A year after buying it, American Pacific sells the Palmer Project
- Mark Sabbatini
- Nov 14
- 3 min read
By Rashah McChesney
Chilkat Valley News
This is a developing story.
After less than a year of owning the Palmer Project, American Pacific Mining announced Monday that it had sold the project to Vancouver-based Vizsla Copper.
American Pacific is taking $15 million in equity in the company, essentially betting on Vizsla’s future stock value rather than taking cash.
“We end up owning roughly 19.9% of a fully financed Vizsla Copper,” said American Pacific Mining CEO Warwick Smith, during a pre-recorded video conversation the company released Thursday morning. The company has not responded to a request for an interview.
Viszla is restructuring its share and then plans to fundraise up to $25 million to make the deal valuable. That fundraising is contingent upon approval of its plan to restructure shares, according to the company.
Depending on how the project develops, another potential $15 million in milestone payments are possible for American Pacific. Those payments include $5 million if drilling and exploration show at least 22 million tons of mineral resource. Currently, that resource estimate is just about 16.7 million tons. The second milestone would be a $10 million payment to American Pacific if the mine is ever developed.
That development, if it happens, is many years away, said Vizsla Copper’s chairman and CEO Craig Parry.
Still, he said the company was excited to have American Pacific as a major shareholder and about the potential of the Chilkat Valley project.
“It’s a tremendous project,” Parry said, highlighting close proximity to tidewater and “ to that massive Pacific market, which is where you necessarily need to sell your copper and silver to get the best prices.”
Parry went on to say that he sees clear next steps for his company to continue development of the project.
“For us, it’s a very straightforward job,” he said. “Win community and First Nations and government support, and get in and drill some spectacular holes come summer next year.”
Supporters of the project see the development of a mine as a potential path toward economic stability for local communities.
During an interview with the Chilkat Valley News in mid-August, resident Bryce Wortman said he and others who want to live and work in the Chilkat Valley need well-paying, stable jobs that would bring crucial funding to local businesses. He sees a responsibly developed mine as one option.
But the Palmer Project has been politically and socially divisive. The support Parry said he’s looking for will likely be difficult to win in some corners of the Chilkat Valley.
It’s located above the Chilkat River, about 15 miles from the village of Klukwan, where Chilkat Indian Village President Kimberely Strong said that no owner has the consent of the village government and that any entity considering investment will face “sustained and unyielding opposition” from the stewards of the river.
“It is not only Klukwan that stands to be harmed. Continued hardrock exploration and development at the Palmer mine site poses direct and unacceptable risks to our food security, our way of life in the Chilkat Valley and the commercial fishing and visitor industries, which form the backbone of our local economy,” she wrote. “Everyone who lives, hunts, fishes, and recreates in this watershed has something to lose.”
• This article originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.
