Latest / Kitco MINING / AbraSilver Targets 19M Oz Silver in Peak Production Year | John Miniotis

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AbraSilver Targets 19M Oz Silver in Peak Production Year | John Miniotis · Kitco MINING

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining on-site coverage of the Precious Metal Summit is presented by Newcore Gold.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Silver Development in Argentina.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Kitco Mining with me, Paul Harris, here at the 2026 Precious Metal Summit in Beaver Creek.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me today is John Miniotes, president and CEO of Abra Silva, to tell me all about his silver development project.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: John, welcome back to Kitco.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks very much, Paul.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: John, I think it'd be fair to say in the sort of junior space, there's uh slow, slow, fast is uh um often happens, and it's certainly the case of Abra Silva's story this year.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I visited the your project, the Diablo Silver Gold Project in Salta Catamata in Argentina in February.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Following that, you've uh knocked down a number of key milestones.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um you've got your permits, you've got a feasibility study, you're accepted into the Riggi taxation, special taxation regime.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a pretty much a whirlwind start to the year.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sitting down and take catching your breath, what have been some of the sort of key things for you this year?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, as you mentioned, it's certainly been a very busy time for us.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: The company has completely transformed itself in a very short period of time here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, of course, I mean most investors know us, Abra Silver over the last several years.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: We've been a high growth exploration story where we've had great success growing our large DWO's project to where it is today.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: So we have 450 million ounces on a silver equivalent basis, and that continues to grow.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: So still tremendous exploration upside ahead of us.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: But now that we have this solid large-scale resource intact, as you mentioned, we applied for permits, we received those, uh, we received Riggy approval as well, which is the fiscal stability, 30, 30-year stability agreement in place with the federal government.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: We also announced a very robust feasibility study as well in June.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: And now we're building out the team ready to execute on this project.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: So the company is really transformed from an explorer into a developer in a very short period of time.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I think uh very, very excited uh to be looking to advance this towards a construction decision next year and then be in production in three years' time from now.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh financial uh investment decision second quarter of 2027, I believe.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: First production targeted before the end of 2029.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, before we sort of go further into that, we are here at an investment conference.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: You've been here for a number of years, and as you say, you've gone from being a sort of very high-profile silver explorer to moving into that development almost uh imminently into the product uh sorry, the construction phase.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Over that period of time, John, how has the uh sort of profile of the type of meetings you've had, how has that sort of changed and evolved?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, look, this continues to be a premier investment conference.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is certainly one of the best conferences that we attend uh each and every year.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um for us, again, as the story has evolved, I think the the quality of the meetings has evolved as well.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Several years ago, you know, as we were an explorer, most of the investors we were meeting were more focused on near-term exploration results, et cetera.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: When when would the next resource estimate be?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it was investors looking for explorer uh sort of stage, exploration stage companies.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Now that we have the permits in place, the Riggy approval, et cetera, you know, the institutional investors now that that are looking uh and supportive shareholders of ours are really, you know, looking forward to us entering construction, production.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, no, I think from our perspective, we've always had a full schedule, we've always had great quality meetings.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Now we're meeting with larger institutional investors globally as well.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so no, I think the the quality has evolved uh of meetings, and now really the focus is on uh the next steps, which is construction and executing, to have uh one of the largest primary silver mines globally up and running in three years' time.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you've de-risked the project considerably this year.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: You've answered a lot of the questions.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are people asking you now at this event?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so as you mentioned, I mean, all of all of those major milestones have already been achieved, so we've significantly de-risked this.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: Next steps remain financing and then executing on the schedule that was laid out in the feasibility study.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: So on the financing, I mean, we're looking to have uh we're evaluating a number of financing opportunities at the moment.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say right now it's a great uh sort of moment.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're seeing very attractive terms across streaming uh options, debt uh terms uh are very attractive as well.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we're so we're evaluating a mix uh of alternatives there on the financing.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Our goal is always to maintain a very tight shareholder structure, not dilute existing shareholders.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so yeah, I think there's some great opportunities there to raise the money needed to bring this into production without bloating the capital structure.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you know, I think the the financing discussions are proceeding really well.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then in terms of executing, we've also hired, uh, we've made some great additions to the team down in Argentina.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: We hired a very seasoned project director, uh John Naisbit.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: He has over 45 years experience.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he's built multiple mines all over the world.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: He's worked for some major companies El Dorado, Anglo, Goldfields.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so a very, very seasoned uh project builder.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he's bringing a team under him as well.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a very, very capable team down in country and as well at the head office.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: We've made some great additions uh both to the board and to management.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so really bolstering up uh sort of the team to be able to deliver the schedule that was laid out in the feasibility study.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, in terms of the financing, how much do you think you'll be looking to raise in terms of the overall package?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the initial capital cost is about$720 million.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so this is a very financeable project.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and again, breaking that into various components.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: There could be a small stream component, a relatively modest amount of debt, and then a very small equity slice as well.