Nova Royalty Corp (CVE:NOVR) (OTCQB:NOVRF) has reported that its Vizcachitas royalty investment project in Chile has received drilling approval from the country's Regional Environmental Committee.
The copper and molybdenum property is owned and operated by Los Andes Copper (CVE:LA), while Nova Royalty owns a 0.98% net smelter royalty (NSR) on open-pit production and a 0.49% NSR on underground production from the San Jose 1/3000 claim.
Los Andes is now awaiting the rest of the required drill permits in order to advance to the pre-feasibility study (PFS) stage.
READ: Nova Royalty boosts its royalties portfolio during a 'transformational' 2020
From there, the proposed work plan for the Chilean project includes infill drilling within the PFS open pit, drilling to extend the higher-grade mineralization to the north of the preliminary economic assessment pit, and testing of prospective geophysical targets identified in 2020.
In addition to the project update, Nova Royalty announced the appointment of Douglas B. Silver as a new strategic advisor. In 2003, he co-founded International Royalty Corporation (IRC), a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and served as its chairman and CEO. His team built IRC into the world's fourth-largest precious metals royalty company in under five years. In 2010, IRC was sold for C$749 million to Royal Gold.
"We are encouraged by the progress at Vizcachitas and other projects where Nova has committed capital and gladly welcome Doug Silver, one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs of the royalty sector, to the team as we enter the next phase of growth," said Alex Tsukernik, Nova's president and CEO in a statement.
He continued: “We would also like to formally welcome Resource Capital Funds, from whom we acquired the Vizcachitas royalty, to the Nova shareholder register in connection with Vizcachitas meeting its first project milestone since our transaction in February 2021."
Nova has been busy over the last 18-months, growing its portfolio of copper and nickel royalty streams from 5 to 18 in 2020.
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