South American Silver Corp. (TSX:T.SAC, Stock Forum) said over the past few days Bolivian employees working for South American Silver's Bolivian subsidiary, Compañia Minera Malku Khota, have been detained illegally by a group of individuals protesting the company’s Malhu Khota project.
According to the press release, along with the employees, individuals associated with the company's drill service contractor and members of local indigenous communities which support the project are also being detained. With news of the conflict the company’s stock is still holding strong, with a drop of 0.91%.
As confirmed earlier by Bolivian officials, a group of people carrying out illegal small-scale mining on exploration concessions owned by South American Silver has been encouraging confrontations between the community and the company and attempting to interfere with work on the project in recent weeks.
On July 2, the Governor of Potosi and the Bolivian Mines Minister met with representatives from 5 of 6 local indigenous Ayllus, which are the elected leadership of these districts covering 46 land owning indigenous communities.
South American Silver said in the press release that they have signed comprehensive support agreements with 5 of the 6 land owning indigenous local Ayllus, which cover these 46 indigenous communities and of these 46 communities only 3 do not recognize the support agreements.
South American Silver is a growth focused mineral exploration company creating value through the exploration and development of its wholly-owned Malku Khota project in Bolivia, one of the world's largest undeveloped silver-indium-gallium deposits and its wholly-owned large scale Escalones copper-gold project in Chile.
On Wednesday, South American Silver was trading for $1.09 a share. The company has a market cap of $125 million, based on $115 million shares outstanding. The 52-week high and low was $2.24 and $0.93 respectively.