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're evaluating all of those uh in parallel, and we'll look to make some announcements there before year end.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Before year end, okay.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: You recently did a bought deal financing, and that was primarily to finance some early works activity.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what are the things you're you're looking to get a head start on through that financing and the use of those proceeds?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we've already started on some of the early works activities there ahead of the final investment decision, which will be made again in Q2 of next year.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh at the moment, we're really focused on expanding the size of the camp.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: The moment we have about a hundred-person uh camp, uh exploration camp.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: We're growing that to accommodate uh about a 60% increase or so, up to 160 people.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's moving along uh very nicely.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: We're also finalizing engineering.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: We've hired Worrally on a bridging agreement here uh to continue to do the work needed uh to make sure that we hit the ground running once that Q2 final investment decision is is made.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: I understand there's a sort of local procurement target in terms of equipment, services, things of that nature.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: How how challenging is it to be able to sort of achieve that?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, look, I think that's uh, you know, having the social license, of course, is is crucially important.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: So you have the the permits, we have the EIA permits approval, but if you don't have the social license from the local community, you know, it's gonna be very, very challenging for any project to move forward.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say our exploration team, our community relations down in country has done a phenomenal job with the the communities uh nearby.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and so we've won several awards sort of in in Salta uh for the outreach that we've done.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're gonna continue to maintain that very, very strong relationship that we have with the local communities wherever possible.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're looking to hire from the local provinces of Salta and Catamarca.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: We're looking to maintain at least 70% of all uh sort of the employees coming from those provinces.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: So very, very high bar to meet, but we'll do everything we can to achieve those targets.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: The project's got a unique aspect in with regard to the fact that it is Salta, it is Cajamarca.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how straightforward was it to get the provinces to agree certain things such as the taxation, who gets what benefit, you know, is it in one province, is it another?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: How how how how much of a challenge was it to get all of those actors all on the same page?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'd say we're quite fortunate because the two provinces did combine uh and put out a cooperation agreement where they've agreed to split the royalty 50-50, split the economics 50-50 here.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: And we're fortunate because we're not the first ones.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: So one of our neighbors, POSCO, is a large lithium uh operator now.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they're in the same situation where they're straddling the border between Salta and Catamarca, and there was a cooperation agreement.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we had a precedent.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, that that was passed through legislation, uh provincial legislation.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it's greatly simplified things.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: So when we applied for environmental impact assessment, we went one application to both provinces at the same time.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, earlier this year we received both approvals.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so yeah, no, I think uh all levels, uh provincially, locally, federally, they all want to see mining continue to grow and flourish uh in in across the the country.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so yeah, no, I'd say we've been working very well with uh all authorities.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well that's good to know.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: You've got what 450 million ounces when I was at the project earlier this year.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: It looks like you've still got a considerable amount of exploration upside.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me a little bit about that and to what extent or not are you sort of continuing to sort of progress with the exploration, or is that on a bit of a pause at the moment whilst you're getting ready to for the early works and then moving into construction?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, there's no pause at all, and that's why we're expanding the camp.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we want to keep exploration going.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: And as you mentioned, there's still a lot of upside.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really pretty unique, I'd say, for Abra, where we have this advanced stage project, feasibility, fully permitted, but still largely underexplored.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so right now we're still finalizing our phase six exploration campaign.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's a 15,000 meter drill program that'll be completed at year-end of this year.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: The main targets are continue to grow, the main Oculto deposit towards the east, towards the northeast.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: We've hit some very high grades uh of gold there, um, and it's still open along strike.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're continuing to drill, uh, just you know, step out drilling through the main deposits, and there's still considerable exploration opportunities and targets all across our large land package.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a large land package, it's still significantly underexplored, but because we have the permits in place, because we have rigging in place, we're moving forward, we're looking to make a construction decision, but the exploration is not going to slow down here.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna continue to have the best of both worlds where we have the exploration upside, but we're obviously building and looking forward to commencing production in the near term.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Under under President Javier Millet, Argentina's really come back onto the sort of mining map.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a very positive story over the past three years.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Argentina's got a presidential election in 2027.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: President Millet can run again.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know he his his approval rating has fallen.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: The the the opposition, the perenists have been gaining in strength.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's great that you've got the rigging in place because that gives you tax stability that uh will endure beyond the current government, the current administration.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh to what extent, you know, as you look out at uh Argentina's political environment, its political landscape, with the election coming next year, um what risks or potential risks do you see there on the horizon that you may have to grapple with?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so what's key for us, as you mentioned, we already have Riggi.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Riggi does expire next year.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you don't have Riggy approval by July of 2027, there will be no more Riggy.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's really dependent on whether or not Javier Millet wins the presidential election and whether or not he passes another another Riggy or something similar.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so Riggi right now is a limited window.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: We're very fortunate.