Americas Gold expands Idaho presence with $65M deal for historic mine

[Ben Graham]

Americas Gold and Silver (TSX: USA) (NYSE-A: USAS) is paying $65 million to acquire the privately owned Crescent Silver and its past-producing mine in Idaho, as the miner looks to expand its presence in the Silver Valley region.

The acquisition of Crescent presents an “immediate opportunity for material synergies,” the company said in a press release Thursday, noting that the mined material, which is silver-copper-antimony tetrahedrite, is the same at its Galena complex and would be processed at its existing mills.

The underground mine previously operated between 1917 and 1981, during which it produced over 25 million oz. of silver at an average grade of 891 grams per tonne. The property currently hosts 3.8 million oz. of historical resource in the measured and indicated category, plus a further 19.1 million oz inferred.

“The addition of the high-grade silver Crescent mine to Americas portfolio, located just 9 miles by road from our producing Galena complex, is a very compelling and synergistic acquisition opportunity that immediately capitalizes on the spare milling capacity at our Galena and Coeur mills,” stated Paul Andre Huet, chairman and CEO of Americas Gold.

“Crescent has the potential to be fast-tracked into our growing production profile alongside Galena, allowing us to leverage our strong operations team located in the Silver Valley,” he added.

Production, resource boosts

According to Americas Gold, the Crescent mine has the potential to add 1.4 to 1.6 million oz. of silver production per year, based on a preliminary economic assessment from 2015. Similar to its successful approach to optimizing and scaling operations at Galena, Americas intends to complete several positive adjustments to develop a mine plan to maximize production, it highlighted in the news release.

“The company believes that the acquisition provides a pathway to rapidly supplement the grade and volume of our feed to the Galena mill as early as mid-2026, which is expected to generate additional substantial near term cash flow for our stakeholders while we continue to scale operations aggressively at Galena,” Huet said.

The company also highlighted the mine’s vast exploration potential, highlighting that 5% of Crescent’s landholding has been explored and only two veins (South and Alhambra) have been targeted for production to date. In addition to silver, further exploration could contribute to Galena’s growing antimony resource, it added.

Sprott-backed financing

Total consideration to buy Crescent comprises $20 million cash and 11.1 million common shares, with a deemed price of $4.00 per share. The stock closed Thursday’s session at $4.07 apiece for a market capitalization of $1.1 billion.

To fund the cash portion of the deal as well as provide capital to advance the mine, Americas Gold intends to complete an equity financing for total proceeds of $65 million, offering 16.25 million shares at the deemed price.

Eric Sprott, the company’s largest shareholder, is expected to participate in the financing. The Canadian mining billionaire was previously an investor in the Galena complex but sold his 40% interest in the operation to Americas Gold in late 2024 for a large stake in the company.

Galena represents one of the largest underground silver mines in North America, having produced over 240 million oz. of the precious metal for more than half a century. It reached peak production in the early 2000s, producing in excess of 5 million oz. of silver per annum.

Like Crescent, it is located in Idaho’s Silver Valley, a district famous for producing silver, lead, zinc and copper from well-known operations such as the Bunker Hill, Sunshine and Lucky Friday mines. Americas Gold’s claim holdings cover about 90 sq. km. of the district, with three active shafts and two process facilities, one of which is producing silver concentrates.