Billionaire mining investor Eric Sprott is once again making waves in the precious metals sector, this time betting big on Peru. 

The Bay Street legend is known for finding and investing in promising gold and silver projects, and the most recent company to get the Midas touch from Sprott is Silver Mountain Resources – an exploration company with highly prospective silver camps in Peru. Silver Mountain just closed a C$9.3 million bought deal led by Sprott Capital Partners, along with Eight Capital, Canaccord Genuity and Research Capital Corp, a testament to the potential Peru’s mining industry offers.¹

Peru is a top destination for mining investment, with a long history of mineral extraction, favorable government policies, stable economy, and well-developed infrastructure. This is why industry heavy hitters like Anglo American, Glencore, Newmont, BHP Group, and Teck Resources have been pouring millions into the country’s mining sector.

According to Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, accumulated mining investments in Peru reached $4.6 billion in November 2022, 3.2% more than the $4.4 billion accrued the year before.²

These investments couldn’t come at a better time. Silver is rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after commodities in the world. With nearly 50 million ounces taken from the inventory in 2021,³ the silver supply is shrinking fast, meaning more investments will need to be made into silver projects in order to keep up with rising demand.

So, how do you spot a junior mining company with a silver project that may be worthy of Eric Sprott’s portfolio?

Look for a company with a team that’s pulled off big discoveries and buyouts before and that’s once again uncovering stand-out exploration results in a prolific region.

A perfect example is the emerging junior, Tier One Silver Inc. (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF).

With high-grade silver surface results over a large area, including 75+ rock samples exceeding 1,000 g/t silver, Tier One Silver is positioning itself for success in Peru’s world-class mining region.

High Grades and a Superior Management Team

Tier One Silver Inc. (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) is a Canada-based junior explorer pursuing world-class silver, gold and base metal discoveries in Peru. 

Tier One Silver’s Curibaya project hosts high-grade silver surface results over a 20 square km area. They had 75+ rock samples over 1,000 g/t silver. This phenomenon extended to drill holes in the first ever program on the project – with intercepts such as…

• 1.5 meters (m) of 1,129 g/t silver, 1.04 g/t gold within a larger interval of 7 m of 272 g/t silver, 0.33 g/t gold 
• 1 m of 1,431 g/t silver, 0.39 g/t gold within a larger interval of 1.5 m of 965 g/t silver, 0.26 g/t gold⁴

But it’s not just a silver opportunity at Curibaya, recent evidence from Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) exploration indicates a copper porphyry system may exist beneath the high-grade silver at surface. Tier One is in the right neighborhood for it, the property is in close proximity to some of the largest copper mines globally.

Tier One Silver’s Curibaya project is within 50km of the giant copper porphyry deposits, Toquepala and Quellaveco. 

Tier One Silver Inc. (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) will test their theory for the first time in an upcoming drill program, which will target both high-grade silver mineralization near surface and a potential porphyry system at depth.

You only need to know seven things to understand why Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) Peru-based projects are in a jurisdiction that warrants further exploration, and why the biggest mining companies, such as Rio Tinto and Teck, have staked land around the Curibaya property:

1. Continuous economic and political support since the early 1990s
2. One of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies⁵
3. Mining is Peru’s dominant economic sector⁶
4. World’s largest reserves of silver⁷
5. World’s third largest producer of silver⁸
6. World’s second-largest producer of copper⁹
7. World’s 6th largest producer of gold¹⁰

“Peru is a global leader in the mining industry,
which makes it a natural choice for international investors.”
– EY: Peru’s Mining & Metals Investment Guide 2022/2023

Behind all of this is a proven team with multiple past successes in discovering and monetizing world-class deposits. Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) President and CEO, Peter Dembicki, structured and oversaw multi-million dollar private and public financings in the mining and natural resource sectors during his time at Canaccord Genuity. Chair, Ivan Bebek, boasts over 20 years of experience in financing, foreign negotiations and acquisitions in the mineral exploration industry. He was the President, CEO and co-founder of Cayden Resources, which sold to Agnico Eagle Mines for $205M in 2014¹¹ during possibly one of the worst mining markets in recent history for a 5x return.

