At PDAC 2009 we had the opportunity to talk to Tony Rovira founder of Azure Minerals in the Sierra Madre Occidental Range in northwestern Mexico. He has a great reputation as one of the discoverers of the huge Cosmos nickel deposits for Jubilee Mines in Western Australia. He also knows and has experienced exploration and development of mines.

The Sierra Madre Occidental Range in northwestern Mexico has become one of the hottest mining sites in the world, and Azure Minerals Limited is getting its piece of the action with several lucrative exploration projects located throughout the district. Executive Chairman Tony Rovira founded Azure Minerals Limited in 2005 and is guiding the Australian-based junior exploration company to shiny, new heights in a country rife with exciting opportunities for precious and base metal mining success stories.

“It’s a great country to be doing business in,” said Rovira. “Firstly, the geology is excellent. The mineral prospectivity of Mexico is world-class, and there are a number of very successful mining operations in Mexico. In addition to that, the political environment is very conducive [to exploration] and very helpful. The bureaucracy in Mexico is very positive, and they’re there to assist you in establishing mining operations.”

A variety of projects

With an historic production of over 10 billion ounces of silver and current annual production in excess of 100 million ounces, Mexico is presently the largest silver producer in the world. Silver aside, Mexico is also a major producer of gold, copper, zinc, lead and molybdenum, and Azure Minerals is poised to put its flagship property, Promontorio, into production. The advanced-stage copper-gold-silver project is located in Sierra Madres in the western part of the state of Chihuahua, and the Company is looking forward to gaining short term value-added growth once Promontorio starts producing.

“Promontorio is a property which is held by a number of prospectors, and we’ve entered into an option agreement to purchase it from them. It’s a deposit of high-grade copper, gold and silver,” said Rovira, explaining that the area has been mined in the past and still holds some infrastructure. “We’ve carried out a very intense drilling program there in the late part of 2008, where we drilled about 40 holes for approximately 7,000 meters. And from that drilling we were able to produce a JORC Code, the Australian standard ore reserve or mineral resource, of about half a million tons of just under 5-percent copper, 2 grams gold, and 100 grams of silver. It’s a deposit that is very much open along the strike and the depth, and we see that the opportunity is there to significantly increase that by further drilling.”

In addition, Azure recently staked a 120-square-kilometer mineral concession that surrounds the Promontorio leases. Noted Rovira, “That’s an area which is most likely going to be containing the better extensions and potentially other mineralization of depth, given the area as well.”

In November of 2008, Azure entered into a joint venture with the major Japanese Government organization, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). According to Rovira, JOGMEC’s investment of up to $3 million over 3 years will accelerate the exploration of Azure’s 100%-owned La Tortuga and Los Nidos properties, which indicate the potential for major porphyry copper deposits.

He explained, “What we have is a joint venture agreement, whereby they will contribute $3 million U.S. dollars over a three-year period on exploration expenditure, and at the end of that they have a decision to make as to whether they continue with the project or not. That $3 million of expenditure will get them a 51-percent ownership of the project. At that point in time they will then put their 51-percent ownership project up for bid or for tender in Japan to Japanese organizations only, so the likes of Sumitomo, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, would then have an opportunity to bid, and if they chose to, they would then come in as the 51-percent shareholder of the project.

“We’re carrying the work out on their behalf, using their funds, but using our people,” Rovira added. “So, it’s a very good joint venture from the point of view that it maintains the integrity of our team in Mexico -- we’re able to keep them all fully employed –while continuing to do work on the Promontorio project.”

Although Promontorio is its main focus, Azure’s management continues to identify other areas that may contain mineralization and so far has been granted 100%-ownership of nine mineral concessions in highly prospective Mexican mineral districts, with two more mineral concessions still waiting in the application stage wings.

Streamlined Management

Having spent the past 25 years in the mining industry, Tony Rovira is an exploration geologist who has been involved with several mine developments and is adept at taking projects from discovery into production…, “and then to the extent where they’ve been taken out by other companies,” he added. I’ve worked for a number of companies, both small and large, including BHP Billiton and other organizations which have mainly focused on precious metals and base metals exploration and development throughout Australia, the South Pacific and Latin America. The most significant discovery I’ve been involved with was the Cosmos nickel deposits for Jubilee Mines in Western Australia.”

When Rovira first established Azure Minerals Limited, he recalled that Australia was initially their country of choice until they settled on Mexico. “We like the assets we have in Mexico,” he said. “The quality of the properties is very high.”

The company’s two non-executive directors, Dr Wolf Martinick and John Walter Saleeba are both based in Perth. “Both of them are involved in a number of companies, both resource companies and non-resource companies, as directors,” said Rovira, adding that the company’s management team may be lean, “but we’re very experienced in both the exploration and the project development side of things.” Company secretary and CFO, Brett Dickson, has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial management of companies and has held the title of CFO for a number of successful resource companies listed on the ASX.

In Mexico, Luis Chavez is Azure’s exploration manager and country manager. “We only have three or four of us who work in Australia; the majority of our staff is working in Mexico, and they’re all Mexican nationals,” noted Rovira.

An opportunity in the making

With the objective of becoming an independent minerals producer, Promontorio is getting most of Azure’s attention at the moment. “As a company, we have sufficient funding to be able to continue with our exploration program at Promontorio, and that is going to be our main focus. We have quite a few other properties in Mexico, but at this stage we are putting those onto the backburner while we conserve our cash position and focus it into the development of the Promontorio project,” explained Rovira.

He pointed towards the company’s low share prices and variety of properties just waiting to be explored, not to mention the fact that market capitalization is quite low at the moment. “This is an opportunity for investors to come onboard and to participate in our company’s growth in the future.”

For more information:

http://www.azureminerals.com.au

 

Street Address:
Level 1, 30 Richardson Street
WEST PERTH, WA 6005

Postal address:
PO Box 493
WEST PERTH, WA 6872

Phone: +61 8 9481 2555
Fax: +61 8 9485 1290

Email: admin@azureminerals.com.au