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Argentina’s 350Moz Silver Project Eyes 2026 Build | John Miniotis · Kitco MINING

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining's on-site coverage of PDAC is presented by Gold Mining.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: US Gold Mining, Uranium Energy Corp.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: and Uranium Royalty Corp.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Kitco Mining with me, Paul Harris, here at the 2026 PDAC in Toronto and Canada.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking about silver exploration and development in Argentina, and I have great pleasure to be joined by John Miniotis, CEO of AbraSilver and Kitco Mining CEO of the Year nominee in the exploration category.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: John, welcome to Kitco and congratulations on your nomination.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks very much, Paul.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's an honour to be here.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well thank you.
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  SPEAKER_01: AbraSilver has been one of the most successful silver development stocks over the past year.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're up about what 460% year on year.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You've now got a$2.8 billion Canadian market cap, all based on the Diablillos Silver Gold project in Salta, Argentina.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start there.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Give us a quick recap about what is Diablios and how it came into the company.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, well no, we we have a very, very exciting project.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Diablos is one of few uh primary, large-scale primary silver exploration projects globally.
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  SPEAKER_02: We have a large-scale 350 million ounces on a silver equivalent basis in terms of resource, and that potential continues to grow.
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  SPEAKER_02: So this is clearly a very large-scale project.
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  SPEAKER_02: It's going to be producing significant amounts of silver here in the near term.
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  SPEAKER_02: Importantly, it'll be very, very low cash costs as well.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so the cash costs are going to be likely under$15 an ounce on an all-insustaining cost basis.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so phenomenal margins anywhere near current silver prices.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a large-scale project.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Our team, our exploration team has had phenomenal success growing this over the years.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Each and every year continues to get bigger and bigger, and there's still lots of exploration upside ahead.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I think we're we're blessed to have such a phenomenal world-class asset.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And now our focus is really moving it towards a construction decision by later this year.
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  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we get into the various different bits that you've just covered there, John.
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  SPEAKER_01: I want to jump in straight$15 per ounce cash cough.
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  SPEAKER_01: Where would that potentially put you on the cost curve?
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  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's certainly well within the lowest quartile of the cost curve.
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  SPEAKER_02: So this will be not only one of the largest primary silver producers in the world once it's in operation, this will be one of the largest primary silver mines globally.
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  SPEAKER_02: It will also be one of the lowest cost primary silver mines globally.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: So this is certainly in the lowest quartile of the cost curve and in the best quartile on the production basis.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: So you're really getting phenomenal, you know, uh leverage here to rising silver prices.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned you've got 350 million ounces.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: The company's grown, it's measured in indicated resources by what 170% since uh 2020 to about 200 million ounces silver and 1.7 million ounces gold.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I think one of the key things there is the discovery cost of about 11 cents per ounce.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: That seems absolutely uh amazing.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what's the secret of your exploration success?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's the team.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's a team that we have in Argentina.
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  SPEAKER_02: Our our exploration geologists are phenomenal.
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  SPEAKER_02: They really truly understand this project.
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  SPEAKER_02: Uh and obviously the geology, and so we've had very predictable sort of uh sort of uh drilling here, and I think that that's really important.
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  SPEAKER_02: So we've you know been very focused on maximizing sort of you know the rate of return on our exploration dollars.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: So rather than just broadly drilling all over, I think we've been very, very focused on highlighting sort of the the higher grade opportunities which led to the discovery of that high-grade jack deposit that we announced a few years ago, and that's grown phenomenally.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and also at the main deposit, Oculto, we've had great success there finding some higher grade material, both in silver and gold.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so the team's just done a fantastic job.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: But importantly as well, the deposit is very close to surface, it's open pittable in oxides, and so that makes your discovery cost lower as well.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: We're not drilling kilometer deep holes here.
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  SPEAKER_02: Some of these holes are about 200 meters uh depth.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now you mentioned your your at that moment of time when you're starting to move towards a feasibility study, starting towards to move uh an investment decision.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Does that mean you're you're potentially taking the foot off the gas on the exploration, or is that something you're just gonna pause for a while until you you've got the next bit defined?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, we're walking and chewing gum at the same time.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we're doing multiple things in parallel.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so of course, I mean the focus is on finalizing the feasibility study, announcing that next quarter, and that's well underway.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, it's pedaled to the metal on the exploration side, and so we've announced our phase six exploration campaign, gonna be another 15,000 meters of drilling this year.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's well underway, and we expect some some initial results here coming out shortly.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna start getting assay results back from the lab, and then as we've done in past years on a very regular basis, we should have exploration updates here.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now you're looking at producing more than 13 million ounces a year of silver equivalent, more than 7 million ounces of silver in there, and what 75,000 ounces of gold at an all-in-sustaining cost of under$13 per ounce of silver.
