Mineros to Acquire 80% of La Pepa from Pan American Silver for $40 Million

Mineros, a Canadian mining company, has agreed to acquire 80% of La Pepa from Pan American Silver for $40 million. The acquisition will give Mineros full ownership of the La Pepa project, which is located in Ecuador. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

Mineros S.A., a Canadian mining company headquartered in Medellín, Colombia, has announced its intention to acquire an 80% interest in the La Pepa Project from Pan American Silver Corp. for $40 million. The acquisition will bring Mineros' total ownership of the project to 100% [1].

The La Pepa Project, located in the Maricunga Gold Belt of the Atacama Region in Chile, is an advanced gold exploration project with significant mineralization. It is situated approximately 800 km north of Santiago and 110 km east of Copiapó, at an elevation of 4,200 meters above sea level in the Andes Mountains. The project is currently owned 20% by Mineros and 80% by Pan American through a joint venture entity, Minera Cavancha SpA [1].

The acquisition is structured as a transaction between subsidiaries of Mineros and Pan American, involving the purchase and sale of all shares of Minera Cavancha SpA not currently owned by Mineros. The deal is expected to close on or before September 30, 2025 [1].

Mineros' President and CEO, David Londoño, stated, "We are pleased to add the balance of the La Pepa Project not already owned by us to our portfolio of organic growth projects. While we remain focused on acquiring producing gold assets or late-stage development assets, we are expanding our strategy to include acquiring earlier-stage projects to enable Mineros to develop a pipeline of growth projects as we mature as a mid-tier gold producer" [1].

The La Pepa Project represents a significant exploration-stage opportunity for Mineros. The project targets a porphyry-style gold system with two types of auriferous mineralization: gold disseminated in stockwork and high-sulphidation epithermal replacement veins. It is envisioned as an open-pit mining and heap-leaching operation [1].

The acquisition of La Pepa exposes Mineros to Chile, an additional jurisdiction with a long and well-established mining history. The project's mineral resources, as of October 31, 2021, include Measured Mineral Resources of 58,816 thousand tonnes (kt) averaging 0.61 g/t Au, containing 1,150 thousand ounces (koz) Au; Indicated Mineral Resources of 65,405 kt averaging 0.49 g/t, containing 1,039 koz Au; and Inferred Mineral Resources of 25,024 kt averaging 0.46 g/t, containing 366 koz Au [1].

Mineros plans to use the Mineral Resource estimate as the basis for a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) to evaluate the feasibility of the project as a heap-leaching operation. The deal is expected to close on or before September 30, 2025 [1].

References:
[1] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250811290806/en/Mineros-S.A.-Acquires-80-of-La-Pepa-from-Pan-American-to-Own-100