Silver One acquires 100% of Nevada mine from SSR
Silver One Resources Inc. [SVE-TSXV, SLVRF-OTC, BRK1-FSE] said Wednesday it has acquired a 100% interest in the past-producing Candelaria silver mine project in Nevada from SSR Mining Inc. [SSRM-TSX, NASDAQ, SSR-ASX].
The company said it is now poised to advance the project and continue evaluating the potential to bring it back into production. The property hosts significant exploration potential for silver, gold and copper, the company has said.
Silver One secured the interest by issuing to SSR US$3.1 million worth of shares (10.4 million common shares) over a three-year period from 2017 to 2020. It also assumed a US$2.5 million reclamation bond filed with the Bureau of Land Management.
On May 30, 2023, Silver One shares closed at 34 cents and currently trade in a 52-week range of 45 cents and 19.5 cents.
“Securing the 100% interest in Candelaria represents a major milestone in the company’s history,’’ said Silver One President and CEO Greg Crowe.
The ownership update comes after Silver One recently launched a 15,000-metre reverse circulation drilling program at Candelaria
The Candelaria Mining District, located in west central Nevada, is historically the richest silver mining region in the Silver State and is estimated to have produced 22 million ounces of the precious metal between the late 1880s and 1954.
Candelaria was a former producer with Kinross Gold Corp. (K-TSX, KGC-NYSE) operating the open-pit mine up until 1997. Historically it produced over 60 million ounces of silver. Operations were shut down due to a major drop in the price of silver to under US$5.00 an ounce. The project was later sold to SSR Mining.
A technical report prepared for Silver Standard Resources Inc. (now SSR Mining Inc.), when it was preparing to buy the mine from Kinross in 2001, estimated that the Candelaria property contains a measured and indicated resource of 44.1 million ounces of silver. On top of that is an inferred resource of 82.3 million ounces.
According to the report, the Candelaria resource includes the remaining down-dip mineral resources for both the Mount Diablo and Northern Belle deposits, as well as remaining resources in two leach pads and two low grade stockpiles.
However, at the time of the report, there were no estimated mineable reserves at the Candelaria project.
Silver One said its goal is update the historical resource estimate to a current resource and to explore for potential high-grade down-dip targets and potential along strike extensions of the historic Candelaria open-pit mines mineralization.
Reverse circulation material will also be used for metallurgical testing on the near surface mineralization proximal to the two open pits. The aim is to complete an economic study on both the historic leach pads and on combining near-surface mineralization with the heap leach pad material.