ASX-listed Victory Mines is to acquire South American Tin Limited (SAT), which has been developing a portfolio of tin projects in Bolivia with local co-operatives and communities since 2011. The transaction, which is due to be completed in late April, is a share exchange deal which will give SAT shareholders control of Victory. At the same time SAT is negotiating debt financing which will allow it to begin small-scale production at the San Pedrito tin/zinc/silver mine, one of a range of potential projects around the old Catavi/Siglo XX mine.
The San Pedrito project involves SAT working with the Juan del Valle Mining Cooperative to establish a new 150 tpd processing plant to treat ore from existing production from underground mining by the co-operative plus surface stockpiles and tailings. Total capex of US$3 million is required to establish an operation which could produce around 300 tpy of tin-in-concentrate plus silver, zinc and lead. If this is successful, the concept could be replicated with a further 5 – 6 other co-operative mine projects.
Having established investor confidence and generated early cash flow, further planned larger-scale projects include tailings treatment at Kenko (potentially yielding 5,000 tpy+ of tin) and Catavi and ultimately the possible reactivation of mining at Siglo XX.
