Thread by @AkibaLeisman

$mko.v

Happy New Year to all Mako shareholders.

We end 2021 with our plant at >500tpd.

The goals for 2022 are:

Resource at Las Conchitas so we can begin mining LC in late Q4.

DISCOVERY at one or more of our regional targets.

Rapid debt repayment.

Exciting year ahead!

$mko.v

You can see we’re into the graphitic part of the deposit, ~marking the transition between oxide and fresh rock.

We haven’t seen ANY diminution to recoveries. Biggest challenge is this material turns into little balls that gum up our stock tank, but easily manageable.

$mko.v

Think about how much #bitcoin these could buy!

$mko.v

Looks like “dry season” was merely a suggestion.

That smoke is coming from our stripping circuit, which is working a Lionel Richie* getting ready for the next pour.

*all night long

$mko.v

This week’s haul.

$mko.v

And their profile pic for Tinder

$mko.v

Phase 2 mining to the SW started. That stuff in the higher benches is known mineralization, but further back is completely open (you’ll see in 2 weeks).

Central Pit is developing to the SE (we’ll be in mineralization by Feb).

Access road getting moved further NW.

$mko.v

Good thing we weren’t pouring tech stocks today.

Mixing some bars and buttons to keep things interesting.

$mko.v

Work it girls!!

$mko.v

New access road coming along.

Pre-strip (you’re such a tease) for phase 2 well underway. The closer we get to the SW, the more questions will be answered.

We’ll begin a partial 2nd mining shift shortly to increase mining throughout from ~300ktpm to 375-400ktpm

$mko.v

There has been an emergency budget request from our geology department for more purple markers.

Expect us to be over budget by one pack of Sharpies.

$mko.v

Looks like we got to first “ore” at our Central Pit to supplement West Pit mining.

This is initially the Naranjo vein, with the open pit Arras vein being mined later this year.

There’s a limit on how deep the pit can go because of the TSF.

$mko.v

Due to the rise in one of our key commodities* we may be forced to sell this week’s shipment at higher prices.

*AkChuALy it’s a currency

$mko.v

Inferred ounces are too speculative!

But blocks that are >50% from channel samples in trenches are Inferred.

Too speculative!

But how do you drill core for a vein that’s 2m deep?

Too speculative!

First exposure of Arras vein.

Inferred, but not speculative.

$mko.v

Since putting out last week’s exploration results with 23 mineralized holes pending at San Albino (13 with VG), and more at Las Conchitas, we have received a total of …

<checks notes>

ZERO new assays from the lab.

Waiting for Gadot.

$mko.v

New access road implemented. Phase II mining picking up pretty quickly.

First high grade sections on bench 544 opening up in Phase I. This is getting close to where the 1926 Mine was started (and quickly shut down) because of the 1926-27 Civil War.

$mko.v

Despite the unpredictably low number of days in February, gold production continues apace.

$mko.v

Always good to find some heavily mineralized float (SG > 5) from an area of Las Conchitas that has never been drilled.

I asked our geologists where it may have come from, and they said “likely uphill”.

Good to know that it’s unlikely that it rolled up from downhill.

$mko.v

First pricing ever with a 19 handle for the shark.

$mko.v

Great News!

We have been promoted from Silver to Gold Status at the assay lab which will expedite results!

For those companies still in Bronze Status, the lab ensured me they have Top Men working on your assays.

Top. Men.

$mko.v

I’m liking this Gold Status! We’re actually getting stuff back.

In terms of what’s in the queue to warrant a PR, I’m waiting for SA21-560 to come back, and we just got 559.

So I guess the week after next?

$mko.v

Road access to the north of San Albino coming along. Never been a drill hole drilled on the other side of the fault, but there’s room for another San Albino if we hit, and we know it’s mineralized.

$mko.v

I’m just gonna keep our head down a bit and sell some gold while all y’all figure out the new world order.

$mko.v

I ask our geologists to do a simple condemnation hole for our new waste dump at Las Conchitas North, and they come back with this?

For shame.

$mko.v

Mako’s version of a “unit deal”:

Each bar sold entitles shareholders to their prorated ownership of equity plus a special warrant redeemable for a gold-themed guitar song of their choice.

https://twitter.com/stacileisman/status/1293341571350441985?s=21

$mko.v

We got our own crane.

