Junior Silver Explorer Targets 300Moz Resource Via Aggressive Drilling

• Unico Silver is building a large silver resource in Argentina through consolidation and exploration
• The company has assembled 160Moz AgEq resources at low cost and sees potential to grow to 300Moz+
• Near-term focus is expanding high-grade polymetallic zones to increase scale for future development
• Goal is to demonstrate a 250Moz+ resource to support a conceptual 8-12Moz pa Ag production profile
• Experienced team pursuing a clear strategy to create a major new silver development asset

Unico Silver (ASX:USL) is a silver exploration and development company pursuing an ambitious growth strategy in the world-class Santa Cruz mineral province of Argentina. Through a series of acquisitions and organic exploration over the past three years, the company has rapidly assembled a portfolio of projects hosting 160 million ounces of silver equivalent (AgEq) resources. Unico Silver is now aggressively exploring its key projects to expand and upgrade the resource base with the goal of building a tier-one silver development asset.

The Opportunity

Unico Silver's journey began in 2019 as a A$3 million junior explorer with early-stage projects in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina. The region has seen limited recent exploration despite an enviable history of major silver and gold discoveries. Global mining companies that dominated the province moved on to other priorities, leaving behind a fragmented landscape of promising but underexplored projects.

Unico Silver recognised the opportunity to consolidate this high-potential ground at attractive valuations. As Managing Director Todd Williams explains:

"When I first went to the Catamarca province, the Salta province, it was just a really remote place. You go there now and there's telephone towers everywhere, there's processing facilities, there's guys in high-vis vests wherever you can see, and it's a really bustling place."

Building Scale Through Consolidation 

Unico Silver set out to build a meaningful resource base using a highly selective consolidation strategy. The company screened dozens of projects across the Americas, applying strict criteria to identify assets with at least a 43-101 or JORC-compliant resource but lacking sufficient drilling to realise their full potential.

Two projects in the Santa Cruz region stood out - the adjacent Cerro Leon and Joaquin silver districts. Unico Silver moved aggressively to acquire both, engaging in two years of complex negotiations to consolidate the entire district from five separate owners.

The acquisitions were transformational for Unico Silver. For a total cost of just A$0.10 per silver equivalent ounce, the company secured a combined 160 million ounces of silver equivalent resources across the two projects. 

"We've brought together two adjacent silver districts in an area that was previously overlooked and unloved, that was previously owned by two majors and three juniors. We've put together 160 million ounces of silver equivalent resources at a cost of A$0.10 per ounce."

In the process, Unico Silver has rapidly emerged as the third largest holder of silver resources in the Santa Cruz province behind only industry giants Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti.

Exploration Upside 

While the existing resource base provides a solid foundation, Unico Silver believes the real potential lies in the unexplored depth extensions of the high-grade polymetallic vein systems.

Limited historical drilling has defined multiple vein structures extending over the strike length. The veins have excellent widths and grade, and most importantly, remain open at depth. 

Unico Silver has developed an exploration target to expand these vein systems to host an additional 200 million ounces. The conceptual target is based on the significant strike extent of the veins and the increasing grade profile at depth.

A major 50,000 meter drill program is now underway to systematically drill out these vein extensions. With 5% of the program already complete, the company is rapidly advancing these zones from early-stage prospects to resource-ready targets.

Management sees potential for the vein systems to support a central processing facility producing at least 8-12 million ounces of silver per year. If successful, the program could position Unico Silver as one of the largest pure-play silver developers in the world.

Interview with Managing Director, Todd Williams

Key Assets 

Cerro Leon is Unico Silver's most advanced project with an existing resource of over 90 million ounces of silver equivalent. The deeper sulfide zones host larger but lower-grade mineralisation and will be the focus of ongoing drilling to expand the overall resource base.

The adjacent Joaquin project hosts a resource of over 65 million ounces of silver equivalent. The deposit is lower grade than Cerro Leon but has a favorable open-pit geometry and large scale potential.

Conceptual Mine Plan Taking Shape 

While still at an earlier stage, Unico is formulating a conceptual mine plan that envisions a central processing facility at Cerro Leon fed by both oxide material from Pinguino and the lower grade open pittable mineralisation at Cerro Leon.

"If we look at Cerro Leon, with scale there's a clear pathway for some sort of base load or central leach processing facility, a tank leach. And we think we can augment that and increase the production profile in the first 5 years by trucking ultra high-grade oxide mineralisation from Pinguino to really juice up that production profile from years 0 to 5."

After those first five years, Unico envisions bringing online a flotation plant to treat the deeper polymetallic mineralisation from Pinguino. The goal is to demonstrate the potential for a long-life mining camp.

"Once we get through that oxide we would have hoped that we've shown to the market scale around the deeper polymetallic zones and we can show a pathway to bringing on a concentrator in years five onwards within that conceptual mine plan."

The Investment Thesis for Unico Silver

• Exposure to a rapidly growing silver resource base in a world-class mining province
• Proven management team with experience building major resource projects
• Low-cost acquisitions have provided 160Moz AgEq resource base at A$0.10/oz cost base
• Exploration drilling underway to potentially expand resource to 250-300Moz AgEq
• Consolidated district with central processing potential for simplified development path
• Supportive strategic and institutional shareholders to fund ongoing growth initiatives
• Exposure to strengthening silver price on rising solar PV and electronics demand

Macro Thematic Analysis

The silver market is undergoing a transformation as rising demand from new energy applications begins to strain supply. Photovoltaics have emerged from almost nothing a decade ago to now consume over 300 million ounces of silver per year. This demand is structural, driven by the urgent global build-out of renewable energy capacity.

At the same time, silver mine supply is flat to declining with limited new projects in the pipeline after a decade of underinvestment. Industry consolidation has left silver exploration in the hands of an undercapitalised junior sector.

This sets the stage for an emerging silver supply gap as the world pushes to decarbonise the global economy. Williams sums it up saying:

"I think tomorrow will not be like the past. We're moving into a new paradigm and we're preparing ourselves for that paradigm."

Winners will be those companies that can deliver new silver ounces to market to meet this rising demand. Unico Silver is well positioned with a rapidly advancing, district-scale project in a world-class jurisdiction. If exploration efforts can successfully expand the resource base to support an 8-12 million ounce per year production profile, the upside could be substantial.