we did at 5 Señores,” CEO Daniel Rodriguez stated in the April 29 news release.

According to the company, drill holes COP-26-001 to COP-26-003 tested the 5 Señores Vein between drill holes completed by the previous operator, Kootenay Silver, where there is evidence for potential flexures in both the strike and dip of the vein, which could potentially yield thicker and higher-grade sections. Significant assay results from these holes are shown in Table 1, while the locations of the drill holes are shown in Figure 1 and Table 2. 

On April 21, about halfway through the drill program, Mercado said the company had completed 12 drill holes and 1,479 meters, with 11 of the holes at the 5 Señores Vein, designed to infill previous results, test along strike and to depth.

An expanded soil sampling program also began, to cover additional prospective ground and provide infill detail.

“The goal has been to expand on the known and go test some of the unknown,” said Rodriguez, adding “We see potential to expand on known areas and new areas of interest as the team continues to uncover more through prospecting and sampling.”

Drilling has comprehensively tested along the strike of the 5 Señores Vein, infilling in areas where the company sees evidence for better thickness and grade, and some aggressive tests to depth. The drill is now testing the El Agua Vein with the same goals of testing along strike, infilling in key areas and some aggressive tests to depth.

Drill targeting has been refined, with two holes planned at the north junction of the Chente and Cobriza vein systems and the SE extension of 5 Señores – an approximately potential 250m strike length segment that has never been drill-tested before.

According to Mercado, only 60% of the 5 Señores, El Agua, La Chiva and El Pilar veins have been drilled to an average depth of 100 meters. The maiden drill program aims to determine possible structural controls on the strength of silver-gold bearing vein mineralization. Holes are targeting areas of potential thickening of vein mineralization, higher grades as well as step outs along strike and to depth in several areas.

Recent LiDAR and high-resolution airborne magnetic surveys with mapping and planning have assisted in pinpointing drill hole locations.

An April 2 news release says the LiDAR analysis shows several potential features that warrant follow-up exploration, including:

• 21 adits identified, including 19 previously known and two newly recognized;
• 56 pits mapped, comprising 12 known and 44 newly interpreted features;
• One shaft previously documented;
• 57 vein segments outlined, including 12 known and 45 newly interpreted structures;
• 64 outcrops detected across the project area.

Copalito Project

The Copalito Project is approximately 123 km northeast of Culiacan, Sinaloa. The property has good access, moderate topography and infrastructure nearby. The neighboring property to Copalito is McEwen Inc’s (NYSE:MUX) El Gallo mine complex, located 35 km to the west.

Mercado has acquired an option to purchase seven concessions covering 2,820 hectares. The option is to earn 100% over five years, with staged cash payments totaling $3.5 million. Six known veins on the project have a cumulative strike length of 8 km.

Copalito and Zamora, Mercado’s other project, are both located within the Western Mexico Silver Belt in Sinaloa state. The properties are near power, roads, infrastructure and local workforces in a mining-friendly jurisdiction. This emerging belt of the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, which hosts existing mines and recent discoveries, includes:

• Vizsla Silver’s (TSX:VZLA) Panuco District
• First Majestic Silver’s (TSX:AG) San Dimas
• Pan American Silver’s (TSX:PAAS) Alamo Dorado

Historical third-party high-grade silver and significant gold and base metal drill intercepts include 347 g/t silver, 0.22 g/t gold, 0.178% lead and 0.38% zinc over 13.10 meters at the 5 Señores Vein; and 125 g/t silver, 2 g/t gold, 0.34% lead and 0.58% zinc over 23m at the El Agua Vein. 

Kootenay Silver (TSXV:KTN) was the most recent operator.

Kootenay drilled 81 holes over six veins. Several productive veins and vein segments delineated in the drilling are ready for follow-up deeper drilling and along strike.

Mercado Minerals has been in the field at Copalito since January.

The company identified three new veins just by walking the property and taking surface samples. For details of the vein discoveries, read Mercado commences maiden drill program at Copalito — Richard Mills

The field crew planned to resample gold, lead and zinc vein mineralization in select historical drill core from the six known veins.

The results of the resampling program were released on April 14. The company reports that “in general, there is excellent agreement between the re-assay drill composite intercepts and previous drill composite intercepts as reported by a previous operator.”

The company says it inherited an extensive, high-quality dataset including assay information for 81 diamond drill holes, extensive mapping and rock sampling data for the Copalito Project, which has allowed Mercado to undertake exploration and drill targeting programs prior to the launch of its inaugural exploration drilling program, which began on March 10.

Twelve of the 81 historical diamond drill holes were resampled. The re-sampling allowed the Mercado technical team to review the six principal mineralized veins that were targeted by previous drill campaigns, and gain insights on potential mineralization controls that may define higher grade areas of the veins. Re-assay composite results are presented in Table 1. 

AOTH analysis

Mercado Minerals has accomplished a great deal of exploration at Copalito despite only being on the property since January.

They’ve done a LiDAR survey, initiated a soil sampling program, resampled 12 of 81 historical drill holes and received the assays back, and drilled over half of the planned 3,000-meter drill program. Assays from the first three holes have been reported and they indicate high-grade silver and gold at the 5 Señores Vein.

To me, 3.45 meters of 445 grams per tonne silver and 2.26 g/t gold is a spectacular intercept. It not only has a high dollar value, it is a comfortable width for underground mining.

Mercado already has narrow intercepts of high-grade silver measured in kilograms. Now the gold values at Copalito are starting to shine.

We can see them in the 12 historical holes that MERC had resampled.

The reason for the resampling program was to move some of the old drill holes from historical to Mercado-verified. That makes sense. When Mercado moves to outlining a resource, those assays are in the books.

What jumps out at me is not just the similarity between the original assays and the re-assays, but the gold content: 379 g/t Ag and 0.30 g/t Au in hole BDH-20-004, 118 g/t Ag and 2.12 g/t Au in BDH-21-055, and 126 g/t Ag and 0.36 g/t Au in BDH-20-037.

Of course, we can’t forget about the lead and zinc, which, if a mine is developed, might be byproduct credits, but again, what stands out for me is the gold. The geology in Mexico lends itself to silver-lead-zinc mines, usually high-grade underground veins. Copalito looks more like silver-gold, which bodes well for the future of the project. 

I agree with the company’s drilling strategy of infill drilling and step outs.

I’m impressed with what Rodriguez and his team at MERC have accomplished in half a year. He tells me the treasury is still holding up after the December private placement of nearly $6 mil.

That’s good because the team is now testing the El Agua and El Pilar veins. If they’re anything like what we’ve seen at 5 Señores, Mercado and its shareholders are in for an exciting second half.

Mercado Minerals Ltd.
CSE:MERC
2026.05.19 Share Price: Cdn$0.135
Shares Outstanding: 75.8m
Market Cap: Cdn$10.1m
MERC website  

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com

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Richard does not own shares of Mercado Minerals Ltd. (CSE:MERC).

MERC is a paid advertiser on his site aheadoftheherd.com This article is issued on behalf of MERC