The wholly-owned La Trinidad Mine sits within a grouping of 11 concessions totaling 60,204 hectares in Sinaloa, Mexico. The gold mine is approximately 110 kilometers southeast of the city of Mazatlan and 42 kilometers southeast of the town of Rosario.
La Trinidad was previously mined by Eldorado Gold Corp. ("Eldorado") from 1996-98. After completing a preliminary economic assessment, negotiating surface rights and receiving environmental permits, Marlin has completed construction and declared commercial production at La Trinidad on November 1, 2014.
The majority of the mining at La Trinidad is focused on the Taunus deposit, which is considered to be a gold-rich intermediate sulfidation state ephitermal system. The mineralization occurs in intensely silicified tectonic and quartz-matrix hydrothermal breccia. Marlin's predecessor acquired the Taunus deposit in 2005 and identified previously unknown gold mineralization by drilling the deposit to a depth of approximately 200 meters below surface.
Due to the brecciated nature of the rocktypes in the Taunus deposit, including the mineralized material, a drilling technique known as sonic drilling was initiated in late 2010, and continued through September 2011. This drilling method was used in order to achieve maximum core recovery. The result of drilling since 2005 led to the discovery of the high grade HS Zone within the Taunus deposit.