Much quicker for repairs and replacements than having to schedule one in advance.

Cheaper than renting.

Necessary for the 1000 tpd expansion.

Great for Shark-Bungee!

$mko.v

Those benches are going to get a lot longer once that Phase 2 platform is out of the way.

Exposed sections are the high grade.

$mko.v

Oooh. That’s the good stuff.

Prime Porcelana.

Thicc n’ High Grade.

$mko.v

This shark doesn’t need to eat lentils with grades like these.

For everyone else, good luck staying Porcelana!

$mko.v

Beautiful example of Porcelana from the bench we just mined.

Lots of Galena, and very rare Spraypaintite mineralization.

$mko.v

If any geo lost their rock hammer, it’s attached to our crusher’s electromagnet (luckily working as designed).

Feel free to pick it up at your leisure.

Apparently this picks up lots of interesting things; usually of a 1926 vs 2022 vintage.

$mko.v

I think I see why old-timers left the good stuff behind.

They were there (1st pic: 1920’s rail). Porcelana is tough to break. We increased explosives by 70% and still can’t get great fragmentation. Need to get a jack-hammer now.

It was also tough to break in 1926.

$mko.v

After the 2020 hurricanes a mini-canyon opened up which we call the “Secret Garden”.

It shows both sides of the San Albino vein to the northeast of our resource. Grades about 1/2 an ounce across the vein, and pretty cool to see the morphology like this.

$mko.v

Where my jack-hammer at?

That’s some pretty high grade oversized material we’re still trying to figure out how to blast efficiently.

Please, nobody tell the Super-Artisanals that it’s still there!

$mko.v

Using our highly advanced technology, our super high grade big rocks have turned into super high grade smaller rocks.

Which we clearly still haven’t processed.

$mko.v

It’s multiplying.

$mko.v

I’m excited about this one.

RC rig mobilized at site. Should start turning late next week, bringing rig count to 6 core and 1 RC (7 & 2 is our final goal).

What gives me heartburn is the sheer amount of area we need to test. This will speed things up DRAMATICALLY.

$mko.v

First stop San Albino North.

$mko.v

Charles Butters operated the San Albino mine in 1926, a sophisticated operation with UG infrastructure, including rail.

So when we say the ore went through the crusher like Butters, this is NOT what we meant.

Luckily we have spare belts (total down time ~90min).

$mko.v

Some have asked why Mako’s stock isn’t up despite having blowout Q4 earnings?

It’s because Mako’s gold trader sold the lows this morning.

He will be punished accordingly.

$mko.v

This is a bleb (noun)

The mineral is bleby galena (adjective)

If you think our San Albino resource is the only thing we have on our property, you can go bleb yourself (verb)

From Las Conchitas

$mko.v

🎶 Here she is, Mina America 🎶

Another EXTREMELY prospective area of La Segoviana (we now own the surface rights here too).

$mko.v

We should be able to get Q1 ops results out on Wednesday.

A few things to note:

We started our Phase 2 pre-strip at the beginning of the quarter, so that waste is included in the mine plan.

Metallurgy is different because we’re now processing fresh material.

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1510664064455823360

$mko.v

We use rock hammers for scale, but they keep getting lost in the crusher’s electromagnet.

So this time we are also using a geologist for scale. Hopefully it works out for Frank.

$mko.v

Is that bornite?

Haven’t seen that before at San Albino. (This was from a bench we just mined)

I was wondering why our refinery was threatening (actually, more like a friendly suggestion) to penalize us a few shekels because of a bit too much copper in the dore.

$mko.v

Meh.

$mko.v

For those wondering why gold is so weak today, all I can say is “Sorry”.

$mko.v

Mako selling the dead-balls high of the day …

… on the day gold is down 40 bucks.

$mko.v

I may not be a geologist, but I can certainly sniff out a good drill target.

BTW: we ALL knew that right underneath the contractor’s workshop would be prospective. How could it not be?

$mko.v

OK. Enough watching the Fed.

Who wants to see our RC rig doing its thing?

$mko.v

Not sure if this is lucky or unlucky.

Critical spare equipment (cone crusher mantle) w/ normal lead time of 30d was ordered Nov 1.

