).The agreement calls for Sandstorm to pay
SVL US $12 million and make available an
additional US$6 million loan, at Silvercrest’s
option. In return SVL will sell 20% of its heap
leach gold production from Santa Elena to
Sandstorm for $350 per ounce. It’s expected
that 50,000 ounces from heap leach
production would be sold to Sandstorm over
several years, effectively pricing gold to SSL
at $600/oz, not counting the value of the
loan. If SVL takes the loan too, it is probably
$3-4 million away from the cash total it
needs to finish Santa Elena.
With gold and silver moving again we would
not expect the company to have too much
trouble raising the amounts required without
the sort of dilution we feared a few weeks
ago. The company is awaiting an explosives
permit and some municipal permits, and has
already ordered and paid for some of the
longer lead time items. With the background
Sandstorm’s management has we expect
them to finish off their funding and be ready
to fund SVL fairly quickly. Accumulation at
these levels to bring your costs down (if you
haven’t already) should now be rewarded
more quickly with the project back on track.