EV Resources dusts off Peru project on back of surging gold-silver

EV Resources has delved into the record books to strategically review its Yanamina gold and silver project in Peru as demand and prices surge for both precious metals in the market.

Located in the district of Caraz in the region of Ancash, Yanamina holds a maiden resource of almost 266,000 ounces of gold and 935,000 ounces of silver.

The review comes as the company considers approaches from multiple prospective buyers for the project amidst the backdrop of all-time high gold and 10-year high silver prices.

EV Resources says Yanamina offers a bulk, open-pitable mining opportunity with high economic potential, underscored by an indicated and inferred resource totaling 6.74 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.23 grams per tonne gold and 4.31 grams per tonne silver.

Its review to date has highlighted a significant exploration target in the potential faulted extensions to the existing Yanamina resource.

Management believes a simple immediate resource extension exists further up the mountain from the current deposit, in addition to a down-faulted hanging wall target that bounds the upper part of the resource presenting a significant exploration target with considerable extra tonnage.

Most of the existing resource outcrops or sub-crops indicating the potential for a potentially low strip-ratio mining operation estimated by EV at around 1:1 waste-to-ore, a noteworthy figure for a gold mining operation.

The project lies 16km from the town of Caraz and benefits from road access to key mining facilities in the region. Located near major projects such as Barrick Gold’s Pierina and Minera Boroo’s Lagunas Norte, Yanamina is established within one of Peru’s premier silver-gold mining districts.

EV’s ongoing review is expected to conclude early next year. The company aims to assess Yanamina’s exploration potential whilst fielding all possible offers as it continues its plans to define further drill targets at the company’s flagship Parag porphyry project.

The Parag copper-molybdenum-silver project, also in Peru, is believed by the company to be home to a substantial porphyry system following a recently completed geophysical survey which correlated closely with copper-moly uncovered in a diamond drilling program earlier this year.

Parag delivered a recent intersection of 18m at a peak grade of 1.7 per cent copper and 0.4 per cent moly from just 11m, contained within a wider 32m section going 1.2 per cent copper and 0.4 per cent moly from just 3m below the surface.

The prospective porphyry project features considerable moly grades comparative to many of the globally-significant high-grade operating mines.

The metal has now climbed to a dizzying US$30 (AU$45.50) per pound – fetching considerably more than copper which is trading at about US$4.25 per pound. When converting the moly into a copper equivalent resource the grade comes out at more than 4.0 per cent copper equivalent.

EV bought a 70 per cent stake in the Parag copper-moly project from Peruvian-based GeoAndina Minerals a little over a year ago, before launching a charm offensive with the local community to expedite the drilling permit process. The strategy proved highly successful, resulting in agreements with surrounding communities for a five-year period, along with a commitment to local investments.

Internally, management has turned its thoughts towards a strategic partnership to fund its ongoing exploration and resource definition activities at Parag, especially given the potentially increased size of the project as a now significant copper-moly porphyry play.

EV appears to have a foothold on a swag of premium Peruvian assets which are in demand by the market and third parties alike for their surging commodity prices. The big question is will EV explore the in vogue Yanamina gold-silver project or look to sell it to fund what the company says is a copper-moly-silver porphyry system of considerable size at Parag.

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