Bebek also co-founded Keegan Resources in West Africa, prior to Cayden, and generated a shareholder return of up to 18x during the discovery period.

And they’re hungry to do it again. 

Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) technical team is led by Christian Rios, SVP of Exploration, who has major mining expertise that’s rare in a junior company. Rios was the former VP of Exploration at Bear Creek Mining and was directly involved in the discovery of the world-class Santa Ana and Corani silver-lead-zinc deposits in Peru.

They’ve continued to demonstrate their ability to raise capital in good and bad markets, with recent raises including

• C$13.45 million closed on March 2, 2021¹²

• C$6.18 million completed on June 16, 2022¹³
  

When you look at the full picture, noteworthy preliminary exploration results coupled with a reputable management team and board, adding a bull market and some positive new drill results could really elevate Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) to a new level.

Curibaya Project: Building on High-Grade Drill Results

Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) 100% owned Curibaya project provides a few good reasons for a closer look:

• Large scale (~16,800 hectares; ~41,513 acres)
• +1000 g/t silver grades demonstrated on surface and subsurface
• Multiple structures with high-grade results and strike length yet to be tested 
• Exceptional access to infrastructure: road, highway, port, airport (see map below)

Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) project is also located in a copper porphyry belt that hosts some of Peru’s largest porphyry deposits, including Freeport McMoRan’s Cerro Verde deposit, Southern Copper’s Cuajone and Toquepala deposits, and Anglo American’s Quellaveco deposit.¹⁴

The Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) team is actively advancing the project, and is planning for its next drill program to commence in early Q2.

30% of the holes in the inaugural drill program at Curibaya hit high-grade intercepts. New DIA exploration permit includes the Cambaya region in the northern portion of the project, where the best silver surface results have been seen to date, which will be targeted in the second drill program

Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) next phase of drilling at Curibaya will focus on three important things:

1. Following up on high-grade silver results from the first drill program, which included 1 meter of 1,431 g/t silver and 1.5 meters of 1,129 g/t silver.
2. Targeting high-grade silver mineralization in the undrilled Cambaya area, which is about 300m – 400m higher in elevation than previous drilling (less erosion and therefore a larger window for preserved mineralization). This area has returned the best surface results to-date and is now included in the permitted area.
3. Deeper drilling to test for a potential porphyry copper system, after defining two sub-vertical targets on the property through geophysics.

The Cambaya region is approximately 300m – 400m higher in elevation than phase 1 drilling, and less erosion allows for a larger window of preserved epithermal mineralization.

There are indications that a porphyry system may exist at depth, below the epithermal mineralization

Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) President and CEO, Peter Dembicki and Christian Rios, SVP of Exploration, spoke about the Curibaya project’s potential in a newly released video.

Past Discoveries Display Upside Potential

The table below outlines examples of companies that have seen their value increase significantly following major discoveries.

Great Bear Resources picked up its Red Lake Dixie Project from Newmont Mining in 2017. The company made multiple, large, high-grade gold discoveries near the surface. Without even releasing a resource calculation,¹⁵ the stock went up over 56x before Kinross bought the company out for a cool $1.1 billion.¹⁶

Vizsla Silver made a major silver discovery in Mexico in mid-2020, including 8.2 meters at 1,544 g/t silver-equivalent (Ag-eq) and 2 meters at 3,348 g/t Ag-eq.¹⁷ The company’s shares increased 68% in one day and kept rising. A little over a month later it raised $30M and billionaire Eric Sprott took a $10M stake.¹⁸

Filo Mining hit copper and gold big time in 2021. By January 2022, the company reported one of the top silver intercepts globally in the past decade.¹⁹ The project now has an Indicated Resource of 147 million ounces of silver.²⁰ The company’s stock responded by going up over 1,000% from January 3, 2021 to January 1, 2023.²¹

Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) and its projects give the company and its investors the potential to witness similar wins.

