- Eric Sprott, one of Canada’s most prominent mining investors, has significantly increased his investment in Blackrock Silver (TSXV:BRC) with a C$5 million non-brokered private placement
- Read on to learn about why Sprott is throwing his weight behind the junior miner
- Blackrock Silver is a Nevada-based exploration and development company focused on gold and silver
- Blackrock Silver stock has given back 4.55 per cent year-over-year, but has added 12.5 per cent since 2019
Eric Sprott, one of Canada’s most prominent mining investors, has significantly increased his investment in Blackrock Silver (TSXV:BRC) with a C$5 million non-brokered private placement, begging the question of why he’s throwing his weight behind the junior miner.
The offering – following Sprott’s investments in May 2024 , February 2022 and August 2020 – will dilute shareholders by up to 15,625,000 common shares priced at C$0.32, each subject to a mandatory holding period of four months and one day, with the transaction scheduled to close by Sept. 20.
Blackrock Silver will allocate the proceeds to general working capital and to expansion drilling at its 10.3-square-kilometre Tonopah West gold and silver project, the main driver behind Sprott’s investment, in addition to some leg work from Research Capital Corp., which will receive a finder’s fee of 3 per cent of the offering’s proceeds in cash.
A globally relevant gold and silver project
According to Blackrock Silver’s latest investor presentation, Tonopah West is one of the highest-grade undeveloped silver projects in the world, coming in at 508.5 grams per ton (g/t) of silver equivalent. The property comprises the western half of the Tonopah silver district, which produced more than 174 million ounces of silver and 1.8 million ounces of gold more than a century ago. Blackrock is the first to explore the project’s historic workings since production was halted because of low metals prices during the Great Depression.
The junior miner has identified multiple deposits over more than 4 kilometres of vein extensions to date, substantiating a 2023 mineral resource estimate of more than 47 million ounces of silver and 570,000 ounces of gold inferred at 87 per cent and 95 per cent recovery rates, respectively.
It has since strengthened the economic viability of Tonopah West with a 2024 preliminary economic assessment, detailing an after-tax net present value (5 per cent) of US$495 million at a gold price of US$2,280 per ounce, a silver price of US$27.60 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs of only US$11.96 per silver equivalent ounce.
Blackrock Silver stock has misrepresented this progress with a more than 30 per cent drop since the beginning of 2023 – even as silver has added almost 44 per cent over the period – strengthening the probability of an outsized outcome for investors once the market catches on to the junior miner’s value-accretive track record.
With Blackrock focused on increasing and upgrading resources through a fully funded 20,000-metre drilling program, and the junior miner’s management team stacked with executive and technical mining experience, investors have their fair share of green flags to hang their conviction on.
About Blackrock Silver
Blackrock Silver is an exploration and development company focused on gold and silver. Its 100-per-cent-controlled portfolio contains low-sulphidation epithermal mineralization along the established Northern Nevada rift in north-central Nevada and the Walker Lane trend in western Nevada. Besides Tonopah West, Blackrock is exploring its 45-square-km Silver Cloud project, where the junior miner made a bonanza-grade discovery of 70 g/t gold and 600 g/t silver over 1.5 m, which it followed up with a 2,000-m drilling program in August 2023 with all assays pending.
Blackrock Silver stock (TSXV:BRC) last traded at C$0.32 per share. The stock has given back 4.55 per cent year-over-year, but has added 12.5 per cent since 2019.
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(Top photo of 2024 drilling at the Tonopah West gold and silver project in Nevada: Blackrock Silver)