The Peruvian operating arm of Patriot Resources has secured a crucial community access agreement for its recently expanded Tassa silver-gold project in country's south, paving the way for boots-on-ground exploration across its highly prospective silver tenure which was recently expanded by 50 per cent.
The deal with the Pachamayo Community gives the company the green light to conduct detailed geological mapping and surface sampling across 226 hectares in the northern portion of Tassa, significantly de-risking the major hurdles of community engagement for the incoming explorer.
In the established silver-producing jurisdiction of Peru, securing social licence and community buy-in is often a practical prerequisite for advancing any exploration program, making this authorisation more than just a formality. It is the key that unlocks the next phase of work that can pave the way to production. And with an exploration target of between a whopping 559 million and 774 million silver-equivalent ounces that needs to be taken seriously.
More recently, Patriot quietly expanded its footprint at Tassa, staking the new “Tassa 5” tenement that directly adjoins the existing maiden mineral resource of 31.4 million ounces of silver equivalent. The move boosted the company’s landholding to 1800 hectares from from 1200ha and extended the project’s interpreted mineralised strike length to 3.1 kilometres from 2.9km.
The initial three-month work program will see Patriot’s team, including two community-appointed guides and four local assistants, systematically map and sample its newest northern areas. This work is designed to bridge the gap between previous geophysical and geochemical surveys and a future maiden drilling campaign in the area.
The company says discussions are also continuing with the neighbouring Tassa Community to secure access to other parts of the project to support drill readiness.
Patriot Resources managing director Dominic Duggan said: "Reaching this agreement with the Pachamayo Community is an important step for Tassa. It is a great opportunity to conduct mapping and surface sampling in the north of the project with Pachamayo community members, and it reflects the strength of the relationship we've built with the Pachamayo Community. It's a part of the wider Tassa Project, and we're grateful to the Pachamayo Community for their support."
The company’s move on Tassa follows a strategic pivot from its previous life as a lithium-focused explorer. Now rebranded as a silver and copper growth story, Patriot is also advancing its emerging Kitumba copper project in Zambia while still holding its Canadian lithium project in the back pocket.
Just last month, the company hit the ground running at Kitumba, confirming a new copper-silver-zinc-cobalt discovery from maiden drilling program at its Tonic prospect, with mineralisation impressively starting from surface.
However, with a solid resource already on the books at Tassa and a newly expanded footprint to explore, the company's focus cannot waver from Peru either. With the community on-side and silver targets stacking up, Patriot has plenty of ground to kick. Now it just needs the drill bit to do the talking.
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By Andrew Todd
