A subsidiary of China's Zijin Mining Group recently invested approximately C $130 million (US $97 million) in Solaris Resources (TSX: SLS) through a private placement of common shares. Solaris intends to use the funds to advance its flagship Warintza copper project in southeastern Ecuador.
Zijin will buy about 28.5 million Solaris shares for C $4.55 each, a 14 percent premium to the closing price on Jan. 10. After the deal closes, Zijin will own about 15 per cent of the Canadian company and will appoint a board member.
Warintza Hotel is close to all infrastructure including the hydro grid. The indicated resources in the mine are 379 million tons, with copper grade of 0.47%, molybdenum grade of 0.03% and gold grade of 0.05 g/t(copper equivalent of 0.59%). The indicated resource is 887 million tons, containing 0.39% copper, 0.01% molybdenum, 0.04 g/t gold (copper equivalent 0.47%).
Solaris has also outlined a 180 million tonne high grade starting mine at the Warintza centre with 0.67% copper, 0.03% molybdenum and 0.07 g/t gold (0.82% copper equivalent). There are also 107 million tons of inferred copper content of 0.64%, molybdenum content of 0.02%, gold content of 0.05 g/t (copper equivalent of 0.73%).
The company said it plans to release an updated resource count by the middle of this year.
The Warintza deposit was discovered by David Lowell in 2000, but was left unused for 20 years due to declining social acceptance by the local community. In mid-2019, Solaris launched an extensive dialogue to understand the root causes of the conflict and address them. An impact and benefits agreement was signed in 2020 and renewed in 2022.
Shares in Solaris Resources were up 4.2 per cent in midday trading in Toronto on Thursday, giving the company a market capitalisation of C $625.1m (US $466.1m).
