Paul Huet, CEO and Chairman of Americas Gold and Silver Corporation (TSX: USA) (NYSE American: USAS), joins me for an exclusive video interview to unpack the big news out today announcing the formation of the new joint venture with United States Antimony (NYSE American: UAMY) to build a new antimony processing facility at the Galena Silver Mine.
We also weave in a comprehensive review of the several key optimization initiatives ongoing at their silver-copper-gold-antimony-lead producing Galena Complex, located in Idaho, USA; as well as at the EC120 mine at their Cosalá Operations, located in Sinaloa, Mexico. Additionally, we reviewed the development plan into first production this year after closing the acquisition of the Crescent Silver Mine, located just 9 miles away from their Galena Complex in Idaho.
Highlights of The Joint Venture Between Americas Gold & Silver and US Antimony
- The JV, which will be 51% owned by Americas and 49% by US Antimony, will provide a mine-to-finished antimony #production solution to secure the supply chain for this critical mineral within the United States.
- U.S.-Based Vertical Integration: The JV will construct a new antimony processing plant in Idaho’s Silver Valley. This construction and processing business will be overseen by representatives of each company.
- Americas-Controlled Feedstock and Site: Americas will contribute the site under existing operating permits for the JV Facility at its Galena Complex in Idaho and will sell antimony feed material mined from the Galena Complex to the JV on market terms. While Americas material will have priority, the JV Facility will also have the potential to process material from other mines.
- Operational and Market Expertise: US Antimony will contribute its knowledge and technical expertise in constructing and operating these types of facilities and will provide the JV with access to its extensive antimony marketing network including the U.S. Government.
We start off with Paul outlining the multifaceted approach to optimizing their Galena mining complex this year, comprised of 3 shafts and 2 mills currently being underutilized, but setting up for a marked incremental increase in production growth over the next few years. The company invested big in 2025 in a new fleet of mobile equipment to improve efficiencies and uptime, and in a 2-phase upgrade initiative for the hoist at the No. 3 Shaft, where the motor was upgraded to a larger more powerful one, increasing the amount of tonnes that can be raised each day.
Paul reviewed the increased silver production growth on tap from the Company after a key shift at Galena from the ‘Cut and Fill’ mining method using handheld jacklegs, to a mechanized Long Hole Stoping mining method, which is far more efficient and still quite precise and able to mine at narrow widths down to 1 meter wide. There is capacity at their 2 mills to accept larger amounts of throughput as mining capacity expands
Next we talked about the initiatives to grow resources through exploration and grade-driven growth, building upon future mine sequencing following up on the successful exploration at the 034 vein at the 5200 level and the 149 vein at the 4300 level. There will also be aggressive drilling ongoing at the recently acquired nearby Crescent Mine as well as in the Cosala operations in Mexico; with the goal to go from 7 mines turning at present across the portfolio of projects with a target of getting up to 20 drill rigs turning by early next year.
Paul laid out the development and exploration work slated at the Crescent, located just 9 miles from the Galena Complex, after the acquisition of this fully permitted past-producing mine which will be advanced for a restart here in 2026. The Crescent Mine will provide a supplementary high-grade source of feed to their 2 mills at Galena, further utilizing processing capacity. The mineralized material at Crescent is very similar to the tetrahedrite material at Galena which contains high grade Silver and significant by-product potential from antimony and copper, which meshes perfectly with their strategy to maximize the production value across all metals.
Wrapping up, we shifted down to the Cosalá Operations in Mexico, where the Company has been investing in exploration to extend the San Rafael mine, and most importantly it has been tunneling over into a new area of the El Cajon mine called the EC120 mine, which will now see increased silver production in the years to come. This brought up the point that this company is one of the few North American silver-focused producers with the objective of having 87% of its revenue generated from silver in the year to come.
If you have any questions for Paul regarding Americas Gold and Silver, then please email those to me at Shad@kereport.com.
- In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Americas Gold and Silver at the time of this recording, and may choose to buy or sell shares at any time.
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