Advance Metals adds precious metals maestro for Mexican silver push
- Andrew Todd
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
Advance Metals (ASX: AVM) has named precious metals maestro David O’Connor as the company’s new non-executive chairman to guide its precious metals growth stories across Mexico and Australia.
With 40 years of global mining nous and a knack for turning prospects into paydirt, O’Connor is set to steer the company’s flagship Mexican silver-gold projects through development, effective immediately.
His appointment alongside fresh advisory board additions signals intent to focus the company’s $13 million war chest on Advance’s emerging gold-silver projects that are making waves in Mexico’s silver belt.
The company says O’Connor has a 40-year rap sheet spanning exploration, development and mergers across multiple continents, while specialising in silver.
He founded Explorator Resources before offloading its El Espino copper-gold project to Chilean heavyweight Pucobre, whilst also leading exploration at major operations including Western Mining Corporation’s world-class Olympic Dam deposit.
He is currently the Chief Geologist at AbraSilver Resources’ (A$1b market cap) Diablillos silver-gold project which boasts a hefty 350-million-ounce silver equivalent.
With the new addition, Craig Stranger will slide from Chairman to non-executive director while Joshua Gordon will step down.
David’s appointment adds exceptional depth and experience to our Board. His global perspective, proven track record in value creation and discovery, and hands-on approach to project development will be invaluable as we execute our growth strategy in Mexico.
Advance Metals Managing Director Dr Adam McKinnon
The new gig at Advance comes as the company leans hard into its Mexican project trio of Yoquivo, Guadalupe y Calvo (GyC) and Gavilanes.
The projects already pack a combined 100-million-ounce silver equivalent punch in non-JORC foreign estimates, with the company confident it can double that number into a JORC compliant resource quickly.
The Mexican projects are already delivering the exploration goods too. At the Yoquivo prospect earlier this year, maiden drilling delivered high-grade hits up to a staggering 2063g/t silver equivalent, extending its main Pertenencia vein 60-70m down-dip from historic known mineralisation.
Guadalupe y Calvo still lands in a smaller foreign resource estimate but boasts some 60.6-million-ounce silver equivalent estimate that is slated for maiden drilling programs early next year. Gavilanes and its 22.4-million-ounce silver equivalent is also prepping for its first rigs following GyC.
Advance says it is flat out building a 200-million-ounce silver equivalent target.
This comes as silver is riding a wave to push past a near-record US$50 an ounce on safe-haven buying and industrial hunger.
Mexico, remarkably, is the world’s top silver producer. It is the place to be and Advance’s timing looks spot-on as both gold and silver surge.
Recent LiDAR results and core resampling has sharpened the company’s targets, as Yoquivo drilling is set to restart soon. Backed by a recent weighty $13 million capital raise and a new experienced silver chief, the coming onslaught of drilling in the next six months bodes well for the focussed latin American precious metals play.
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