Canadian explorer/developer SilverCrest Metals has secured a $US120M project financing facility to kick off construction of its $150.8M capex, 9.6Moz pa silver equiv Las Chispas silver-gold project in Sonora, Mexico.
The deal with RK Mine Finance is in anticipation of making a final construction decision on the project based on the FS completion, due late Jan 2021.
SilverCrest has also entered into a fixed price $76.5M engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Ausenco Engineering Canada for construction of the Las Chispas process plant that will include a 1,250tpd process plant, with construction beginning in Feb 2021 and process plant commissioning targeted for Q2 2022 for a production ramp-up starting Q3 2022.
$30M of the $120M facility has already been drawn, with the remaining $90M and estimated year-end cash of $135M, expected to make up the major component of funding for the project’s construction, exploration and regional growth initiatives.