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  SPEAKER_01: Um, with the feasibility that you're working on, what will that potentially look like?
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  SPEAKER_02: So, the feasibility, I think the major change is that it's gonna be based on a much, much larger resource.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so we've grown the resource significantly.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: We've already announced the resource update since the pre-feasibility study was announced.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: We announced a resource update in July of last year, and now we're working on another resource update, which will be part of the definitive feasibility study.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: So this is gonna be a much longer mine life, and I think you're gonna see much higher production rates in the early years, would be my guess, because we've significantly increased the silver grades at the Jack.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the Jack deposit uh is uh gonna have a much longer mine life, and you'll likely see higher production rates in those early years.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: As we sit here today, the the silver price is what$80,$90 per ounce.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it ended 2025 in triple digits, it's been quite volatile as 2026 has got underway.
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  SPEAKER_01: How does that feed into what silver price you're gonna use as a base case in the feasibility and obviously showing the ability to show the potential upside?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, we've always been extremely conservative, and it's you know, with most of these studies, you typically use almost a three-year trailing average to calculate your resource base, and then you use very conservative silver price assumptions.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, we're we're not gonna be using anywhere near current spot prices.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think to calculate the resource, I mean, we were still using less than$25 an ounce historically for the measure and indicator resource.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're gonna see, obviously, that that's gonna increase slightly, but it's gonna be, you know, an order of magnitude lower than the current spot prices.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: So very, very conservative sort of assumptions there to calculate the resource.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I think what's important is the leverage to hire in silver gold prices.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, we're gonna show some some upside scenarios at current spot prices, and essentially for every 10% move in the gold and silver price, the economics of the project improved by over 30%.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why investors obviously buy exploration companies.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's for the torque to hire silver prices.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: That that is quite some leverage, and another thing that's gonna juice your results uh is the fact that you the project's just been included or accepted under Argentina's large investment incentive regime, commonly known as Riggi.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you said this is gonna substantially improve project economics as well.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: What impact will it have?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: How will it improve those economics?
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  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Riggi is really an absolute game changer for Argentina as a whole.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so Argentina is a very, very exciting place uh right now.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and obviously we benefit from having the largest primary silver project uh in the country.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, we're very fortunate to get to get Riggy approval.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: This gives us 30 years of stability on a fiscal basis.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: So we have tax rate goes down to 25% for 30 years, there's no export duties, no import duties, and we get full relief of any foreign exchange restrictions for a period of 30 years.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so the economics improve materially based on these new parameters.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think in the pre-feasibility study, which was run at extremely conservative commodity prices, we calculated the benefits of the lower taxes and the lower export duties being over 400 million dollars US.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: At current spot prices, those benefits rise to well over a billion dollars US.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a very, very meaningful.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and again, it gives investors the confidence uh to be investing longer term in Argentina.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think Argentina, everyone's always known it's had great geological potential.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's been undisputed.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but there's always been barriers to entry in terms of you know foreign exchange restrictions and high export duties, etc.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Those have now been completely removed under Riggi.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: For projects that qualify under Riggy, uh, and we're one of the few that already has Riggy in place, you know, all of those uh restrictions are removed.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so capital, instead of having capital restrictions in place, Argentina is now attracting capital.
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  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously that's a huge, huge milestone for the company.
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  SPEAKER_01: Um, have you what are the potential implications on that in terms of being able to reduce your payback?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, making the project more financiable, perhaps even getting a lower cost of capital, alternative financial sources.
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  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what other opportunities or windows of opportunity does this open up for you?
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  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it really opens up project financing capabilities, so it greatly reduces our cost of capital.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, as we're looking to finance this project, of course, uh the debt markets are open now for us, equity markets, etc.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so it really reduces the cost of capital uh and again gives all investors, all stakeholders comfort that for the next 30 years here we have clear runway uh with very, very attractive fiscal terms.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: When you compare now the tax rates in Argentina, it really is the most favorable across all major Latin American countries.
