About Us
The Opportunity
“… there is a real chance that we could be on the east end of a plus-billion ounce silver district.”
“We have never been disappointed by the Nieves; each successive work program has expanded the resource.”
Dr. Tom Patton
Dr. Tom Patton is the man who brought the world Penasquito. Peñasquito is the second-largest mine in Mexico and the fifth-largest silver mine in the world.
Overview
Blackberry's 100% Ownership of Nieves:
110,000,000
oz Ag – Indicated and inferred
116,000
oz Au – Indicated and inferred
$16M
in exploration between 2003 and 2014
11
drilling programs
206
holes in a 5-square-mile area
55
square miles in the center of one of the world’s most prolific silver provinces
5M
Possible open pit mine with potential production of 5M oz silver per year for 11 years
15 to 20 Years
With further drilling, could expand to provide 15 to 20 years of silver production
12 Cents
One of the lowest finding costs in the industry at about 12 cents an ounce
Quality
Very high-quality dumps
60 Miles
North of the Fresnillo Silver District
1676
Mined sporadically for silver since 1676
The Nieves Silver Project Opportunity
In a gold and silver bull market, owning a piece of a world-class silver and gold deposit could make more sense than owning silver and gold bullion. Certainly, the leverage is much greater with Nieves’ large discovered resource — 110,000,000 ounces of silver and 116,000 ounces of gold discovered. It has been assessed and reported pursuant to the NI 43-101 Resource Estimate and a preliminary economic feasibility study. Based on all findings and with only 6% of the approximate 200 kilometers of mineralized veins tested with a drill bit, it currently has an estimated fair value exceeding $100,000,000.
This limited testing of the known mineralized vein systems has been on the far eastern portion of the vast Nieves Silver Property using a systematic program of high-level geological and geophysical surveys, and 11 drilling programs with a total of 208 core holes — 62,500 meters drilled for estimated $20,000,000.
Our highly-respected exploration team believes that we could be on the eastern end of a plus-billion-ounce silver district. There is a lot of support for this statement. Success is about scale, location, and experience.
The Property
The first mining at Nieves was in 1560 by Spanish explorers. The Property has been mined for silver and gold nearly continuously since. A total of 13 legacy silver and gold mines have been found on the Nieves Silver Property. A third-party assessment of the legacy ore dumps adjacent to the abandoned mine shafts has opined that these ore dumps…
• Contain bonanza-grade silver ore
• Are perhaps the richest dumps in Mexico
• Are a valuable asset
Nieves is a vast silver property encompassing 55 square miles — 35,200 acres; 14,245 hectares — of contiguous federal mining claims.
Nieves is…
- Located in the #1 silver-producing country in the world, Mexico
- Within the #1 silver-producing region in the world, the Faja de Plata.
- Surrounded by 18 silver districts — many of them world-class — with silver resources approaching or exceeding one billion ounces.
- Located between Fresnillo, the world’s #1 silver producer and an analogous silver deposit to Nieves, and Penasquito, the world’s largest silver reserve and #2 gold producer. Penasquito is also Nieves’ sister property.
Our exploration team is credited with acquiring, exploring, assessing, delineating, and managing the sale of Penasquito to Glamis Gold for stock in a transaction valued at $1.2 billion. Eight months later, Penasquito was acquired by Goldcorp for stock in a transaction that valued Penasquito at $1.8 billion. Goldcorp, in turn, was acquired by Newmont in January 2019 for stock in a transaction that valued Penasquito at $4.6 billion.
The Plan
Following a pattern of past exploration and corresponding economic successes, Blackberry management plans to…
- Utilize the property by exploring, delineating, and assessing 100s of millions of ounces of silver.
- Taking the property to economic feasibility without mining it.
- Selling it within the next three years to a major mining group — perhaps one of our current Faja de Plata neighbors — for stock and/or cash.
Blackberry Ventures I, LLC
In 2003, Blackberry Ventures I, LLC was organized under the laws of the State of New York by a group of Western Silver shareholders for the purpose of acquiring, exploring, finding, delineating, assessing, and exploiting the vast Nieves Property (“Nieves Silver Property”, “Nieves” or “Property”).
Where We’ve Been
- Assembled 18 mining concessions into a contiguous 55 square mile property — 35,200 acres or 14,256 hectares that encompasses the Nieves Silver Property.
- Expended about $20,500,000 to acquire, partially explore, assess and report, and maintain Nieves.
