Mercado Minerals Ltd. (CSE: MERC) (OTCQB: MRMNF) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Concordia Silver Company S.A. de C.V., has signed a community access and exploration agreement with Ejido Rincon de Ibonia, a local land group in the Zamora and surrounding area of Sinaloa, Mexico.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mercado will pay an annual fee of 100,000 Mexican pesos, effective immediately, with a one-year renewal option. The company will also pay 3,000 Mexican pesos per drill pad constructed to help offset impacts on the ejido's land.

The agreement covers a portion of the Zamora property and allows Mercado to advance the drill permit process for the Campanillas area. The company said it is continuing to negotiate access agreements with other ejido groups in the region to cover the remainder of the Zamora project.

Mercado's technical team is currently on the ground at Zamora conducting prospecting, mapping, and sampling, while also building camp infrastructure. The work is focused on preparing certain concessions for reinstatement to good standing and advancing active concessions ahead of a planned drill program.

The Zamora property is located approximately 110 km north of Mazatlán and 23 km southwest of Cosalá, Sinaloa. The property hosts 14 silver-gold vein occurrences with a cumulative strike length of more than 8 km. Historic surface sampling has returned grades of 14,561 g/t silver and 15.53 g/t gold at the Campanillas workings. The company notes these are historical results that have not been independently verified and should not be relied upon.

The information in this article is based on a press release from Mercado Minerals.