Arturo Préstamo Elizondo, Executive Chairman and CEO of Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. (NASDAQ:SCZM) (TSX.V:SCZ) (FSE:1SZ), joins me to highlight their uplisting onto the Nasdaq exchange in the US in January, and to delve into the details of Q4 2025 operational results across their portfolio of producing mines in Bolivia and Mexico. We also review a few of the key growth initiatives that the company has slated for 2026 at multiple projects.
On January 21st the Company announced it would commence trading at the market open Nasdaq Capital Market, under the symbol “SCZM.” We discussed how this big board US listing will increase transparency and liquidity to an expanded American shareholder base, and he explains the rationale for going with the NASDAQ over the NYSE was because they are a growth-oriented company.
Q4 2025 Production Highlights:
Silver Equivalent Production: 3,739,019 silver equivalent ounces
Silver Production: 1,343,607 ounces
Zinc Production: 23,846 tons
Lead Production: 3,000 tons
Copper Production: 287 tons
During Q4 2025, Santacruz delivered a solid quarter-over-quarter improvement in consolidated production, and a 34% increase in silver equivalent production compared to Q3 2025. This was led by a meaningful recovery at the Bolívar mine, and supported by strong performance at Caballo Blanco, Zimapán, and San Lucas. At Bolívar, the Company is beginning to see the benefits of the recovery efforts at the high silver-grade Pomabamba and Nané veins following the May 2025 flooding event, which resulted in higher production throughput, and improved operating conditions. However, access to the highest-grade areas remained partially constrained, and recovery activities continued throughout Q4 2025, with a full recovery expected over the course of 2026.
Next we moved over to the Caballo Blanco Group of mines, which is the lowest cost and thus highest efficiency of their operations. Colquechaquita and Tres Amigos are the 2 producing mines, but Arturo mentioned that the Company has been working to bring the Esperanza Mine back into production by late February or early March, and that it should be a profitable smaller zinc-forward mine in this Caballo Blanco complex moving forward.
Their Zimapán Mine in Mexico will be another area of growth for Santacruz Silver in 2026, after capital investment last year into plant equipment and improving mine efficiencies and metals recoveries. Additionally, the operations team finally gained access to the high-grade 960 Level of the Zimpan Mine at the end of Q4, and so this will be a more significant contributing area of production starting in Q1 2026 and for several years.
Next we shifted over to the high-margin San Lucas Group Lucas feed sourcing business (which now includes ore blended from the Reserva Mine, previously part of the Caballo Blanco complex). Arturo highlights how the San Lucas metals sales helped offset the lower silver production at the Bolívar Mine in both Q3 and Q4, and it will continue to be a strong contributing business unit, providing a great defensive and growing asset inside of their overall portfolio.
Another key project that will help the company grow production, starting in late 2026, is the Soracaya Project. Soracaya is a high-grade, silver-rich project, featuring mineralization along reactivated faults with replacement and brecciated sulphides, geological characteristics typical of some of the world’s most productive silver deposits. Since 1999, more than 29.6 km of drilling across 90+ holes has provided extensive geological data, supporting robust resource modeling and preliminary mine planning. There are already twin declines into this project with initial stope access, and the plan is to work throughout 2026 to get this mine into initial production by Q4 of 2026.
Wrapping up we discussed the potential for future accretive acquisitions outside of the company in the Americas. The board and management team are open to either already producing assets or development-stage underground mining assets, but only if the acquisition would be accretive for shareholders and if their team can unlock value in the acquired assets.
If you have any follow up questions for Arturo regarding Santacruz Silver, then please email those to me Shad@kereport.com.
- In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Santacruz Silver at the time of this recording, and may choose to buy or sell shares at any time.
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