Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB) will become the sole owner of the Eastern Borosi gold-silver property after agreeing to acquire Iamgold’s 70% interest in the project, which contains the high-grade Riscos de Oro, Guapinol and Vancouver low sulphidation, epithermal gold-silver deposits and multiple early-stage exploration targets.
The companies first entered a joint venture agreement for Eastern Borosi property (EBP) in May 2014, under which Iamgold has the option to earn up to a 70% interest in the project with an investment of $10.9 million.
Exploration by Iamgold to date has outlined several tens of kilometres of prospective mineralized structures located in a historic gold-silver mining district.
Exploration to date has outlined several tens of kilometres of prospective mineralized structures located in a historic gold-silver mining district
The EBP comprises 176 km2 of mineral concessions within Calibre’s larger concession holdings in the Golden Triangle region of northeast Nicaragua. The mining operation is situated about 400 km by road from the company’s Libertad Complex, which has surplus processing capacity of approximately 1.5 million tonnes per annum.
According to an NI 43-101 report published in 2018, EBP hosts an estimated 4.4 million tonnes of inferred mineral resources averaging 4.93 g/t Au and 80 g/t Ag, containing 700,500 ounces of gold and 11.3 million ounces of silver. The high-grade Guapinol deposit itself has an estimated 600,000 tonnes averaging 12.7 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag containing 250,500 ounces of gold and 243,000 ounces of silver.
As consideration for Iamgold’s 70% stake in EBP, Calibre will issue approximately 2.25 million common shares (valued at $3 million), pay $1 million in cash and grant a 2% NSR royalty on future production from the property.
Shares of Calibre Mining rose 5.2% on the TSX by 1 p.m. EDT Thursday. The Nicaragua-focused gold producer has a market capitalization of C$594.4 million.
