The American company Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation has just fully purchased Joaquín, the gold and silver project located in Santa Cruz, at the northeast of Gobernador Gregores, 70km north of Mina Martha. The company, which owned 51% of the initiative, acquired the remaining 49% that belonged to Mirasol Argentina, local subsidiary of the Canadian Mirasol Resources.
According to a statement issued by Coeur, the transaction involves a total of 60 millon dollars, 50% of which will be paid cash (u$s 30 million) and the remaining 50% with 310.043 common shares. “We are delighted to strengthen our property with this undertaking. We believe that Joaquín has the potential to become a very important silver mining company,” Mitchell Krebs, president and CEO of the company, said.
In Krebs view, the company will continue with the drilling programme during this year and will bring forward the design of a road management study. “The further development decision will be based on the project´s economy and in our evaluation of the Argentinean politics and business environment at the time,” he anticipated.
Meanwhile, Mary Little, president and CEO of Mirasol, has also expressed her satisfaction with the operation. “We are very pleased for having made official the sale of Joaquín and we are still committed to provide our shareholders with the best successful opportunities in exploration,” she expressed.
According to a report drawn up by NCL Ingeniería y Construcción, the Chilean consulting company, Joaquín would possess reserves of around 70 million silver ounces, a volume that could grow as the new research moves forward.
It is known, so far, that the warehouses La Negra y La Morocha have indicated resources for 19,6 million silver ounces and inferred resources for 47,9 millones in accesible mineralization through the open-pit mining method. Nevertheless, new digging could exponentially increase the amount of those initial resources.