Arrived yesterday (delay = unlucky)

On drive to El Jicaro, the current mantle went down.

Replaced seamlessly w/ no downtime (LUCKY!)

$mko.v

… and this is why we have a crushed stockpile before the mill.

Thank you for attending my TED talk.

$mko.v

Relative to other counties, that ain’t a bad diesel price.

Nica Cordoba ~ 35.7 per USD

So around $1.2/l

$mko.v

This one’s for you @GrantMBeasley …

The next 4 are for me.

$mko.v

Some of our core is HQ.

Some of our core is PQ.

But for that special bit of core with IQ, we send it to college.

Some samples getting tested at the Colorado School of Mines.

$mko.v

Bertha likes to shake her money maker at night too.

$mko.v

Some of our Knelson gravity concentrates.

If I had to guess, I would say this would run ~4000 g/t Au (we keep it under lock and key in case the Super Artisanals get any ideas).

$mko.v

Don’t feel bad @stablekwon I need some help making this stable too.

$mko.v

TFW you try to wash down a handful of 🌶 peppers with a case of Toña.

$mko.v

Who’s carrying more expensive cargo?

$mko.v

Ummm …

We got our 7th core rig a few months ahead of schedule (like 72 hours after we ordered it).

I guess we have to hit more high grade gold now.

$mko.v

So to recap, rigs 5 & 6 took just over 6 months to arrive. We got number 7 in 3 days.

This is why we hired a skilled logistician to make sure we have precise schedules and forecasts for our drilling output.

$mko.v

This rig is pretty unbelievable. We’re 35m into the hole from a rig we literally ordered 4 days ago.

We put it in a high risk high reward area. If it hits on the first hole, the other rigs will have to do the walk of shame.

$mko.v

Our oversized boulder issue has gotten better, but it’s not entirely gone away.

I suspect we might find a certain Coyote from our ACME contractor underneath.

Notice the exploration core hole that was inside.

$mko.v

Finding some “historical” artifacts.

Drilling rod that got stuck and a bunch of drilling rejects put in rice sacks that were “stored” in a tunnel from the 1926 mine. We ran out of space in our old core shack about 10 years ago, and here they are!

$mko.v

Our geologists put “VG” on the core box so they can distinguish between what’s VERY GOOD, or just simply GOOD.

$mko.v

The bridge to Potrerillos looks familiar.

$mko.v

Rig # 7. You can see how close it is to San Albino (pic from waste dump).

Other side of hill is Minera Francisco. We don’t have assays back from MF but # 7 will be its strike extension.

The hill likely disturbed the zone, so high risk high reward to drill here.

$mko.v

I know we’ve spoken about being in Porcelana since December, but the real sweet meat begins on bench 532.

Looks like this exposed section is the start of it.

We should probably call this zone “Richcelana”.

$mko.v

Yup. Looks like the start of Richcelana.

$mko.v

He’s the hero Mako deserves …

🦇 🦈

$mko.v

As I mentioned in last ops update, we need to reduce amount of free cyanide headed back to mill. One of our detox agents is copper sulfate, which leads to other issues w/ the dore (makes it UGLY).

Problem fixed by resmelting w/ a different flux recipe.

SAME BUTTON.

$mko.v

I spy some good stuff.

$mko.v

To map underground workings, some people use drones, while we used drill core and historical records.

But in retrospect, we could have just used rainy season.

A little cave in from a 1926 tunnel.

Thank you Charles Butters for that free sump!

$mko.v

Don’t forget about south of Las Conchitas at our El Jicaro concession, home to the second most important historical mine in the area.

We just have 500 other priorities right now. But there be gold there too!

$mko.v

Dry stack TSF looking pretty stylish in its new rain coat for rainy season!

$mko.v

Channel sample at a new prospect yielded 1.7m of 1.0 Mauricios per tonne. Estimated true width.

$mko.v

I’ve always been impressed with the quality of roads in and around El Jicaro.

This road (we didn’t build it, BTW) is of such quality that they cut it straight through a mineralized vein.

The streets are literally paved with gold.

$mko.v

How about GFY to that certain individual that doesn’t even have a name yet?

