Junior miners pull in over US$180mn for LatAm assets

Junior mining and exploration companies advanced financing deals targeting Latin American assets worth US$183mn in August, with the biggest deals aimed at primary copper projects in Argentina and Ecuador.

Firms closed or announced at least 11 deals in the month, including share offerings, offtake or concentrate prepayment facilities and a convertible debenture.

The US$183mn figure represents a sharp drop from the US$555mn across 11 deals in July, which was dominated by a US$481mn financing package for G Mining Ventures’ Tocantinzinho gold project in Brazil.

The August total was up from US$133mn in June and US$111mn the previous month.

Transactions worth less than US$1.6mn (Cdn$2.0mn) are excluded.

COPPER FOCUS

Copper projects were the targets of the bulk of the US$183mn of financings that advanced in August, with five deals amounting to US$162mn.

Two deals worth US$11.1mn were aimed at primary silver assets, with the remainder spread over gold, lithium and platinum and palladium.

The main geographical focus was Argentina, with three deals worth US$98.4mn, followed by Ecuador, with a single deal with US$55.0mn, Chile (two deals, US$14.4mn) and Mexico (three deals totaling US$11.4mn), with Brazil and Peru seeing one transaction each.

TOP AUGUST FINANCING DEALS

1. McEwen Copper: US$81.8mn

Target: Argentina, copper

McEwen Copper closed a private placement offering on August 31, raising total proceeds of US$81.8mn for its Los Azules project in Argentina.

The final tranche of the placement comprised a US$25mn investment by Rio Tinto’s copper leaching technology venture Nuton, and US$1.85mn from other investors.

“McEwen Copper is well-funded to advance its Los Azules project, located in the mining friendly province of San Juan, Argentina,” the company said in a release.

The company is aiming to release a preliminary economic evaluation of the project in 1Q23, which currently has a capex estimate of US$2.36bn, with production of 169,000t/y copper envisaged over a 36-year mine life.

2. Adventus Mining: US$55mn

Target: Ecuador, copper

Adventus Mining signed an offtake financing agreement with Trafigura Pte, which will secure up to US$55mn to advance its El Domo project in Ecuador.

The deal brings total financing for the copper-gold asset to US$235mn, of which just US$2.5mn has been drawn, the company said in a release.

The agreement includes a US$45mn loan. Trafigura has also agreed to invest US$10mn in Adventus shares.

Detailed engineering at El Domo is underway, with a construction decision expected next year, pending key permits expected by end-1Q23.

Commissioning is scheduled for late 2024 at the US$248mn capex project, which is expected to produce 11,000t/y copper, 26,000oz/y gold and zinc, lead and silver byproducts.

3. Aldebaran Resources: Cdn$14.4mn (US$11.0mn)

Target: Argentina, copper

Aldebaran Resources raised Cdn$14.4mn in a private placement, led by a subsidiary of South32, which acquired 13.7mn shares for total proceeds of Cdn$10.7mn.

Proceeds from the deal will be used to advance the company’s Altar copper-gold project in Argentina’s San Juan province and for general corporate purposes, Aldebaran said in a release.

4. ATEX Resources: Cdn$12.4mn (US$9.4mn)

Target: Chile, copper

ATEX Resources completed a private placement on August 25, raising Cdn$12.4mn to advance its Valeriano copper-gold project in Chile’s Atacama region, and for general corporate purposes.

The placement was conducted with a syndicate of agents co-led by Desjardins Capital Markets and Paradigm Capital.

Valeriano hosts a porphyry system containing 1.77Mt copper, 1.8Moz gold and 8.6Moz silver, plus 584,000oz gold and 2.65Moz silver in a gold oxide epithermal deposit, all in the inferred category, according to 2020 estimates.

Exploration aims for 2022-23 include determining the extent of mineralization in all directions, according to an August company presentation.