Heliostar drilling suggests ‘big prize’ at $426M value Ana Paula gold project

Drilling by Mexico-focused Heliostar Metals (TSX-V: HSTR) at its Ana Paula project supports the conversion of inferred mineralization to stronger categories in a feasibility study targeted for next year. Shares rose.

Highlight hole AP-26-381 cut 99.8 metres grading 10.9 grams gold per tonne from 50.5 metres depth in the High Grade Panel target, including 77.5 metres at 12.94 grams gold, Heliostar reported Thursday. Hole AP-26-392 returned 37 metres grading 6.95 grams gold from 16 metres depth, including 17.7 metres at 10.93 grams gold. Ana Paula is about 170 km southwest of Mexico City.

“We view the results as further supporting Ana Paula’s conversion and growth potential ahead of the second-quarter 2027 feasibility study,” National Bank of Canada mining analyst Alex Terentiew said in a note. “The North zone linkage result adds another high-grade growth target, reinforcing our view that Ana Paula can exceed the [nine-year] preliminary economic assessment mine life with upside to reserves and the production profile.”

The results raise Ana Paula’s stature as Heliostar’s potential main growth asset capable of enhancing the company’s longer-term production outlook if Thursday’s high-grade results help expand a mine plan that would start output in 2028. Heliostar poured first gold at its re-started San Agustin project in January and its La Colorada mine restarted production last year. Heliostar acquired the assets from Florida Canyon Gold in 2024.

‘Higher profitability’

“Infill drilling results for the feasibility study continue to return stellar intercepts and point to a ‘full cycle’ asset with profitability significantly higher than the industry average,” Heliostar CEO Charles Funk said in a release. “These intercepts immediately beneath the feasibility study envelope suggest there is potential for a much bigger prize at Ana Paula.”

Heliostar shares gained 8% to $1.70 (US$1.20) apiece on Thursday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at $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 Ana Paula’s Expansion zone, where hole AP-26-385 cut about 50 metres grading 2.88 grams gold from 539 metres depth, including 9 metres at 9.49 grams gold. That hole demonstrates the presence of a higher-grade core inside a larger mineralized interval, with mineralization open to the north, Heliostar said.

Hole AP-26-404A returned 19.3 metres grading 2.71 grams gold from 516 metres depth, including about 17 metres at 3.49 grams gold.

Those step-out holes in the Expansion Zone “show broad intervals of gold mineralization with high-grade sub-intervals demonstrating this zone is open in multiple directions,” Funk said. “These intercepts immediately beneath the feasibility study envelope suggest there is potential for a much bigger prize at Ana Paula.”

Conversion drilling

The results are part of an ongoing 35,000-metre drill program of which Heliostar has completed 32,678 metres. About 25,000 metres targeted inferred mineralization in the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) mine plan that the company plans to upgrade for the feasibility study, scheduled for next year’s second quarter.

The PEA, released last November, gave Ana Paula a base case post-tax net present value, discounted at 5%, of US$426 million and a 28% internal rate of return, assuming gold prices of $2,400 per ounce.

Initial capital costs total $300 million. Over a nine-year mine life, Ana Paula could produce 874,700 oz. of gold.