Blackrock Silver outlines early production plan for Tonopah West mine

Blackrock Silver is laying out an early-production path for Tonopah West on private land about 1 kilometer west-northwest of Tonopah. The decline, test mining and bulk sampling cannot begin until permits are secured, a process it expects to finish by mid-2027. If the project moves into underground development, Nye County would see a large construction and contractor push before any silver is sold.

The company’s updated March 31, 2026 preliminary economic assessment pegs Tonopah West at an 11.2-year mine life with average annual production of 7.1 million silver-equivalent ounces and an all-in sustaining cost of US$17.44 per silver-equivalent ounce. Blackrock Silver estimates initial capital at US$190 million and says the mine plan contains 89.6 million silver-equivalent ounces, including 79.6 million payable silver-equivalent ounces. On the company’s base-case metal prices of US$31 per ounce of silver and US$2,700 per ounce of gold, the project carries a 28% after-tax internal rate of return and a US$437 million after-tax net present value.

Under the company’s one-year analyst consensus price forecast, the project rises to a 79% after-tax internal rate of return and a US$1.55 billion net present value.

Its updated mineral resource estimate, effective Jan. 4, 2026, included 40.2 million ounces of indicated silver-equivalent resources at 454 grams per tonne silver-equivalent, including 19.2 million ounces of silver and 199,000 ounces of gold. That was a 90% increase in indicated resources from the prior estimate. It has also completed more than 150,000 metres of drilling at Tonopah West since June 2020.

The permitting work is already under way. Blackrock engaged Westland Engineering and Environmental Services to handle baseline data and permits for an exploration decline, began hydrologic monitoring-well work in May 2025, and carried out a Phase 2 hydrology, geotechnical and seismic program in October 2025. The work supports permits for the decline, test mining and bulk sample extraction in the DPB South area, where it plans to go underground.

The Tonopah district produced 174 million ounces of silver and 1.8 million ounces of gold from underground mining between 1900 and 1930, with peak years reaching as much as 14 million silver-equivalent ounces annually. Tonopah West accounted for 30% of district tonnage and 26% of district revenue.