Silver Viper Minerals Corp. said Feb. 5 that it signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire Pan American Silver Corp.'s La Virginia gold project in Mexico.
The acquisition will allow Silver Viper to restore the La Virginia project into a single exploration property, along with a December 2017 deal that provides for the company's purchase of three mineral concessions forming La Virginia's core.
Under the new agreement, Silver Viper would acquire La Virginia in exchange for a 2% net smelter royalty over the entire consolidated project. The company is still negotiating definitive agreements for both deals and has started due diligence over the property. Silver Viper plans to retain a consultant to work on environmental studies for drill permitting.
Meanwhile, Silver Viper said it has received and validated assay data from 2017 drilling at its Clemente silver-gold project in Mexico and two of the nine holes drilled at the project did not return significant results, while two other holes were abandoned despite encountering historical workings.
Drilling completed at Clemente to date only represents a portion of the phase-one campaign planned at the property, and Silver Viper is evaluating the data to decide how to proceed with the project.