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: We're one of the only developers on the precious metal side that already has riggy approval.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: So we applied for that well in advance.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: We applied for that on the back of a pre-feasibility study two years ago, uh, as soon as it was introduced.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: We applied for permits as well.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we really saw that as being crucial.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: And now that we have that in place, as you mentioned, we have a 30-year stability agreement.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: There's going to be several administrations within that time, but we're locked in and it's passed into legislation.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's it's unimaginable that any future administration would come and try to renegotiate the riggy benefits that that are in our agreement.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so for us, I think we're we're very, very safe.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, that gives us the stability we're looking for to make you know a major$750 million investment into the country.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so having that is is absolutely key.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: I guess the risk for other companies that don't yet have riggy is if you don't receive it within the next year, it's uncertain whether or not that's going to be around uh in the future.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that could be a big question mark for them.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: So as as you move into production, John, you're gonna become quite a significant silver producer in a space where there's relatively few companies, there's relatively few big projects.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: So how do you see or what how do you see AbraSilvers, what would you see your place being in that silver ecosystem?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I suppose the addition to that is will you be in that ecosystem?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Will you still be around to be in that ecosystem?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, this project stands out on a number of fronts, but certainly scale.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this ranks among the largest primary silver mines globally.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: So when you look at the largest primary silver mines in the world today, I think the largest one's producing about 17 million ounces of silver plus byproduct credits.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: In our peak production year, which is in year two, we'll be producing 19 million ounces of silver.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: So that would make us the largest primary silver mine in the world, where over 50% of revenue comes from silver.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, our other byproduct is gold.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so this is 100% precious metals.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: So it really puts us in a very, very unique position here.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna stand out as being the largest primary silver mine globally.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it is specifically with very, very low cash costs.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: So our all-insustaining cash cost in the study that we just announced back in June is under$20 an ounce of silver.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a project that's gonna be generating tremendous free cash flow here uh over a long period of time, 25-year mine life plus additional exploration upside.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so no, there's no question that this project is is very, very significant.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna really uh put us among the leading silver companies in the world uh in a very short period of time once this is up and running.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: The the scale that you you mentioned about John, um that certainly would make you a very good acquisition for any other silver company, but uh your market cap uh has responded very well, it's very high.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Does that uh would that make you perhaps too big, too expensive to buy?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: No, look, we're still trading at a deep discount to our net present value.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: So when you look at the the feasibility study that we announced at$50 silver, which is obviously well below uh current spot prices, and$3,600 gold, the net present value of this project is over$3 billion US.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: Today our net present value or market cap is less than$1.5 billion US.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we're trading at a very deep discount.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: So you can't just look at the the market cap in isolation, it's the market cap relative to the value of this project.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're still trading, we we feel we have tremendous upside here, and especially as the DFS is really only stage one of this project.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be multiple phases of growth.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh later on this year, we're actually gonna be announcing a heap leach study as well.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: We'll be putting out some preliminary economics around that, where we're taking some of the material that was classified as waste in the DFS and putting that through a heap leech pad and recovering a significant amount of gold.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's gonna further bolster the net present value of this project.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, there's potential expansion opportunities down the road as well.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we see ourselves as being very, very attractive, we have very low multiple relative to some of the larger silver producers.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so as we move this project forward, the net present value will increase and we feel the multiple will re-rate higher as well.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: So lots of upside ahead.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, let's finish by recapping some of the key catalysts.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned one just then.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: You got the finance decision coming towards the end of the year, the construction decision coming in the the first half of next year.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what else can our viewers look out for uh in news wise coming from AbraSilva?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, lots of milestones coming up.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: So again, let's not forget about the exploration results.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're still drilling, we still have this 15,000 meter campaign.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so lots of drill results between now and year end, and then that's gonna lead itself to another updated resource estimate in Q2 of next year.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: So again, we've updated our resource estimate every single year.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you're gonna make no exception.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have another update mid-middle of next year.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: So lots of growth as we continue to grow the resource here.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: But near term, I just mentioned the PA study on the heap leach, that could add a significant uh amount to the current economics.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we're looking forward to announcing that study, then getting the financing in place.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then next year, of course, the final investment decision, construction activities commence, uh, and then two and a half years to construct uh until we're in operation.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, congratulations, John, on a successful year so far.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to seeing some of those other milestones being knocked down.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: John Miniotis, thank you very much for joining me today.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: My pleasure.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a lot more to come from the 2026 Precious Metal Summit here in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned and hit that subscribe button.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Paul Harris, and this is Kitco Mining.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining on site coverage of the Precious Metal Summit is presented by New Core Gold.