$mko.v

I love you Costa Rica. @StaciLeisman and I went on our honeymoon in Costa Rica. But I’m hoping you get this one, Costa Rica.

$mko.v

All 3 excavators are on Porcelana.

Left is bench 529 (basically the NE margin).

Middle one is bench 526. There’s some reasonable grade at the exposed section, but super high grade is a couple sections in.

Right is 535. That will also be excellent grade.

$mko.v

Bonnie was more of a tinkle than a hurricane.

$mko.v

Anybody want a barbarous relic?

$mko.v

Grade variability works both ways.

$mko.v

New pressure-strip vessel being installed.

Should take some pressure off the elution circuit (bad pun intended).

(Excerpt from Q1 ops update)

$mko.v

Nope.

$mko.v

Drilling is overrated when all you have to do is dig a drill pad to expose a high grade vein.

I suppose we were trying to target something deeper, but c'est la vie.

$mko.v

This is more a factoid than anything, but some people have asked.

We’re at ~50km of drilling at Las Conchitas since inception, and the average drill hole (down hole) is about 100m. I’d guesstimate average vertical depth is ~70-75m.

$mko.v

Nice stylolitic texture. This will be VERY high grade.

I’ve noticed that these textures are heavily correlated with the presence of a pencil. Must be the graphitic schist.

$mko.v

As much as we like to brag about our selective mining techniques, it’s still easier when the vein is over 1.5m wide.

$mko.v

Although Nancy Pelosi decided not to visit San Albino, at least the Purple Sharpie fairy did.

$mko.v

🎶
Tall and Gray and Striped and Shiny

The Rock with Galena will Grade Quite Highly
🎶

This sample is about an ounce/t.

$mko.v

Some recently mined vein.

Looks like some Galena, and I suppose Scorodite? (if anyone on MineralTwit wants to confirm, be my guest).

I won’t tell you what this graded, but I will tell you that using oz/t would be easier to read than g/t.

$mko.v

Some planned maintenance on CIL tank #1. Getting drained as we speak.

The agitator looks better than we thought it would.

We’ll also sample the bedding at the bottom of the tank to settle a debate about whether any gold was trapped in there.

$mko.v

If our deposit always looked like this, this would be a piece of 🍰

Crappy-ass hanging wall
Super high grade vein

Sharp contacts, consistent dip for relatively easy selective mining.

But alas, not everything can be so simple.

$mko.v

On the other end of the spectrum, it can look like this.

Random localized vertical movements in dip.

Game plan for this quarter is to be as selective as possible with our mining to minimize metallurgical issues with the HW/FW, but we will never be perfect.

$mko.v

Look familiar?

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1339927701084319751

$mko.v

CIL #1 looks pretty good.

Sending samples of the bedding to our lab to see if thar’ be gold in it.

$mko.v

Uh oh. The Superartisanals are back. Finding high grade veins we didn’t know about before, that we now have to systematically explore.

Darn you, Superartisanals!!

That haul looks like 0.7-.8 tonnes, if I had to guess.

$mko.v

I betcha never guess which button is from gravity/acacia and which are from carbon-in-leach.

$mko.v

I suppose we can make these grades work. It is an open pit after all.

$mko.v

How ‘bout bars? Can you guess which bar came from gravity/acacia and which from Carbon-In-Leach?

I was able to guess the % Au to w/in 2% of each one, but for those w/out those eyes, this is high 30% gravity recovery.

Exactly as predicted.

https://twitter.com/akibaleisman/status/1205486443826745344?s=21&t=CtjPXBJ5WgAzXQzKG9WIzA

$mko.v

Headed down to Nicaragua this week.

Does anyone know if you need to declare purple markers at customs?

$mko.v

Oh Betty, you’re so fine. You’re so fine, you mill my mine. Hey Betty.

$mko.v

Standing on top of today’s headline hole LC22-819.

6.7m ETW of 1/2 ounce.

I think a pit will get pulled with that.

$mko.v

Mocha Choca Latte Ya Ya

Creole Lady Makolade.

Can you tell which waste piles are oxide and which are fresh?

$mko.v

How about … no?

$mko.v

Hola Sandino.

I wonder if we can use any of your equipment for our plant expansion?

Looks to be in pretty good shape.

$mko.v

Seedlings for our next reforestation project after the deforestation of our last reforestation project is complete, now that we found gold under it.

