What have been the main developments for Sierra Sun over the past year? 

We have been negotiating with Hochschild Mining to purchase their Arcata and Azuca properties. These two assets were placed on care and maintenance in 2019. We closed the acquisition deal on the 27th of February 2025. Arcata started operating in 1965, and we are now on a path to put the mine back into production, with the expectation to produce over 8 million oz/y of silver and 15,000 to 20,000 oz/y of gold, which will put Sierra Sun in an entirely new league. We are completing the rehabilitation of the infrastructure and plant at Arcata and dewatering the lower sections of the mine. We are expecting to initiate production by the second half of 2025 and then ramp up to 2,500 t/day within a year. 

On the other hand, in 2024, the company was focused on increasing production at Antapite, which is going well. Antapite was certified under the International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC) and is one of the very few mines in Peru that have this certification. We have also been working towards bringing Cachi Cachi into production, but after putting all our effort into buying Arcata and Azuca, we are somewhat behind schedule. We have completed a NI 43-101 on the Cachi Cachi project, with final revisions happening this month, and we expect to put the mine into production in 2026. 

How much will Sierra Sun invest in Arcata and Azuca to bring the mines back into production? 

Charles Fyfe, our Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO), with the help of CuatreCasas, international law firm,  have done an excellent job to close the transaction, working with Triple Flag, Canadian royalty and streaming company, Ocean Partners and Glencore to raise the money necessary to bring the Arcata mine into production. Azuca is another exciting precious metals restart and development opportunity and is a satellite underground deposit located 116 km north of Arcata by road, with production expected to be processed at Arcata. We expect to bring Azuca back into production within the next year.  

Sierra Sun is now focused on precious metals, but we also have a green metals portfolio including copper, zinc, cobalt, and phosphate. We have been developing our Sumaq Rumi zinc project, and the company is looking for an equity partner or a buyer to take this mine to processing 5,000 t/day, until then Sierra Sun plans to process the tailings once all metallurgic studies have been completed. We expect to have secured the financing/partner to take this project forward by Q2 2025. Additionally, we are looking for equity partners or buyers for all our other green metal projects so that we can focus on our precious metals portfolio, with the goal to produce 9 million oz/y of silver and approximately 100,000 to 150,000 oz/y of gold a year by 2028. 

How is the current political landscape in Peru impacting mining operations?

The government recognizes that mining is the backbone of the Peruvian economy and is openly encouraging investors into this sector. However, some entities, are taking longer than desired to approve certain permits. During election years, politicians sometimes use mining to get people’s attention, but we are not too concerned about this as we have strong relationships with our communities, and we conscious on the benefits of responsible and sustainable mining. 

What are Sierra Sun’s priorities and goals?

Until August 2025, Sierra Sun will focus on the rehabilitation of Arcata to get it back into production as soon as possible. We are setting up the camp and team at Arcata, and expect to have 1,000 to 1,500 people working there. We will continue to streamline Antapite and increase production, and as we are currently achieving excellent grades. 

Sierra Sun has 100,000 hectares of prime concessions, and 87,000 hectares of that is precious metals. We will focus on exploring these concessions as we feel that there is great potential to grow the Arcata and Antapite areas. As mentioned before, for the remaining 23,000 hectares, which are our green metals portfolio we hope to find the investor that would allow us to free resources to develop and explore our precious metal concessions.