Silver Viper Renegotiates Rubi-Esperanza Option Agreement
Vancouver, BC. - Silver Viper Minerals Corp. (the “Company” or “Silver Viper”) (TSX-V: VIPR) has renegotiated terms of the Rubi-Esperanza Option Agreement (the “Agreement”) to purchase three mineral concessions, originally signed in June 2018 (see news release of June 25th, 2018). On June 21st of this year, an addendum to the agreement was signed, marking an overall reduction in the total dollar value and the inclusion of an additional year to complete the payment schedule. The Agreement remains otherwise unchanged and continues to grant Silver Viper the right to purchase 100% ownership of three mineral concessions covering 2,102 hectares of the La Virginia Gold-Silver Project, located in the Sierra Madre of eastern Sonora state, Mexico.
The revised agreement to purchase the mineral concessions provides for staged annual cash payments totaling US$3.0 million as per the schedule below. The 2% Net Smelter Return (NSR) that may be purchased by the Company for US$2.0 million within 5 years of the effective date of the agreement, or for US$3.0 million following the 5th anniversary, remains unchanged.
| New Agreement | Original Agreement | ||
| June 2019 | US$50,000 | June 2019 | US$190,000 |
| June 2020 | US$75,000 | June 2020 | US$500,000 |
| June 2021 | US$100,000 | June 2021 | US$1,000,000 |
| June 2022 | US$200,000 | June 2022 | US$2,800,000 |
| June 2023 | US$2,575,0001 | ||
| Total | US$3,000,000 | Total | US$4,490,000 |
1 Final payment to comprise $1.2 million in cash and the remainder in cash or shares at the Company’s discretion.
Renegotiation of the Rubi-Esperanza agreement is part of an ongoing effort by Silver Viper to ensure that maximum expenditures are directed into exploration activities at La Virginia where initial work has provided highly encouraging early results. In addition, data generated by regional reconnaissance work has guided Silver Viper’s decision to file strategic reductions over the three large concessions surrounding the Rubi-Esperanza group as acquired from Pan American Silver Corp. during Silver Viper’s consolidation of the La Virginia mineral camp (see news release of December 17th 2018).
Work continues to refine targets at La Virginia. Surface geochemistry and prospecting have identified targets to the north, south and east of the El Rubi discovery which will be tested during the next phase of drilling. In addition, Silver Viper has contracted Geotech Ltd. to conduct a 720 line-kilometer magnetic and radiometric survey over the El Rubi and La Gloria targets for a total coverage of 4,900 hectares.
Silver Viper’s President and CEO Steve Cope states, “The restructuring of our arrangement on Rubi-Esperanza is a positive development for the La Virginia Project. By restructuring the option agreement, we will spend more dollars in the ground developing the Project, which will add value for all of the stakeholders. We appreciate the support and confidence shown to us by the optionors in working with us to achieve this agreement.”
The Company is planning to follow up on the 2018 drilling success at El Rubi, located north of the historical La Virginia exploration targets. As previously announced (see news release of Jan 14th, 2019), Silver Viper drilling at El Rubi returned a best result of 13.3m core length(estimated true width 6.0m) averaging 3.16g/t gold and 228g/t silverfor a gold equivalent2 grade of 6.42g/t gold. Drilling to date has encountered mineralization over a 100m strike length, with planned work designed to increase the known limits of the mineralization.
Since acquiring the project, Silver Viper has completed diamond drilling on five target areas totaling 4,753m in 20 drill holes and completed regional exploration programs of stream sediment sampling, geological/prospecting traverses and soil sampling. The regional program to date has resulted in the collection of 1,600 soil samples and rock chip samples across the largely unexplored property.
Dale Brittliffe, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration is the ‘Qualified Person’ under National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.
2 Gold Equivalent calculated using an Au:Ag ratio of 70:1, Au Equivalent = Au grade + (Ag grade/ 70)
Appointment of Director
Silver Viper is also pleased to announce the appointment of Carla Hartzenberg, CPA, CA, who is currently CFO of the Company, as a director.
About the Project
La Virginia is located 220km east-northeast of Hermosillo, Sonora. It is a large exploration property, primarily prospective for fault-controlled, low-sulphidation epithermal precious metal mineralization. The property and historical exploration database were acquired by way of option agreements made with two distinct parties. Gold and silver mineralization at La Virginia occurs within breccias, veins and stockworks hosted primarily by andesitic volcanics, often in close spatial association to or cross-cutting pre-mineral dacite dykes and controlled by fractures and faults that define the regional structural trend. Originally 37,700 hectares in size, Silver Viper’s reconnaissance program has identified key targets and trends which are of primary interest. The Company has filed reductions of the large concessions to better focus efforts on the high priority trends.
QA/QC
Analytical results herein represent samples of halved diamond drill core submitted by Silver Viper staff directly to Bureau Veritas, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Samples were crushed, split and pulverized as per Bureau Veritas method PRP70-250, then analysed for gold by lead collection fire assay fusion on a 30g split with AAS finish, and for a multi-element suite including silver by multi-acid digestion with ICP-ES/MS finish. Samples triggering precious metal over-limit thresholds of 10g/t Au or 200g/t Ag were retested by lead collection fire assay fusion with a gravimetric finish. Silver Viper monitors QA/QC using commercially sourced standards and locally sourced blank materials inserted within the sample sequence at regular intervals.
About the Company
Silver Viper Minerals Corp. is a Canadian-based junior mineral exploration company focused on precious metals exploration in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. The Company currently operates the La Virginia Gold-Silver Project. Silver Viper has 100% ownership of the La Virginia concessions recently acquired from Pan American Silver Corp. and has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Rubi-Esperanza group of claims internal to those concessions. The property was most recently operated by Pan American Silver Corp. Silver Viper is under management provided by Belcarra Group Management Ltd., which is comprised of highly qualified mining professionals.
On behalf of the board of directors,
Steve Cope
President and CEO
For further information please contact, please contact Silver Viper Minerals Corp. at (604) 687-8566, email info@silverviperminerals.com or visit our website at www.silverviperminerals.com
Forward Looking Information
Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to exploration and development, the ability of the Company to obtain additional financing, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations, fluctuations in the prices of commodities, operating hazards and risks, competition and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company’s financial statements available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.
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