Arian Silver agrees 'pivotal' $32m funding deal

Arian Silver Corporation has raised a "pivotal" $32m (£20.1m) with its partners to fund and advance its San Jose Project in Mexico to full-scale commercial production.The AIM- and Toronto-listed company completed the joint financing package with Quintana AGQ and Quintana San Jose Streaming, subsidiaries of Vancouver-based Quintana Resources.Arian has agreed a financial deal whereby Quintana will acquire a US$15.6m senior secured convertible note with a term of 31 March 2015 and has agreed a metal purchase agreement also worth $15.6m.This metal streaming deal will see Arian sell Quintana Streaming a proportion of the lead and zinc finished metal produced from the San Jose Project.In the case of zinc, Arian will supply 78.2% of the zinc produced from San Jose until 32m pounds of zinc are delivered and 27.4% thereafter.Similarly Arian will supply 78.2% of the lead until 37m pounds of lead are delivered to Quintana and 27.4% thereafter.Chief executive Jim Williams said: "Today's announcement of the wide ranging financing agreements with Quintana marks a pivotal moment in the short history of Arian."Not only will the substantial funds provided allow Arian to complete plant construction at the San Jose mine as previously outlined in detail but also now enable accelerated mine development towards achieving the stated aim of a producing silver and lead/zinc operation at up to 1,500 tonnes per day. It is important to note that the base metal streaming agreement with Quintana only relates to by product lead and zinc leaving Arian completely unhedged in relation to silver."With two Quintana executives to join Arian's board, Williams added that Quintana represented a "long standing and financially strong" group of companies with considerable natural resource expertise.