Source: Streetwise Reports 11/27/2017
A potentially large silver project in Bolivia has caught the attention of Pan American Silver.
New Pacific Metals Corp. (NUAG:TSX.V) announced that it closed a private placement with Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) of 16 million units and Silvercorp Metals for 3 million units. According to the company, each unit was priced at $1.42, for gross proceeds of approximately $27 million. “The proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to further the Company’s exploration and/or development program on its Silver Sand Project located in the Potosí Department of Bolivia and for general working capital purposes,” New Pacific Metals stated in the release.
“Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Company (a “Common Share”) and one half of one Common Share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant is exercisable into one Common Share for a period of 18 months at an exercise price of $2.10 per Common Share,” the company stated. Pan American will appoint one director to the Board of Directors.
Silvercorp is a 32% shareholder of New Pacific Metals and Pan American owns 16% on a fully diluted basis.
New Pacific Metals noted that Pan American “is one of the world’s largest primary silver producers and owns and operates six mines including the San Vicente mine located in the Potosí Department of Bolivia.”
Dr. Rui Feng, New Pacific’s CEO, said, “To have a company with the stature and experience in Bolivia as Pan American will be invaluable as we develop our Silver Sand property 25 km northeast of Potosi.”
New Pacific acquired rights to the Silver Sand project in Potosí, Bolivia in July 2017. According to the company, the property “is one of the earliest silver discoveries in the district, having been made prior to the discovery of Cerro Rico in the mid-1500s. Small-scale, historic mining is evident from scattered shafts, pits, adits, declines and dumps. The property was explored previously by intermittent surface mapping and sampling, underground sampling and surface core drilling between 2012 and 2015.”
Historical drilling conducted in Silver Sand’s Zone 1 showed silver grades ranging from 60 grams per tonne (60 g/t) silver to 329 g/t silver, with an average of around 250 g/t silver. New Pacific’s confirmation drilling returned similar values. “Given that Silver Sand’s mineralization starts at surface, these grades constitute high-grade material,” Gordon Neal, president of New Pacific, told Streetwise Reports.
New Pacific received permits for drilling and has commenced a 30,000-meter drill program. The company expects the drill program to be completed mid-2018, and expects to release a preliminary economic assessment soon thereafter.
“At Silver Sand, the host rocks of the silver mineralization are Cretaceous-aged quartz-rich sandstone, which were strongly silicified and now occur in gentle, open folds, dipping shallowly to the north,” the company noted in its news release.
Neal told Streetwise Reports that the Silver Sand property has seven identified mineralized zones, and only Zone 1 has seen any drilling. “Silver Sand has great potential given what we see so far. With surface mineralization more than a kilometer in strike and almost 100 meters in width and 350m down dip, this has all the hallmarks of a world-class project,” Neal said.
“The biggest risk is political,” Neal noted. “However, while a few miners have had difficulties in the past, Bolivia’s socialist government is determined to pull its people out of poverty. Bolivia is one of the fastest growing economies in South America and the government is now working to support foreign mining investors. We applied for drill permits in July and received them by October.”
New Pacific features an experienced management team. Dr. Rui Feng, chairman and CEO, is the chairman, CEO and director of Silvercorp Metals. President Gordon Neal was most recently vice president of corporate development for Silvercorp. Alex Zhang, vice president exploration, has 20 years of experience with companies including Eldorado Gold, Afcan Mining and Sino Gold.
Technical analyst Clive Maund of CliveMaund.com wrote on Nov. 13 that the chart for New Pacific “continues to look very positive. . .It has been edging higher since we went for it at the start of the month and is in position to break higher soon.”
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