There really is a treasure of the Sierra Madres
“They lusted like pigs for gold.”
— unamed Aztec nobleman on Cortés’ troops
A friend of mine, who has got to be at least in his mid-70s now, is the son of a Scandinavian sailor who jumped ship in Veracruz and never did find his gold stake, but got lost and ended up in a Mexican village instead. That’s his story anyway and he’s sticking to it.
Yeah, it did make me think of Walter Huston in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but that’s the thing about B. Traven. He really knew Mexico and his stories of foreigners in the 1920s COULD have been true. There was a report in Canadian papers about a mining supervisor being shot during a payroll robbery recently. For whatever reason, most of the foreign mining operations are Canadian.
Fred C. Dobbs was wrong when he said “nobody pulls a fast one” but I gather savvy investors are looking at gold mining in the Sierra Madres as a serious investment. The days of shootouts with payroll bandits aren’t quite over yet, but … alas… most of these operations are the kinds of things involving investors and the Canadian stock exchange and other such unromantic details as environmental regulations. Still… there’s gold (and silver) in them thar hills:
Mexico is prospective for many types of mineral deposits, but precious metals were the main attraction for most of its history. When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the early 1500s, the Aztecs were already sipping from golden goblets. A series of rich silver deposits were discovered in the mid-1500s that led to a silver mining boom in the central states of Zacatecas, Guanajuato , Chihuahua , and Durango , among others. Mines within Mexico ‘s Silver Belt currently produce about 100 million ounces of silver annually, and several mines have operated continuously for centuries. Mexico ‘s Silver Belt is the most productive in the world, with more than 10 billion ounces of silver and about 75 million ounces of by-product gold produced over the centuries.
Mexico was the world’s leading silver producer for many decades and was only recently surpassed by Peru . Canadian junior companies are actively exploring projects within the Silver Belt, which offers good infrastructure, an experienced mining workforce, and excellent potential for new discoveries using modern exploration techniques. The mines in this region are also benefiting from new capital investment and new technology to boost production and improve profits.
Most of the historic and recent gold discoveries in Mexico have been found in the prolific Sierra Madre mineral belt, a geological structure straddling several states in central and western Mexico . …
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Mexico ‘s mining renaissance could continue for decades given the bullish outlook for most metals. …
I strongly recommend that anyone wishing to invest in the mining exploration/development sector take a serious look at Mexico .
mexfiles.net 