USC neighbor files for $250Million IPOSilver IPO Filing: Sunshine Silver Mines (AGS)
It was surprising not see many silver and gold companies try to comepublic in initial public offerings during the great moves seen in theshiny metals. We now have a silver company filing for an IPO. Anoutfit called Sunshine Silver Mines Corporation has just filed paperworkwith the SEC for an initial public offering. Financial terms are notdisclosed other than that it has filed to raise up to $250 million in acommon stock sale.
Sunshine plans to list under the “AGS” ticker on the NewYorkStockExchange. The listed underwriting syndicate includes UBS Investment Bank, Morgan Stanley, and RBC Capital Markets.
The company says in its filing that it is a U.S.-based preciousmetals exploration and development company “with the objective ofbecoming a premier silver producer.” It is focused on the advancementof its two principal projects: The Sunshine Mine in Idaho, which itcalls “one of the highest-grade known remaining primary-silverdiscoveries worldwide, which is estimated to have produced a total ofover 365 million ounces of silver. The Los Gatos Project in Chihuahua,Mexico, which it says it “holds a 81,607 hectare land position,constituting a new mining region.”
The company also claims to have completed independent technicalstudies on both projects, which it says “were prepared in accordancewith NI 43-101 and, in the case of the Sunshine Mine, which hasmineralized material, the requirements of Industry Guide 7. In total,the Company owns or controls a portfolio of 19 exploration properties inthe United States and Mexico covering an area of approximately 447,437hectares.”
The Sunshine Mine was acquired by the company in the first half of2010 and it is located within the Coeur d’Alene Mining District inIdaho. It is listed as a past-producing mine that is estimated to haveproduced a total of over 365 million ounces of silver from 1904 to 2008.It last full year of production was 1990 and silver production from theSunshine Mine was approximately 5.4 million ounces. It is also said tohave significant existing on-site infrastructure, including a primaryshaft, which is operational and being upgraded and refurbished, and asecondary shaft, which is being refurbished. Its consolidated landposition at the Sunshine Mine property consists of approximately 2,247hectares and it is said to have an abundant water supply and is said tobe connected to the electricity grid and is said to be accessible bypaved roads.
The Los Gatos Project is located approximately 128 kilometers southof the state capital of Chihuahua City, in Northern Mexico and consistsof two identified silver discoveries, the Cerro Los Gatos zone and theEsther zone, and 14 other priority targets with over 100 kilometers ofoutcropping quartz and calcite veins. The area is characterized by apredominant silver-lead-zinc mineralization.
As far as the use of proceeds…. that is partially for operations atthe Sunshine Mine property to refurbish existing infrastructure, forsurface and underground exploration, for a pre-feasibility study, andfor various collateral expenses.
As a key point that investors need to consider, the company alsonoted, “While we currently anticipate that we will use the net proceedsof this offering as described above, we may reallocate the net proceedsfrom time to time depending upon market and other conditions in effectat the time. Pending their application, we intend to invest the netproceeds in short-term, interest-bearing, investment grade securities orshort-term deposits or shares of moneymarketmutualfunds.”