$mko.v

Another view of today’s headline hole.

$mko.v

Crucita discovery hole

$mko.v

News will continue to pour.

$mko.v

People often blame others for things that are out of their control, but this is definitely our fault.

$mko.v

Looking towards the NE along strike.

I know we didn’t drill under you, and I know you are a nice looking tree. But unfortunately, I’m pretty sure you’re going to get turned into an armoire based on where the gold is going.

$mko.v

Nice contact of the vein and country rock.

$mko.v

That dyke replacement is yucking my yum.

That zone would have been sweet without it.

$mko.v

On my way to Beaver Creek.

Now I need to think of something to talk about.

No PRESSure.

$mko.v

Is it still VG if we run out of purple sharpies?

$mko.v

I won’t tell you how deep that was, but needless to say, we’ll require special equipment to extract it.

$mko.v

Phewww! Luckily, Sharpie delivers to El Jicaro.

$mko.v

And this. I guess we’ll have to write a few press releases in October.

(Yes, these were 3 different holes/areas).

$mko.v

17 meters? Good thing we have shallower high-grade intercepts, otherwise that would be tough* to mine.

*if you had to use your bare hands

$mko.v

I can guarantee you that this vein will grade at least one notebook.

$mko.v

Things are so tight at Mako right now that we have to steal pens from other jr. mining companies to point out >25 g/t channel samples.

$mko.v

Our refiner is offering a special if I take payment in GBP, JPY or dogecoin.

Thinking about it …

$mko.v

Not only did our geologist steal that pen, by the looks of this, I’m pretty sure he took the high grade boulder to our geology office’s coffee station.

That’s why we don’t let geologists in the refinery.

$mko.v

For those that don’t like Golden Acacia flavor, we have some Chocolate-In-Leach too.

$mko.v

New prospect just dropped.

How do we find them?

1. Listen for the loud noises of a rastra mill turning.

2. Ask the dudes turning it where the feed material came from.

3. Sample heavily mineralized vein.

4. DISCOVERY!!

$mko.v

Some mineralized banded quartz we found as float about 15km from the mine.

Pretty sure we know where this originated from.

$mko.v

Now that we have permits for the larger waste dump (a de facto precursor for Las Conchitas mining permits) we can begin the deforestation of our reforestation project.

Not the first “Whoops! There’s more gold under here” mistake we’ve made. Won’t be the last either.

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1567981588956446720

$mko.v

And just to the south, we have Mina Francisco.

That MF’er is sure holding together.

$mko.v

We have to follow up on the strike extension from under our contractor’s porta-potty.

I guess 43 g/t over 4m true width 35 meters from surface is decent.

Hopefully we can find something better to the southwest.

We might have to move that haul road though.

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1539212711732695040

$mko.v

Ummm. I’m sorry. What did you say?

$mko.v

One more down this morning (albeit floored rather than capped). 11 more to go.

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1499782524641452045

$mko.v

La Virgen won’t stay La Virgen with those kinds of grades.

amirite?

(actually the mineral is galena and arsenopyrite)

We’ll do some detailed prospecting there this weekend about 5km NE of San Albino.

$mko.v

Hmm… I thought the SW Pit was boxed in between our old waste dump and our contractor’s workshop.

But reviewing these rigs with our geos yesterday, that ain’t the case.

If this rig hits on the other side of the road, that’s a BIG DEAL!

https://twitter.com/akibaleisman/status/1577399487697494017?s=46&t=fsacVRnTDsUtuBAXsVwCzQ

$mko.v

It is kind of funny that the most prospective parts of our property inevitably are right underneath core shacks, workshops and porta-potties.

We should grant a royalty on where we place the next toilet.

A “Royal Flush”, if you will …

$mko.v

We’ll need to verify at the lab, but we’re pretty sure that someone has been to these new prospects before.

$mko.v

Sorry for crapping out the gold market again. We’ll be sure to do it again next week.

$mko.v

Meh.

https://twitter.com/akibaleisman/status/1577421135431376896?s=46&t=V8OPSsdEbV3EeoFR2w4NuQ

$mko.v

Managed to snap a pic before it was mined.

