Thoughts on Blackrock Silver (TSXV: BRC)
Blackrock Silver (TSXV: BRC)’s Tonopah West project in Nevada is often promoted as a silver play, but in reality about 52% of its resource value comes from gold and only 48% from silver. This makes Tonopah West a hybrid system — very different from a true primary silver project like Minaurum Gold (TSXV: MGG)’s fully permitted Alamos Silver Project in Mexico.
If an investor’s goal is exposure to Nevada gold, Viva Gold (TSXV: VAU)’s neighboring Tonopah Gold Project offers nearly the same amount of contained gold as Tonopah West — yet trades at only a fraction of BRC’s market cap. The difference is fundamental: Viva’s ounces sit close to surface, well-suited for low-cost open pit, heap-leach mining, while BRC’s ounces are locked in deep underground veins that demand far higher mining costs.
Tonopah West’s deposit type — an epithermal vein system — is geologically similar to Minaurum’s Alamos Silver Project. While such systems can yield very high grades, they are inherently labor intensive. That reality is compounded by labor costs: underground miners in Nevada often earn ~$120,000 per year, compared to only ~$20,000 for equally skilled workers in Mexico. What is marketed as a “Nevada premium” quickly turns into a structural cost disadvantage.
This flips the conventional narrative. Rather than being a safer or cheaper jurisdiction, Nevada imposes economic headwinds for Tonopah West that Mexico doesn’t. At Alamos, once MIA production permits and local community agreements are secured — both already in place — jurisdictional concerns fade away. What remains at Minaurum’s Alamos is a high-grade, fully permitted silver vein system with strong polymetallic credits.
Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. NIA is not an investment advisor and does not provide investment advice. Always do your own research and make your own investment decisions. NIA has received compensation from MGG of US$30,000 cash for a three-month marketing contract and previously received US$30,000 cash for a three-month marketing contract which has since expired. NIA’s President has purchased 100,000 shares of VAU in the open market and can buy or sell shares at any time. This message is meant for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide investment advice.