Second Project with Exceptional Silver Grades and a Potential Bonus Battery Metals Play

As if Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) story wasn’t good enough already, this company is also starting to bring its second project to the market’s attention.

Here’s a quick overview of the Hurricane project’s advantages:

• Option for 100% ownership
• Large scale district (~30,000 hectares; ~74,131 acres)
• Project and region within Peru are highly underexplored
• Exceptional copper, nickel and cobalt grades from historical drill results
• Excellent infrastructure: road access, close to power lines; 66 km/41 miles to nearby city
• Social permit acquired for 2 highest priority targets

Historical work was completed by the former operator from 2009 to 2010 on the Ñañohuayco and San Cipriano prospects at the Hurricane project, including surface sampling, ground-based geophysical surveys and an initial drill campaign. 

Some of the highlights from the 10-hole 1,061m historical drill program at Ñañohuayco included: 

• 14 meters of 2.59% copper, 0.62% nickel, 311 g/t cobalt, 0.3 g/t platinum and 0.55 g/t palladium.²² 

These results were nothing short of spectacular and put the Hurricane project on the map as the only known copper-nickel exploration play in Peru.

And that’s not all, first pass reconnaissance channel sampling by Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) found five mineralized vein corridors with exceptional grades,²³ including:

• 6 meters of 239 g/t silver, 1.21% copper, 0.34% lead, 0.15% zinc
• 4 meters of 234.7 g/t silver, 1.98% copper, 0.13% lead, 0.29% zinc
• 1 meter of 605 g/t silver, 0.26% copper, 5.79% lead, 0.21% zinc

In October 2022, Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) identified robust exploration targets at the San Cipriano and Ñañohuayco target areas on the Hurricane project.²⁴  

Highlights from channel sampling include

• 48 meters of 3.35% copper, 0.97 g/t platinum, 0.97 g/t palladium, 1.13 g/t gold, and 57.87 g/t silver
• 11.5 meters of 1.41% copper, 0.29% nickel 

The results confirm and expand on previous results, demonstrating a high metal budget and indicating to Tier One‘s technical team that additional exploration is warranted.

Then, in November, Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) reported rock and channel sampling results from the Magdalena target area.²⁵ 

Highlights include 

• 1 meter of 852.5 g/t silver, 1.54% copper, 0.34% lead, and 0.23% zinc
• 1 meter of 522.5 g/t Ag, 1.15% Cu, 0.18% Pb, and 0.18% Zn
• 2 meters of 232.5 g/t Ag, 0.37% Cu, 1.06% Pb, and 1.78% Zn 

These findings have increased the mineralization at Magdalena by 500 meters, where a total of 4 kilometers of vein corridors have been identified and numerous underground historical workings have been discovered.

Exceptional Team with Winning Track Record

We’ve already had a look at some of Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) experienced team members. Here’s a bit more background.

Michael HenrichsenChief Geologist

– Former global structural geologist at Newmont; instrumental in significantly increasing reserves and resources base in Ghana’s Ahafo district
– Worked extensively at other major gold camps in South America, the Carlin Trend, Guinea and Canada

Christian RiosSVP, Exploration

– Professional geologist (P.Geo.)
– Former VP of Exploration at Bear Creek Mining; directly involved in discovery of the world-class Santa Ana and Corani silver-lead-zinc deposits in Peru
– 20+ years experience in exploration, mining development and operations, specializing in Peru

Ivan BebekChair

– 20+ years experience in financing, foreign negotiations and acquisitions in the mineral exploration industry
– Track record of driving success through understanding of capital markets and ability to position, structure and finance companies
– Former President, CEO and co-founder of Cayden Resources (sold to Agnico Eagle Mines for $205M)
– Co-founder of Keegan Resources (now Galiano Gold)

Now that you know a bit about Tier One Silver’s (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) potential, stay tuned as this company’s story develops.

2023 could be big for Tier One Silver (TSXV:TSLV) (OTCQB:TSLVF) as it advances its projects, so watch for upcoming news releases.

As always, do your due diligence. And make sure to click here to sign up for the company’s newsletter to stay current on Tier One’s latest news and results.

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