Prize Mining (PRZ.V) had some surprising news as even though the company was focusing on its Kena-Daylight gold property in British Columbia, it has now expanded its horizon as it has entered into an agreement to purchase a copper project in Mexico.
The Manto Negro project is located in Mexico’s Coahuilla state, 100 kilometers west of Monclava and is considered to be a brownfield project as it has been subject to historical trenching and drill programs in the past few years. Although Prize hasn’t shared any more details on the geological merits of the property except for some grade ranges (we anticipate a more in-depth briefing soon), CEO Somji said Prize focused on three important aspects during the due diligence process. First of all, the grade and metallurgy had to be good, whilst any project needed to have a decent exploration potential as well. And finally, it was Prize’s wish to find an asset which could be brought into production relatively quickly.
As mentioned before, the company’s press release was very short, and only a handful details were shared (no recovery rates were published), so we will need more details to judge the merits of this project. That being said, the initial acquisition cost of just 6 million shares (subject to a 3 year lock-up and restricted resale period) is relatively low.
An additional 6 million shares could be payable depending on the total copper resource, and as the final tranche of the staged bonus payment kicks in at 1 billion pounds of copper, we should assume the total acquisition cost will be 12 million shares. As CEO Somji used the description ‘world class tonnage’, a total resource of less than 1 Billion pounds would not meet this description. We are looking forward to learn more details about the property, and the company’s near-term exploration plans.
In British Columbia, Prize Mining has now received the mines act permit for its Toughnut property, allowing the company to initiate more exploration activities, including a drill program. The drill rig has been mobilized last week as Prize wants to complete 1,700 meters of diamond drilling on four exploration targets in the next two weeks before the weather conditions become too harsh.
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The author has a long position in Prize Mining. Prize is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer
