Endeavour Silver buys Nevada gold asset for $100 million

Endeavour Silver (TSX: EDR) (NYSE: EXK) has bought Canamex Gold’s Bruner exploration project in Nevada, about 180 km southeast of Reno for $100 million in cash.

Gold was originally discovered at Bruner in 1906 and the district saw intermittent historic small-scale mining between 1906 and 1998. Recent exploration activities by previous operators have included mapping, sampling, geophysical surveys and drilling, the Canadian miner said.

In 2015, the asset’s mineral resource estimate was published. A preliminary economic assessment followed in 2017, which outlined a low capital cost, open pit, heap leach mine operation.

According to Canamex, the Bruner property holds historic resources of 342,000 ounces of gold contained in 17.5 million tonnes grading 0.61 grams per tonne in three zones. Endeavour Silver noted it has not verified those figures and is not relying on them.

“Our exploration team will focus initially on verifying the historic resources, then turn its attention to the many exploration targets on the Bruner Property,” Endeavour chief executive said in the statement.  “We look forward to unlocking the full potential of the Bruner Property with the goal of building a new mining operation in another historic mining district in Nevada.”

Nevada took this year the title of world’s top mining destination in the latest survey of resource and exploration companies released in February by the Fraser Institute.

Together with the area’s known gold and silver potential, Nevada’s lithium deposits have been in the spotlight in recent years, especially due to its proximity to North America’s only lithium mine – Albermarle’s (NYSE: ALB) Silver Peak.