Aftermath Silver Ltd. (TSX-V: AAG) (OTCQB: AAGFF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding Letter of Intent with SSR Mining Inc. to purchase 100% of the Berenguela silver-copper project located in Puno, Peru through the purchase of 100% of SSRM’s shares in the Peruvian holding company Sociedad Minera Berenguela S.A.
Berenguela Silver – Copper Project Highlights
Historic 2018 JORC Mineral Resource (see below for details and cautionary statements)
Historic 2018 Scoping Study (see below for details and cautionary statements)
Transaction Summary
Aftermath Silver and SSRM have agreed to a total consideration of US$13,000,000 made in staged cash payments, C$3,000,000 in Aftermath Silver common shares, and a sliding scale net smelter returns royalty as follows:
Closing of the acquisition is subject to Aftermath Silver and SSRM having executed and delivered the acquisition agreement, SSRM having reacquired a 100% direct and indirect interest in SOMINBESA, the owner of the Project, from Valor Resources Limited (“Valor”), the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and certain other customary closing conditions.
Ralph Rushton, President and CEO of the Company, commented “The Berenguela acquisition perfectly matches our corporate strategy of acquiring de-risked assets with immediate value creation for our shareholders. When the Berenguela acquisition is complete, Aftermath Silver will have assembled one of the largest portfolios of silver development assets. Combined with the organic growth we hope to achieve at Challacollo, we believe it positions Aftermath as one of the preeminent silver development companies.”
About the Berenguela Silver-Copper Deposit
Berenguela is located in the Department Puno, in Southern Peru, between 4150 and 4280 meters above sea level in the Western Cordillera of southern Peru. It is located 6 km north-east of the closest community of Santa Lucia, the nearest town. Berenguela is close to regional centres at Juliaca (1.5 hours drive) and Arequipa (2.5 hours drive), these cities have daily flights from Lima. A railway loading station is located at Santa Lucia, connecting to the port of Matarani on the Pacific coast. Santa Lucia is connected to the national grid at 220 Volts.
Figure 1. Berenguela Location Map
Small scale production from surface pits and underground occurred in the early 1906 through to 1958, for a total of approximately 500,000 tonnes. ASARCO optioned the project in 1965 undertaking the first large scale investigations. Several companies subsequently performed drilling and bulk sampling for metallurgical test work. SSRM (then Silver Standard) optioned the Project in 2004. Between 2004 and 2005, SSRM undertook 222 RC holes, metallurgical test work and produced a NI 43-101 technical report on the Mineral Resource in October 2005 to complete 100% ownership. Subsequently, SSRM drilled 28 diamond holes between 2010 and 2015. SSRM optioned the property in 2017 to ASX-listed Valor Resources Limited (“Valor”), who completed 69 RC holes in 2017. In April 2020, SSRM and Valor entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Valor has agreed to return to SSRM a 100% direct and indirect interest in SOMINBESA, the owner of the Project. A total 318 drill holes have been drilled between 2004 and 2017 for a total of 34,796 metres.
Berenguela is an epithermal polymetallic carbonate-replacement deposit. The mineralisation is present from surface to a depth of about 100 m. The deposit has a known strike length of 1.4 km and is 200 to 300 m wide, 30 to 100 m thick.
Stockwork bodies of manganese oxides (magnetic) are hosted within folded and faulted carbonates, and include massive flat lying lenses. It is interpreted that manganese oxides have replaced the dolomitic limestones in areas that have been structurally prepared through folding and faulting associated with NWN striking folds.
Associated with the manganese oxide body is an irregular cross cutting network of quartz veins. These veins contain the copper and silver minerals; malachite, azurite, covellite, chalcopyrite, chrysocolla, pyrite, acanthite, and small quantities of native silver.
In January 2018, the previous operator reported a Mineral Resource Estimate under the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (“JORC”) 2012 guideline for Berenguela.
The Company cautions that an independent Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 has not yet completed sufficient work on behalf of Aftermath Silver to classify the estimate as a current Measured, Indicated or Inferred Mineral Resource, and Aftermath Silver is not treating the historical estimate as a current Mineral Resource. Aftermath Silver will need to validate previous work to produce a mineral resource that is current for CIM purposes. Details of the historic Mineral Resource are found in Table 1.
Table 1. Historic 2018 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Berenguela Silver-Copper Project
Classification | Tonnes (Mt) | Silver (g/t) |
Copper (%) | Mang-anese (%) | Zinc (%) |
Silver (Koz) | Copper (Klb) |
Measured | 7.71 | 104 | 0.99 | 8.68 | 0.34 | 25,717 | 168,040 |
Indicated | 28.2 | 80 | 0.73 | 5.16 | 0.30 | 73,009 | 456,465 |
Measured + Indicated | 35.9 | 85 | 0.79 | 5.91 | 0.30 | 98,725 | 624,505 |
Inferred | 9.97 | 88 | 0.67 | 2.14 | 0.20 | 28,183 | 147,242 |
Notes on the Historic Mineral Resource Estimate
Historic Scoping Study Summary
The previous operator undertook a scoping study on Berenguela (Salva Mining, May, 2018) to a quoted level of accuracy of ±35%. A summary of the scoping study economic highlights follows, the results have not been verified by the Company and the reader is cautioned not to rely on the economic results below:
Aftermath Silver’s Immediate Plans
Upon closing of the proposed transaction, Aftermath will immediately commence a detailed review of the historic scoping study and define the scope of a Pre-feasibility study for Berenguela. This will involve upgrading of any Inferred Mineral Resource into Indicated Mineral Resources, the twinning of historic drill holes, acquiring fresh metallurgical samples, mine and civil geotechnical investigations and hydrology studies.
Aftermath Silver will also review the significant exploration potential around Berenguela and will drill test the most prospective targets.
Finders Fees
Finders fees commensurate with TSX-V policies will be payable to Elysium Mining Ltd in cash and shares, Elysium is a company in the business of identifying mineral project acquisitions.
About Aftermath Silver Ltd
Aftermath Silver Ltd is a Canadian junior exploration company focused on silver, and aims to deliver shareholder value through the discovery, acquisition and development of quality silver projects in stable jurisdictions. Aftermath has developed a pipeline of projects at various stages of advancement.
Table 2. Historic Mineral Resource* Summary for the Cachinal Silver-Gold Project
Classification | Tonnes (Mt) | Silver (g/t) | Gold (g/t) | Silver (Moz) | Gold (Koz) |
Indicated | 5.66 | 101 | 0.13 | 18.41 | 24.03 |
Inferred | 0.82 | 115 | 0.12 | 3.02 | 3.26 |
* Please see cautionary note below about Cachinal Historic Mineral Resources.
Table 3. Historic Mineral Resource* Summary for the Challacollo Silver-Gold Project
Classification | Tonnes (Mt) | Silver (g/t) | Gold (g/t) | Silver (Moz) | Gold (Koz) |
Indicated | 4.7 | 200 | 0.32 | 30.2 | 48.4 |
Inferred | 1.6 | 134 | 0.31 | 6.9 | 15.9 |
* Please see cautionary note below about Challacollo Historic Mineral Resources.
Qualified Person
Peter Voulgaris, MAIG, MAusIMM, a consultant to the Company, is a non-independent qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Voulgaris has reviewed the technical content of this news release, and consents to the information provided in the form and context in which it appears.
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