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  SPEAKER_02: So it's more favorable than Chile, Peru, Mexico, etc.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so right now that of course improves the the economics for our shareholders.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think one of the reasons President Javier Melee created the Riggi regime was to be able to provide stability uh over multiple governments in the future to enable Argentina to escape that sort of boom bust cycle.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um I imagine that's a great benefit as well.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll be, by my understanding, the first project to be developed and put into production under Riggi.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: A number of other companies have applied for and been granted that status, but you're gonna be the first one, let's say, where the rubber hits the road and development actually occurs.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: We'll be the first precious metal project for sure.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and so there there have been lithium projects that have been approved as well, those are expansions.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but we're, I think, one of 12 projects now that that officially have Riggi.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, we're we're select, we're in great company, obviously.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we're we're certainly, again, uh advancing this project forward as as quickly as possible.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: And like you said, I think the the essence here is to give investors long-term stability.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so this is not just a promise being made by by the the current administration.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: This is enacted into law.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you have a legally binding sort of uh stability agreement in place here, and so this is something that's certainly going to be honored for for the duration of the mine life here, well beyond 30 years.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, uh I think that's why you're seeing the influx of capital flowing into Argentina in unprecedented amounts right now.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and and another key clause is the international arbitration clause, as and when and if things do not go to plan.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what else do you need to do, John, to be able to get to a final investment decision once the feasibility is out?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're we're really in the final stretch right now.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think everything's you know, uh all the all the boxes have been checked one by one over the years.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, what's left are the environmental impact approvals, so the assessment.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we expect that uh within the next few weeks here.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that should follow very, very shortly.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: Those are from the provincial authorities, province of Salta and Catamarca.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: So again, we're in the final stages there.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: We should receive uh those approvals uh imminently, I would say.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and then the final step would be the definitive feasibility study, and that's on pace, that's gonna be completed next quarter in the in the second quarter of this year.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's really gathering project financing and starting construction activities later this year.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh this could be a good moment in time to bring up MA mergers and acquisitions.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um what's your view there?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think uh realistically, do you think the company will be around to build it?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't seem like you've really been building up your mind building team.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't seen a great number of announcements to that end.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: We we have actually so uh in country, we've really established a very, very strong technical team.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: We've uh you know over 20, 25 hires there.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of them are consultants, but between uh full-time employees and consultants over the the last 12 months, I'd say we've been very, very busy on building up the technical team in country in Argentina.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we do have a very, very strong technical team.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and of course, we're working with Warley on the DFS on the feasibility study, and they're a world-renowned uh sort of engineering firm.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we do have great strength there.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, in terms of MA, that's a question we get asked all the time.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh look, I think at the end of the day, uh we're gonna always continue to do what's best for shareholders, maximize shareholder value.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so whether that's building it ourselves, partnering, you know, potentially uh looking at strategic opportunities uh as well.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I think uh investors should have lots of confidence that we're gonna do what's in the best interest of shareholders here.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and so at the moment, that's certainly uh us continuing to advance this project, de-risking it, getting all these milestones, and then looking to make a construction decision by the end of this year.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's what we're focused on right now.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: Down the road, if that changes and there's an offer we can't refuse, ultimately we would take that to shareholders and we would need shareholder boat uh to get that approved.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Fair enough.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now Salto is very much uh a mining province and a great place to be located in order uh in terms of building a mine.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's big lithin deposits, there's copper potential too, in addition to the silver.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you've got access to power, water, labour, and other infrastructure.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um to what extent is this a compelling advantage for the company?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's a huge, huge strategic advantage for us, especially in this moment with all geopolitical risk uncertainty being heightened all across the globe.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: It seems Salta's a bit of a Goldilocks situation here.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we have we're surrounded by a number of large lithium mines.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the communities that are there are like over a two-hour drive, but they're there specifically supporting mining and actively, you know, looking uh for this project to move forward.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a lot of uh strong support from the local communities there.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: We're surrounded by mines, which means the infrastructure is already in place, the roads, the power, the water is all there for us.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I think we're extremely fortunate.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: We've covered a lot of ground, John.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: You've got a lot going on, so maybe uh let's end by giving a recap of the key catalyst for this year that our viewers should be looking out for.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so it's gonna be another very, very exciting year for us.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: Again, this is really a transformational year where we go from being an advanced explorer towards being a developer, and I think that's you know clearly exciting the market.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: So, first and foremost, as we mentioned, we're gonna continue to have exploration, uh press releases coming out here on a on a very regular basis.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that phase six exploration campaign, 15,000 meters.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: There's still lots of uh exciting targets that we're looking forward to announcing.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: But on the project development front, getting the feasibility finalized, getting the permits in place, uh starting some early work construction activities as well to move the project forward while we're looking to make that final investment decision.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: All that will be taking place over the coming months here.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot to keep abreast of.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh John Miniottis, you had a great 2025, but the accolades are not over yet.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so very, as I'm very pleased to announce, that you're the Kitco Mining Exploration CEO of the year.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we have a nice uh well little thing for you.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a real pleasure and it's it's truly a testament to our team here.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining's on-site coverage of PDAC is presented by Gold Mining, U.S.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Gold Mining, Uranium Energy Corp, and Uranium Royalty Corp.