6 minute read
Tier One Silver
PROJECT DIRECTED BY Gary Smith
WRITTEN BY Laura Watling
Striking Silver... and Copper... and more
Tier One Silver is a junior mining exploration company exploring for new, large-scale precious and base metal deposits in Peru - with some already exciting and unexpected discoveries. The company has two main exploration focuses, including their flagship project Curibaya, where Tier One has discovered record-breaking mineral grades.
“Mineral exploration in Peru is exciting but you have to approach it with care and tact,” shared Peter, “it’s quite straightforward to get the required government permits. What is integral, and more complex, is ensuring that the local communities are on board”.
To fulfill this, Tier One pays keen focus to its social responsibility, with appreciation that the mining sector makes up 40% of the country’s GDP.
“We employ a lot of people locally in Peru, including geologists from the area. They can provide key insights about the regions, the communities, and governments. Their understanding and in-country connections have played a key role in the success of all stakeholders thus far,” explained Peter.
Tier One also employs a Community Liaison Officer, whose role it is to understand which community projects would benefit the local people. “This could be agriculture or infrastructure projects, anything that will improve the livelihood of those in the local community,” he said.
It’s clear Tier One has the support of the local community, as the company’s first drill programme at its Curibaya project was blessed with a traditional Peruvian religious ceremony in the summer of 2021.
“The ceremony was an amazing, humbling experience, and I’m proud that we have been able to show the local people the value that this project could potentially have for their community,” shared Peter.
A Geologist’s Dream Find
President and CEO Peter Dembicki shares the exploration company’s unique story with Business Enquirer.
The mining exploration company’s flagship project, Curibaya, spans around 16,800 ha. The property sits within one of the world’s most prolific copper porphyry belts, which hosts some of Peru’s largest porphyry deposits. These include Freeport McMoRan’s Cerro Verde deposit, Southern Copper’s Cuajone and Toquepala deposits and Anglo American’s Quellaveco deposit.
Tier One Silver
Despite its location, Curibaya had never been drilled before, and now Tier One is preparing for its second phase of drilling after a successful first phase that demonstrated that the grades found on surface do in fact extend to depth.
Rock and channel sampling has found that the silver in this particular area is extremely high- grade. “What we’ve found at Curibaya is phenomenal,” said Peter, “the samples have returned grades of up to 298,000 g/t silver and 934 g/t gold. That substantially surpasses bonanza grade”.
Another staggering find for the company is that beneath the silver system is the potential for an exponential amount of unmined copper.
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Tier One has identified the age of mineralisation at Curibaya to be Paleocene, ranging from 55 to 61 million years. This is equivalent to several world-class deposits in the southern Peru porphyry belt, including Quellaveco (Anglo American), Toquepala (Southern Copper Corp.) and Cuajone (Southern Copper Corp.).
“This is a remarkable find, particularly for the major drilling companies that may seek to mine the property,” said Peter, “It’s a geologists dream to encounter a silver system resting on or nearby a large copper porphyry, as any major mining company would factor in the ability to recover the silver whilst pursuing the copper porphyry”.
What’s more, despite a typical silver mine having a mine life of 15-20 years, copper deposits can generally be mined for up to 100 years.
“We are working with world-renowned consultants to identify where we should explore next at Curibaya. Our technical team believes there is an opportunity to find additional sub-horizontal bodies of mineralisation, too”.
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Tier One Silver
Exciting Assets
The exciting discoveries don’t stop at Curibaya.
Tier One’s Hurricane Silver project is located in an underexplored region in southeast Peru and expands around 30,000 ha.
In June 2022, the company was granted access to explore the northern area of Hurricane Silver. Once again, not only did the team discover significantly high-grade silver, but also copper, cobalt and nickel at an exceptional grade.
“Metals such as nickel and cobalt are in high demand, particularly with the growing uptake of electric vehicles. We have about a year of work to do before we can initiate drilling on this site, but it is already looking to be a really exciting asset,” said Peter.
Changing Perceptions
Having made such significant progress, Tier One’s team is looking forward to preparing targets for their second phase of drilling and exploration.
“We aim to have 20 strong silver focused targets to drill. We are currently being very methodical about gathering high priority drill targets to minimise the exploration risks,” shared Peter, “along with this, we plan to test the potential for a copper porphyry deposit, so prior to drilling we are refining our geophysical surveys”.
The challenge for the business, Peter believes, is changing the perception of mining, at both a corporate and social level.
“From a socio-economic perspective, it’s important that we educate on mine reclamation. With today’s high environmental standards, a producing mine can return the land to its original state and give it back to the earth once the project has been completed. There aren’t many industries that can actually do that,” explained Peter. “It’s also crucial that we continue to place importance on community relations, which is why we have our Community Liaison Officer”. Peter also highlighted the importance of educating the public’s understanding of metal requirements.
“The uptake of EVs is a fantastic step forward to reduce carbon, but the batteries and materials require a mined product. Our current and future societies are dependent on metals to function. Meanwhile, an exploration company’s carbon footprint is relatively light, needing only the basics to function”
Despite Peru’s volatile politics (its seen five presidents in five years with a sixth on the way), Peter describes politics in the nation as a short-term game, whilst mining is long-term.
“Peru offers the perfect mix. The government and the people are on board, whilst, as a country, it also remains largely unexplored,” he said.
For investors, Tier One offers two strong exploration swings with Curibaya and Hurricane Silver. “I’ve seen no other exploration company with the same potential,” shared Peter.
Tier One Silver
A Sum Of All Its Parts
An important element of Peter’s role as CEO, he believes, is to set an example - both as an individual and as a business.
“The metals have been there for 50 million years,” he said, “as an exploration business we have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of the land and respect all involved parties while working to produce a mutually beneficial result”. Peter notes that any future buyers of Tier One’s projects will undoubtably take into account the reputation of the business.
As such, he considers it key to ensure he has an open door and allows everyone’s voices to be heard.
“Tier One is nothing without its people,” Peter shared, “we are the sum of all our parts”.
www.tieronesilver.com
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