(Kitco News) Argenta Silver President and CEO Joaquín Marias says Argentina has entered a new phase for mining investment, as policy changes under President Javier Milei begin to reverse years of political uncertainty and reposition the country for large-scale resource development.
Speaking with Kitco Mining’s Investment Trends, Marias said the shift marks a structural change in how mining is viewed at both the federal and provincial levels. “There is no way to go back to what it was before,” he said, pointing to reforms aimed at attracting foreign capital, improving legal certainty, and reopening jurisdictions that were previously closed to mining.
Silver prices have moved higher while many developers and projects have yet to fully reprice, a dynamic Marias believes is creating valuation distortions across the sector. He said conservative assumptions embedded in technical studies and resource models have struggled to keep pace with changing market conditions, leaving some companies with quality assets trading below their potential.
Against that backdrop, Argenta is advancing exploration and technical work at its El Quevar Project in Salta Province, where the company is working toward a new mineral resource estimate targeted for late 2026 or early 2027. The project currently hosts a historic silver resource of roughly 50 million ounces, with around 90% classified as indicated. Marias says the company’s priority is to expand the scale and robustness of the resource rather than recalculating project economics around short-term price movements.
“Our goal at this particular moment, in terms of the resource, is to add more ounces, to be able to make such a robust thing that it’s going to kick every kind of economic hurdle that we can find in the future,” he said.
Marias notes that Argenta is maintaining a cautious approach to resource modeling and cutoff grades, noting that rapid changes in metal prices require time and technical validation before being responsibly reflected in studies. He added that many economic assessments completed in recent years “are now starting to get obsolete.”
Exploration at El Quevar is being guided by what Marias described as a 40-60 capital allocation strategy. About 40% of spending is directed toward expanding the existing silver resource, while 60% is focused on testing new targets across the broader land package. “Only 3% of the property has been explored,” historically, he said, leaving significant potential beyond the known mineralization. Argenta has expanded coverage to roughly 7% and is working toward a longer-term goal of around 15%.
Recent drilling has added a new dimension to the project. Argenta reported a copper-gold intercept at the Carbon target, returning 40 meters grading 0.57 grams per tonne gold and 0.58% copper, with higher grade copper and gold encountered over shorter intervals. Marias said the results support the idea that El Quevar may host a deeper porphyry-style system beneath the epithermal silver mineralization.
“These are very, very rich fluids,” he said, noting that ongoing work will focus on identifying where mineralization occurs in sufficient volume and continuity to support economic development.
Argenta recently strengthened its balance sheet with a C$20 million bought deal financing and a C$3 million over allotment. Marias said the financing reflects improving investor appetite for high-quality projects, noting that successive capital raises have been completed at higher prices and with growing institutional participation, strengthening the company’s share structure.
“With this $23 million that we have now on top of the cash that we already had, this is going to allow us to fast-track some things and to cover areas that we were not thinking of covering this year,” he said.
The company plans to expand geophysical surveys, conduct new metallurgical testing, increase camp capacity, and add drilling rigs as exploration continues. Marias adds that El Quevar benefits from year-round operating conditions, allowing Argenta to maintain consistent exploration momentum.
Marias also placed Argentina’s resurgence within a broader global context, arguing that rising geopolitical tensions are creating opportunities for resource-rich regions that remain politically neutral. He notes Argentina’s resource base, technical workforce, and improving policy framework position it to attract increasing investment. “This is opening a lot of opportunities,” he said.
With drilling ongoing and multiple technical programs advancing in parallel, Marias said continued exploration results remain the key driver for Argenta as it works toward its next phase of growth.
Watch the full interview on the Kitco Mining YouTube channel to hear Joaquín Marias discuss Argentina’s mining outlook, Argenta’s exploration strategy, and how shifting valuation dynamics are affecting silver developers.
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