Interview with Ian Harris, CEO and President, Outcrop Silver

Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/outcrop-silver-tsxvocg-leveraging-high-grade-silver-in-colombia-in-growing-global-demand-5930

Recording date: 3rd of March, 2025

Outcrop Silver is developing its flagship Santa Ana project in Colombia, positioned as one of the world's highest-grade primary silver projects. With 75% of its value derived from silver and exceptional recovery rates of 96-99% for both silver and gold, the project represents a rare opportunity for investors seeking pure silver exposure.

The company has secured significant backing from prominent silver investor Eric Sprott, who holds a 19.9% stake—the maximum allowable before triggering takeover provisions. According to CEO Ian Harris, this makes Outcrop among Sprott's top five investments last year despite the company's relatively small size.

For 2025, Outcrop has allocated an ambitious $12 million exploration budget to drill 24,000 meters using two drilling rigs. The company employs a systematic approach to target prioritization, analyzing factors such as grade, thickness, success rate, and strike length to calculate potential ounces and drilling costs. Their goal is to convert targets to resources at approximately 50 cents per ounce, well below their market valuation.

"The goal is to do it at around 50 cents... basically our cost to convert to resource, and our valuation is much higher than that number," Harris explained. "We are putting in a plan that securely will create more value for less money than we're spending."

Harris emphasized the advantages of being a true primary silver project, which creates greater leverage to silver prices. He noted silver's potential for explosive price movements compared to other metals: "If I said do you believe that it's possible that silver could double in price this year, the argument would be yes. Is there a possibility of copper going two times this year? No."

The company sees potential for industry consolidation among the small peer group of quality primary silver companies to improve capital access. Harris suggested combining companies with complementary attributes could be beneficial in the current capital-constrained environment.

Outcrop operates within a unique silver market characterized by structural supply-demand imbalances. Primary silver mines represent less than 25% of global production, with the majority coming as byproducts from base metal operations. Meanwhile, industrial demand continues growing, with solar panel manufacturing accounting for approximately 25% of consumption.

With Colombia's presidential election approaching in 14 months, the company is well-positioned to benefit from potential renewed interest in mining investment while advancing its high-grade project toward resource expansion.

Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/outcrop-silver-gold

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