Vizsla Silver (NYSE:VZLA) has reported that several employees abducted from its project site in western Mexico on January 23 have been found dead.
"We are devastated by this outcome and the tragic loss of life. Our deepest condolences are with our colleagues' families, friends and co-workers, and the entire community of Concordia. Our focus remains on the safe recovery of those who remain missing and on supporting all affected families and our people during this incredibly difficult time," President and CEO Michael Konnert said in a statement.
The Vancouver-based miner said it was informed by families that the missing workers had been found deceased. The company is awaiting formal confirmation from Mexican authorities before providing further details.
According to local media reports, the workers were abducted on January 23 while travelling from the camp where they were staying to their workplace at the mine, roughly 15 kilometers away. The victims reportedly included engineers and technical personnel working on the project. Their bodies were later recovered from a clandestine grave in mountainous terrain near the community of El Verde.
The stock dropped to $3.90 on news by 10:30 AM ET, before recovering. It is down 12% from its Friday close and has declined by more than 41% since January 23.
Partial Suspension At Panuco
Following the abductions, Vizsla suspended certain activities at and around its flagship Panuco silver-gold project as a precaution. The company said some work would remain halted while the situation is assessed and security conditions are reviewed.
Panuco, located in Sinaloa, is Vizsla's cornerstone development and hosts what the company describes as the world's largest undeveloped high-grade silver resource. The project's proven and probable reserves are 12.8 million tons grading 2.01 grams of gold per ton and 249 grams of silver per ton, for roughly 829,000 ounces of gold and 102.7 million ounces of silver.
The company is advancing permitting and financing efforts and will make a construction decision once approvals are in place – likely in the second half of this year. The initial production is scheduled for H2 2027, with a projected mine life of about 9.4 years. Over that period, the operation is expected to produce an average of 17.4 million silver-equivalent ounces annually, including more than 20 million during the first five years.
Mexico, the world's largest silver producer, has a history of such incidents. In 2015, employees of Torex Gold were kidnapped during a labor dispute, while workers at a Goldcorp project were killed in a separate fatal abduction the same year.
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