The company's revenue for Q4 stood at US$13.82 million, which is up from $10.22 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, mining operation cash cost of sales of $10.09 were up from $9.17 million year on year.

"The increase in operating expenses reflects an increase in administrative costs, share based compensation payments and charges related to inflation adjustment, penalties and surcharges on certain tax balances, offset by a decrease in professional fees," Santacruz said.

The miner's net loss in Q4 grew to $10.45 million from $295,000 a year earlier. And EBITDA was $4.47 million in the negative after being $1.4 million in the positive for the fourth quarter of 2020.

Santacruz CEO Carlos Silva said that the October 5 announced decision to place its Rosario mine in Mexico into care and maintenance was a "prudent decision" which has allowed the company to start 2022 focused on its more productive assets.

"In addition, the recently acquired Bolivian silver and zinc assets from Glencore will transform the company into a solid producer in 2022 and beyond," he said.

"We have started a drilling campaign at the Santa Gorgonia exploration project which is adjacent to our Zimapan mine. We are anticipating announce the first drilling results by the end of the second quarter of 2022," he added.

Santacruz's share price was quoted as C$0.41 (US$0.32) on May 3, having risen 5% day on day. The company has a market capitalization of C$136.23 billion.