This article has been disseminated on behalf of New Pacific Metals Corp. (NYSE American: NEWP) (TSX: NUAG) and includes paid advertisement.
- Gold and silver prices have strengthened in recent months, improving project economics across the mining sector.
- New Pacific Metals owns two of the world’s largest undeveloped open-pittable silver deposits: Silver Sand and Carangas, both in Bolivia.
- The Carangas Project hosts a large near-surface silver zone with a thick underlying gold zone, providing scalability and multi-metal optionality.
- Carangas’ Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) outlines a 16-year starter pit focused on the shallow silver zone with low strip ratio, with significant unmodeled upsides.
- Multiple regional targets near Carangas share similar geological characteristics, expanding long-term discovery potential.
Rising precious metal prices are providing a more favorable backdrop for exploration and development companies. Gold was trading around $4,001 per ounce, while silver reached $48.5 per ounce, as of November 3rd, 2025, supported by industrial demand and tightening mine supply (https://ibn.fm/8JayW).
Higher metal prices directly improve project valuations, particularly for pre-production companies with defined mineral resources. For precious metals developers such as New Pacific Metals (NYSE American: NEWP) (TSX: NUAG), this market environment enhances the economic appeal of large-scale assets and renews institutional attention to underdeveloped deposits.
New Pacific Metals is an exploration and development company focused on advancing two primary assets in Bolivia: the Silver Sand and Carangas projects. Both represent significant undeveloped silver systems that stand out as two of the largest undeveloped silver deposits globally. Together, they are projected to produce nearly 19 million ounces annually when developed, underscoring the company’s scale relative to its market capitalization (https://ibn.fm/G6DMv).
While Bolivia remains an emerging jurisdiction, the country also holds a deep mining history and substantial untapped mineral potential. With supportive commodity prices and shifting political tides favoring foreign investment, the environment for project advancement is gradually improving.
New Pacific’s Carangas Project, located in western Bolivia, exemplifies the type of scalable silver asset major producers seek. The deposit features a broad silver-dominant zone overlying a thick gold-rich horizon, allowing for flexible mine planning and potential by-product optimization.
The company’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”), completed in September 2024, focuses on a subset of the main silver zone, referred to as the starter pit, which represents only part of the total mineralized system. A larger conceptual pit scenario incorporates additional silver, lead, zinc, and gold mineralization, indicating room to scale production and/or extend mine life as further studies progress. The starter pit plan outlines:
- Ore: 64 million tonnes
- Contained silver: 131 million ounces
- Contained lead and zinc: 0.8 million tonnes
- Silver recovery: 87%
- Mine life: 16 years
- Strip ratio: 1.7
For the broader conceptual pit, total mill feed could reach 196 million tonnes, containing 233 million ounces of silver, plus 2 million tonnes of lead and zinc, and an additional 1.3 million ounces of gold from the underlying gold zone. Below this conceptual pit, drill data show continued gold mineralization, suggesting potential for future underground or expanded pit development. With a total strip ratio of roughly 1.5, Carangas compares favorably to industry averages, supporting competitive operating costs.
Previous exploration results indicate that the Carangas mineralized system could extend beyond the current pit design. Future studies aim to include a greater portion of the resource base, which could materially expand production scale and extend mine life.
New Pacific envisions the Carangas deposit as a multi-decade operation, initially anchored by silver production but with additional revenue from gold, lead, and zinc. The company’s future technical programs will focus on refining metallurgy, expanding drill coverage, and updating the mine plan to incorporate the deeper gold zones.
The Carangas district is emerging as a broader exploration corridor. Geophysical testing outlined in the company’s presentation identifies five additional targets within close proximity, each exhibiting similar magnetic and resistivity patterns to Carangas. These anomalies are considered prospective for both silver and gold mineralization, highlighting a potential multi-discovery district.
Large primary silver deposit discoveries are becoming increasingly rare, and many major producers have shifted toward polymetallic or gold-weighted portfolios from pure silver due to limited global discovery. Carangas and Silver Sand could fill that gap as large-scale, low-cost silver projects. For prospective partners or acquirers, Carangas offers:
- Scalable design with clear expansion paths
- A low waste-to-ore ratio
- Favourable metallurgy and recoveries
- Potential jurisdictional improvements as Bolivia seeks new mining investment
Bolivia is one of the most resource-endowed regions in South America. Historic mines such as Cerro Rico once ranked among the world’s richest silver sources. Today, the nation is again drawing attention as a frontier for new exploration, particularly for companies with established local expertise and technical capability.
These characteristics align with the development profiles sought by larger producers such as Pan American Silver (NYSE: PAAS) (TSX: PAAS) and Silvercorp Metals (NYSE-A/TSX: SVM), both existing shareholders in New Pacific. Their participation (Silvercorp with 28% and Pan American Silver with 12%) underscores confidence in the long-term potential of these assets.
As silver and gold prices strengthen, New Pacific Metals is well positioned for growth, with two advanced-stage, high-quality projects that could become major contributors to future global silver supply. The company’s Carangas and Silver Sand projects provide scale, resource growth potential, and diversification across both silver and gold.
For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.newpacificmetals.com/welcome.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NEWP are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/NEWP
