Impact: Positive
Blackrock announced that it has exercised its option to acquire a 100% interest in its flagship Tonopah West Ag project in Nevada. It paid US$3M over four years to Nevada Select Royalty, a subsidiary of Gold Royalty Corp. (NYSEAM:GROY, Not Rated), as part of the option agreement, including the final cash payment of US$1M funded from a recent equity raise (read notable). Nevada Select Royalty retains a 3% net value royalty over all commercially mined material from the project. In our view, Blackrock gaining full ownership of Tonopah West is a positive de-risking step on its pathway to further advancing the asset and enhances its profile as a potential acquisition target. The company has completed extensive exploration work over the last four years and delineated >100M oz AgEq of high-grade Inferred resources (read note). We look forward to the results from metallurgical, engineering, and hydrological studies that could form the basis of a future PEA.
