08:51 AM EDT, 07/04/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Sonoro Gold ( SMOFF ) on Friday said it secured all of the surface rights necessary for its Cerro Caliche Gold Project in Sonora, Mexico through a lease agreement.

The company now has exclusive surface rights to the Rancho El Cerro Prieto property covering 3,908 hectares, including the 15 contiguous Cerro Caliche mining concessions covering a total area of 1,350 hectares. It added that surface rights will expand to 5,007 hectares on Sept. 1, 2028.

It also allows exclusive access for the exploration, development and extraction of mineral deposits, and the construction of related mining infrastructure. The surface rights lease has a term of up to 25 years, comprising an initial term of 12.5 years, together with an option exercisable by Sonoro to renew the lease for an additional 12.5 years.

"This agreement represents a pinnacle achievement in our business strategy to advance Cerro Caliche into production to generate cash flow and to fund ongoing exploration, potentially expanding the resource and proposed mining operation," said Sonoro Gold ( SMOFF ) Chief Executive Kenneth MacLeod.

The company said with only 30% of the Cerro Caliche project's identified mineralized zones drilled and assayed to date, it plans to develop an initial 12,000 tonnes per day operation to generate cash flow for further exploration of the remaining 70% of the mineralized area for potential resource and mine expansion.

Shares of the company closed down 3.6% to $0.135 on Thursday on the TSX Venture Exchange.