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Sonoro Gold Corp. ($SGO | $SMOFF) CEO on the Cerro Caliche Project's Growth Potential

Nordic Funds Apr 27, 2026

Summary

PEA economics — the CEO's NPV (net present value) of $225M after tax — sit against a market cap under C$100M, blamed on permit delay.

AISC (all-in sustaining cost — the full cost of keeping a mine running) sits near $1,900 an ounce, with cash costs of $1,800.

A 72% heap-leach recovery rate turns just under 800,000 recoverable ounces into roughly 460,000 ounces actually produced.

A 1.6 strip ratio — 1.6 tonnes of waste per tonne crushed — is the cost lever, funded by $11M for 50,000 metres of drilling.

The CEO expects gold to hold above $5,000 and frames it as a hedge against geopolitical volatility.

Key points on Agnico Eagle Mines

  • Agnico Eagle bought the one project Sonoro Gold was operating when it listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2011; the speaker says the proceeds funded the acquisition of the company's present project portfolio.
  • Agnico Eagle is also described as the owner of the large Santa Gertrudas project lying north of Cerro Caliche, which the speaker says is still awaiting a production decision.

Key points on Silver Tiger Metals

  • El Tigre, identified by the speaker as Silver Tiger's project in the Mexican state of Sonora, is cited as one of the recent open-pit mine approvals in Mexico, received in November ahead of the interview, and read as evidence that regulators are now clearing new open pits.

Key points on Highlander Silver Corp

  • The Mercedes mine, about 15 kilometers from Cucurpe, is described by the speaker as now owned and operated by Highlander Silver, one of the producing or soon-to-produce mines surrounding Cerro Caliche.

Mr. Kenneth MacLeod's takeaways

  • Top takeaway His central argument is that the discount to the company's PEA value is a permitting artifact, not a judgement on the asset: he blames it on a long silence after the April 2020 environmental application, when there was "no communication" under the prior administration, and says the sector only woke up after the current administration took office in October 2024.
  • He is bullish on the gold price, saying he does not believe gold will come into the $2,000 category again, sees potential for it to go back over $5,000, and expects it to stay above that level for the next two to three years, describing gold as a hedge providing a stable currency unaffected by world events.
  • He argues the project is financeable, saying lenders have shown "great appetite" for financing an "$82 million capital open pit heap leach project in Mexico" — his construction-financing figure, close to but not identical to the $83 million PEA capital he quoted — and that construction finance will be achieved quickly.
  • His growth thesis rests on exploration upside: he says less than 30% of the known mineralized zones on the property have been drilled, that mineralization continues beyond the concession boundary, and that drilling will continue indefinitely as long as new ounces are produced.
  • He reads recent Mexican approvals — El Tigre in November and Frisco in December, both open pits — as precedent that should mean Cerro Caliche is "attended to fairly quickly", and he points to recent Mexico permitting reform as the reason the situation moved at all.

Mr. Jorge Alberto Diaz Avalos's takeaways

  • Top takeaway MacLeod introduces him as "Jorge Diaz, who's our Vice Chairman" and as part of the team that operated the company's original Mexican project, back when Sonoro Gold listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2011.
  • MacLeod credits him with over 50 years of experience designing, building and operating gold mines in Mexico, taking projects from exploration and development through to production, and notes he operates his own private gold mine in the state of Sonora.