Disseminated on behalf of: Luca Mining Corp.
Dan Barnholden, CEO of Luca Mining Corp. (TSXV: LUCA | OTCQX: LUCMF), discusses the company’s focus on revitalizing underperforming mines in Mexico and driving long-term value for investors using their optimization, exploration, and expansion strategy.
Jim Gordon
- Hi, I am Jim Gordon, and you’re watching Market One Minute. Joining us is Dan Barnholden. He is the CEO of Luca Mining. Dan, welcome.
Dan Barnholden
- Thanks for having me.
Jim Gordon
- You’re quite welcome, sir. Okay, let’s talk about Luca Mining and the company’s business strategy.
Dan Barnholden
- So we’re a mining company with two mines in Mexico. Those mines have been, they’ve been chronically underinvested in. And so the opportunity for us is to take these mines, recapitalize them. We have a strategy which we think of as a three-pronged strategy: optimize, explore, and expand. And so we’re applying that strategy to our two operating mines in Mexico, Campo Morado and Tahuehueto. We’ve made great strides over the course of the last six months, and the next six months, we continue to apply that strategy to invest in these assets that have been underperforming historically and bring them into a scenario where they are able to really deliver outstanding production at competitive costs so that we can generate some real cash flow at these mines.
Jim Gordon
- And is this a strategy that you can execute on other projects?
Dan Barnholden
- Yeah, so we recently hired a corporate development officer for the company. His mandate is really to find some new assets that we can apply that strategy of optimize, explore and expand. We think that there’s a number of assets in Mexico that are, for one reason or another, underperforming, and we can apply capital, we can apply operational expertise, we can apply exploration expertise, and we can really add a lot of value to these underperforming mines.
Jim Gordon
- You mentioned two of your mines. Let’s talk about the exploration programs at Campo Morado and the Tahuehueto mine.
Dan Barnholden
- That’s right. Yes. Last year we had a very credible and competent exploration team last November. We’ve given them a budget to go out and explore. We have delivered the first exploration results in over a decade from Tahuehueto. Those were released in early February. We’re expecting any day to be able to deliver exploration results from Campo Morado, and that’s going to be an ongoing thing over the course of the year and beyond, delivering consistent exploration results that are going to demonstrate a capacity of these mines to extend their mine lives and to expand production.
Jim Gordon
- And Dan, let’s talk about Mexico. The company has been dealing with that country for a while. Can you talk about how investor sentiment has changed towards Mexico.
Dan Barnholden
- Yeah, over the course of the last six months, there’s been a number of things that have happened in Mexico. One, obviously, there was an election, new government coming in. There was a lot of concern about the policies of that government. Turns out that this government has actually been surprisingly pro-mining.
Jim Gordon
- Right, yeah.
Dan Barnholden
- So that’s been great for us. In addition, and this is when I tell people this is, it’s a little bit unexpected. Donald Trump and the tariffs and the uncertainty of the US has actually been extraordinary for mining in both Canada and in Mexico because there’s been a push for both countries to become a little bit more self-sufficient. And so, not to get too political about it, but the issues that both countries are facing in dealing with the US has been very beneficial for mining companies, particularly those operating in Mexico.
Jim Gordon
- And finally, Dan, let’s talk about the overall growth objectives for the company for 2025 and beyond.
Dan Barnholden
- Sure. Well, we’ve touched on a lot of those. Really, the mandate of the company is to apply those three key words that we’re working on, which is optimization, exploration, and expansion. And that really directs what we’re up to this year. We’re going to be growing production from both of our mines. We’re going to be aggressively exploring so that we can add mine life and production to the mines this year and beyond. And then we’re going to be looking for opportunities to expand those mines as well as looking at new mines to bring into the portfolio.
Jim Gordon
- Dan Barnholden, CEO of Luca Mining. Thank you for joining us.
Dan Barnholden
- Lovely to be here. Thank you.
ABOUT LUCA MINING CORP.
Luca Mining Corp. (TSXV: LUCA | OTCQX: LUCMF) is a diversified Canadian based mining company with two 100% owned producing gold, silver and base metals mines within the prolific Sierra Madre mineralized belt in Mexico. Learn more about them on their website here.
