CHARTS: The coming critical minerals trade war is BRICS short of a load
"While a large number of countries around the world continue to talk about securing raw material supply, China is actually doing something about it."
Vizsla Silver (TSXV: VZLA) (NYSE: VZLA) announced Wednesday an agreement with PI Financial Corp. to act as the sole bookrunner and lead underwriter for a bought deal financing consisting of 20 million shares of the company priced at C$1.50 each for gross proceeds of C$30 million ($22.2m).
The underwriters, led by PI Financial will also be granted a 15% overallotment option, exercisable in whole or in part for 30 days.
Vizsla Silver’s shares fell by 12.5% to C$1.47 apiece as of 2:15 p.m. ET, for a market capitalization of C$307.6 million ($227.9m). The stock traded between C$1.26 and C$2.25 over the past 52 weeks.
Net proceeds of the financing, says Vizsla, will go towards the exploration, drilling and development of its flagship Panuco silver-gold project in southern Sinaloa, Mexico. The project is located within a 72-sq.-km. district hosting past producing mines that has seen limited exploration on a consolidated basis.
To date, the company has completed over 350,000 metres of drilling at Panuco, leading to the discovery of several new high-grade veins.
Earlier this year, it released an updated mineral resource estimate that includes an in-situ indicated mineral resource of 155.8 million oz. of silver equivalent (AgEq) and an in-situ inferred resource of 169.6 million oz. AgEq.
The indicated mineral resource is estimated at 9.5 million tonnes grading 289 g/t silver, 2.41 g/t gold, 0.27% lead and 0.84% zinc (or 511 g/t AgEq), while the inferred resource is calculated at 12.2 million tonnes grading 239 g/t silver, 1.93 g/t gold, 0.29% lead and 1.03% zinc (433 g/t AgEq).
For 2024, Vizsla said it is focused on de-risking the resource base located in the western portion of the district ahead of a development decision. It has budgeted over 65,000 metres of drilling designed to upgrade and expand the mineral resource, as well as test other high-priority targets across the district.
