Unico Silver (ASX:USL) has completed the acquisition of the Joaquin Project in Argentina, from Pan American Silver Corp (NYSE:PAAS), after securing all necessary approvals and executing final definitive legal agreements.
The Joaquin Project, covering 35,946 hectares, strategically lies within the company’s 91 million ounce silver-equivalent Cerro Leon resource and portfolio, further enhancing future development options.
Unico Silver, which has a market capitalisation of $80.75 million, paid US$2 million ($2.96 million) cash to Pan American, and will pay an additional US$2 million once an economic study has been released supporting a mineral resource at Joaquin.
The company will also pay an additional US$8 million upon achieving commercial production.
The transaction includes camp infrastructure and a mining and access agreement, which is valid until 2034.
Joaquin contains a historical foreign estimate of 16.7 million tonnes at 13 grams per tonne silver-equivalent for 73 million ounces silver-equivalent in the La Negra and La Morocha deposits.
The company is planning a comprehensive exploration program across four advanced prospects dubbed La Negra, La Negra extension, La Morocha extension, and Breccia Puntudo.
Exploration will aim to boost the current foreign resource estimates, and publish a maiden mineral resource estimate.
Unico Silver notes “exceptional” potential exists for new discoveries at the Brunilda, La Esmeralda, and Isabella structures, where historical rock chip sampling defined strong gold anomalies within outcropping veins.
In August, Unico Silver announced it was conducting an $8 million capital raising to help fund the transaction, as well as conduct exploration target and work program priorities for the Joaquin Project.
Taylor Collison and SCP Resource Finance LP acted as joint lead managers to the placement, which comprised the issue of 47.05 million shares at $0.17 per new share.
Unico Silver is a silver developer focused on its flagship Cerro Leon Project which lies in the Santa Cruz mining province of Argentina.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Unico Silver
