AbraSilver Receives Final Environmental Approval from Catamarca Authorities for Diablillos
AbraSilver’s final Catamarca permit clears provincial hurdles, shifting focus to project financing and final investment decision for the deposit.
AbraSilver has received the final major environmental permit (DIA) from Catamarca Province for its Diablillos silver-gold project, completing all principal provincial environmental approvals required for development. Simultaneously, an inter-provincial cooperation agreement between Salta and Catamarca has been ratified, resolving historical jurisdictional and royalty/tax boundary risks. The release also restates the April 30, 2026 Mineral Resource Estimate of 454 Moz AgEq in Measured & Indicated (virtually unchanged from the May 6 update). Management highlights that Diablillos is now the largest fully-permitted, construction-ready silver-gold project globally and confirms a development roadmap: DFS completed, early-works commencing Q3 2026, and active pursuit of project financing.
The news is a positive de-risking milestone, but it is largely the completion of a process that was clearly signaled and expected. The company received Salta’s DIA on April 27, 2026, and stated the Catamarca public review would end May 7 with approval anticipated shortly thereafter. The definitive feasibility study (DFS) released two days prior (June 22) presented the project as essentially permitted, with a massive $4.2B CAD after-tax NPV and 42% IRR. Thus, today’s announcement merely removes the final tick-box. While it removes any residual uncertainty over provincial permitting, the market had already priced in this outcome, as evidenced by the stock’s strong run through the DFS release. The inter-provincial cooperation agreement is a welcome additional layer of legal certainty but was also expected given the provinces’ prior commitment to the RIGI framework. The MRE update is a repetition of earlier numbers. Overall, the release adds incremental, confirmatory good news but does not alter the investment thesis in a material way that hasn’t already been absorbed. The DFS was the game-changer; this is the rubber stamp.
AbraSilver Resource Corp. is an advanced-stage exploration and development company advancing its 100%-owned Diablillos silver-gold project located in the Salta and Catamarca provinces of Argentina (a high-altitude epithermal/porphyry district). The project has been systematically de-risked through a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) released on June 22, 2026, and now has all major provincial environmental permits. The DFS outlines a 25-year mine life with an after-tax NPV of CAD$4.2B (US$3.0B) and an IRR of 41.9% at base-case $50/oz Ag and $3,650/oz Au. Annual production averages 20 Moz AgEq in the first five years, and the initial pre-production capex is US$722M. Mineral Reserves stand at 77.9 Mt grading 146 g/t AgEq, containing 183 Moz Ag and 1.8 Moz Au. The company also owns an earn-in JV with Teck on the La Coipita copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project in San Juan, which is an early-stage exploration upside.