Drilling by Mexico-focused Heliostar Metals (TSX-V: HSTR) at the Ana Paula Project supports conversion of inferred mineralization to stronger grades in a feasibility study targeted for next year. Stocks rose.
Heliostar reported on Thursday that highlight hole AP-26-381 cut 99.8 meters grading 10.9 grams gold per tonne from a depth of 50.5 meters at the high-grade plate target, including 77.5 meters at 12.94 grams gold. Hole AP-26-392 returned 37 meters grading 6.95 grams of gold from a depth of 16 metres, including 17.7 meters grading 10.93 grams gold. Ana Paula is located about 170 km southwest of Mexico City.
“We see the results as further supporting Ana Paula’s conversion and growth potential ahead of the Q2 2027 feasibility study,” Alex Terentio, a mining analyst at National Bank of Canada, said in a note. “The Northern Territory Connect result adds another high-quality growth target, reinforcing our view that Ana Paula can outlive its initial economic assessment (nine years) with rising reserves and production profile.”
The results raise Ana Paula’s position as a major potential growth asset for Heliostar capable of boosting the company’s long-term production outlook if Thursday’s high-grade results help expand a mining plan that will begin production in 2028. The first gold was poured At the San Agustin project, which restarted in January, the La Colorada mine resumed production last year. Heliostar I got the assets From Florida Canyon Gold in 2024.
“Higher profitability”
“The feasibility study drilling results continue to return stellar intercepts and point to a ‘full cycle’ asset with profitability well above the industry average,” Heliostar CEO Charles Funk said in a statement. “These objections right below the feasibility envelope indicate that there is potential for a much larger award at Ana Paula.”
Heliostar shares rose 8% to $US1.70 (US$1.20) per share Thursday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at US$469 million (US$330 million). The stock has traded in a 12-month range of $1.10 to $3.47.
Strong results also came from the Ana Paula expansion area, where hole AP-26-385 cut approximately 50 meters grading 2.88 grams of gold from a depth of 539 metres, including 9 meters grading 9.49 grams gold. This hole indicates the presence of a higher grade core within an interval of greater mineralization, with open mineralization to the north, Heliostar said.
Hole AP-26-404A returned 19.3 meters weighing 2.71 grams of gold from a depth of 516 meters, including about 17 meters weighing 3.49 grams of gold.
Those graded holes in the expansion zone “show broad intervals of gold mineralization with high-grade subintervals that show this area is open in multiple directions,” Funk said. “These objections right below the feasibility envelope indicate that there is potential for a much larger award at Ana Paula.”
Diversion drilling
The results are part of an ongoing 35,000 meter drilling programme, of which Heliostar has completed 32,678 metres. It targeted approximately 25,000 meters of inferred mineralization in a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) mine plan that the company plans to advance for a feasibility study scheduled for the second quarter of next year.
The PRA, passed last November, gave Ana Paula an after-tax NPV, at a 5% discount, of US$426 million and an internal rate of return of 28%, assuming gold prices of $2,400 per ounce.
The total initial capital costs are $300 million. Over the nine-year life of the mine, Ana Paula was able to produce 874,700 ounces. Of gold.
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