Completed 15 carefully planned exploration programs: 11 drilling Programs (2003-2013), 2 Geophysical Programs, and 1 District Wide deposition Model.
- Discovered and assayed a reported 91,064,729 tons of silver ore with an average grade of 40 g/t silver, using a 15 g/t cutoff containing 110,000,000 oz. silver and 116,000 oz. gold.
- Commissioned noted engineering firm, M3, to prepare a Form 43-101 Resource Report and Preliminary Economic Feasibility Study.
- Determined the current delineated and reported silver resource can be exploited with an open pit mine, greatly reducing mining capital and operating costs.
- Determined the current delineated and reported silver resource can be exploited with an open pit mine, greatly reducing mining capital and operating costs.
- Commissioned a property-wide geophysical survey that indicates the three known major braided vein systems extend laterally an additional 8 km, discovered a fourth vein system south of the Santa Rita, two vein systems 10 km west of the Concordia, and four magnetic anomalies — the inferred source of Nieves’ extensive silver and gold mineralization.
- Acquired Quaterra Resources’ 50% interest in the Quaterra/Blackberry JV for the development of Nieves leaving Blackberry with 100% ownership of Nieves.
- Commissioned two noted mining engineering firms, M3 and IMC, to undertake a pit optimization study with the objective of developing a starter open-pit mine plan.
- Developed a pit optimization plan with a newly drawn shell perimeter to:
- Increase the resource amount
- Increase the average ore grade
- Upgrade the resource classification of the discovered silver resource that can be mined economically <$15 silver.
- Minimized capital shareholders dilution by funding exploration incrementally.
- Developed a three-stage exploration program and corresponding staged financing strategy to:
- Optimize the current drawn pit perimeter.
- Expand the optimized pit beyond the redrawn pit perimeter.
- Further explore the vast Nieves Silver Property in search of the source of it extensive mineralization.
Where We’re Going
Execute the pit optimization plan by drilling up to 101 infill and step-out core holes with the goal of increasing the amount of higher-grade reported silver ore within the revised pit perimeter; increase the average silver yields per metric ton of ore; and upgrade the resource classifications from inferred and indicated to measured and indicated.
Double the discovered and reported high-grade silver resource contained within the revised pit perimeter from 34,000,000 ounces to 69,000,000 ounces while increasing the grade from 75.5 g/t to 85.05 g/t pursuant to IMC’s pit optimization plan.
Increase the high-graded reported pit resource to >200,000,000 indicated ounces while maintaining the higher grade of 85.05 g/t using a ground IP-directed drill program to drill within the 8 km strike of the Concordia Vein System, one of three known major braided vein systems within the Nieves Silver Property.
Increase to total inferred, indicated, and measured silver and gold resources to a plus-billion ounces of silver and a plus-million ounces of gold.
Monetize the resulting discovered, delineated, and assessed reported silver and gold resource by the outright sale of the Property or enter into a carried joint venture or exploration option agreement with a best-in-class precious metals miner, noble metals trader, end-user, or private equity.
Use the 2015 property-wide exploration airborne magnetic survey results to direct a drill program to target:
- The 8 km of untested strike within the Nieves’ Silver Property’s northern vein system (the “California”) and the 8 km of untested strike along the southern vein system (the “Santa Rita”), a total of approximately 100 km of untested mineralized veins.
- The five magnetic anomalies that could be the source of the property’s extensive gold and silver mineralization.
- The untested vein system indicated south of the Santa Rita.
- The two vein systems indicated 10 km west of the Concordia.
The Penasquito Story
Peñasquito is the second-largest mine in Mexico and the fifth-largest silver mine in the world with estimated reserves of 17,800,000 oz of gold and 1,070,000,000 oz of silver. Prior to starting Blackberry Ventures I, LLC, the BlackBerry team started Western Silver, a mineral exploration company focused on discovering and developing silver properties. It was based in Vancouver from 1997 To 2006. Western Silver identified the Peñasquito property as likely having a large resource of silver. Their company bought Peñasquito in 1997 and successfully explored the 39,000-hectare property. By 2003, they felt Peñasquito would become “one of the world’s largest silver resources.”
Our Team
The management team has worked on the project for the past 17 years. Each team member has played significant roles in major discoveries and each believes that Nieves provides another opportunity for success. Their dedication and hard work have paid off as the project has gained recognition in the industry. The team’s passion for innovation and problem-solving has been the driving force behind their success. Despite facing challenges along the way, they have remained committed to their goal of creating something that will be a unique and exciting opportunity.