$mko.v

Central Pit (Arras Vein) got jealous of West Pit (San Albino Vein).

$mko.v

For those keeping score, this is about a bench above AR20-166.

Should be getting into the good stuff right about now.

$mko.v

Meh. 5.5m deep.

If we must, I guess we have to talk about this Mina Francisco hole too in the Las Conchitas press release.

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1571485182137438209

$mko.v

Whatevs … nobody cares.

Even though it’s Monday, I’ll just go hit the bar.

$mko.v

Gold in one of the most malleable substances known to man.

For instance, I can turn these bars and buttons into high grade drill results from Las Conchitas.

$mko.v

Definitely curious what the bench below will be, which should start getting wider.

This sample was about 4ozt/t

Arras / Central Pit

$mko.v

Always difficult to confirm a grade overcall at the mill, b/c you don’t know what mined material is going thru the mill (especially w/ a stockpile) at any moment.

We’re starting to have an overcall now.

Likely due to our 100g/t cap procedures.

From our stockpile:

$mko.v

TBF our moulds materially changed from buttons to bars.

$mko.v

The good news is that we get to ship our weekly gold shipment, just like the last 70 weeks.

The bad news is that the gold price sucks.

$mko.v

Gold price a bit better for these golden bois this week.

(a lot better priced in crypto!)

$mko.v

While it’s nice when you can visually mine what looks good, you really do need to sample everything!!

$mko.v

Don’t worry CIL buttons.

You may not look as pretty as the Acacia bar, but we still love you.

$mko.v

If this is going to be Twitter’s last tweet, make it contain visible gold!

#RIPTwitter

$mko.v

With all the visible gold we are finding, our geos get to express their artistic side.

They are no Gustav Klimt, but I’ll take it.

$mko.v

Try stuffing your Thanksgiving turkey with these!

$mko.v

Those new CAT 740’s look prettier than those highway haul trucks we had before.

Putting the “Art” in Articulated.

Should make next year’s mining MUCH more efficient.

$mko.v

It would certainly make my life easier if 90oz samples were representative, but I’ll still take it.

$mko.v

Is it a discovery if somebody already found it?

We’ll try to get a hole into the Tivo prospect before we pack it up for Christmas.

Way further south than anything Mako has drilled before.

$mko.v

Deplete this.

$mko.v

🎶🎶🎶

Bayacun, my old friend.
I’ve come to talk with you again.

🎶🎶🎶

From LC-S

Completely open to the southwest. Long story why we didn’t continue drilling here until a few days ago.

Older intercepts for reference:

https://twitter.com/akibaleisman/status/1319251219731390464?s=46&t=TkhCH3i62r4a2Y1ijseW5g

$mko.v

Good morning.

$mko.v

My favorite Deep Purple Sharpie song

🎶
Smoke on the Quartz
Fire Assays in the Sky
🎶

$mko.v

Mako and the Super-Artisanals:

M: Hi SA. How are you?

SA: Good

M: Can I see what you’re mining?

SA: Sure

M: Doesn’t look interesting. What’s the grade?

SA: ~4ozt

M: That’s nice. Can I drill below?

SA: Sure

(Still doesn’t look interesting but does look the same)

https://twitter.com/AkibaLeisman/status/1598295168616402948

$mko.v

We had another gold shipment today, but someone forgot to send me pictures of the dore.

So here’s some puppies instead.

$mko.v

Even though puppies are cuter, you can buy your own breeding farm with these.

$mko.v

Looks like Bayacun continues at depth. Need 2 cups of coffee to do trigonometry in my head, but that’s ~300m of dip.

We’ll see if we can get a hole on the other side of the creek in before we close down for the year this weekend. Nothing has been drilled there yet.

$mko.v

That should run.

$mko.v

We were evaluating different explosives suppliers for next year.

One of them was Austin Powder … “SAFETY is their middle name”.

austinpowder.com/unitedstates/h…

$mko.v

Small but mighty. Narrow interval, but that should be VERY high grade.

I guess we can make it work at 9 meters. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

$mko.v

That’s either a particularly thick vein, or a particularly short man.

(grade’s particularly good too)

$mko.v

Gold may be up a lot today, but because I’m selling these now, it will be up a lot more tomorrow.

You’re welcome in advance.

$mko.v

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