Patriot Resources Unlocks Drill Access to 31Moz Silver Deposit With 5-Year Community Deal
Key Takeaways
- Patriot Resources (ASX: PAT) has signed a five-year Land Access Agreement with the Tassa Community, unlocking surface exploration and drilling across 100% of the Tassa Community's land overlapping the project.
- Combined with the Pachamayo Community Prospecting Agreement signed in August 2026, Patriot now holds community access covering 100% of its Tassa Silver-Gold Project in southern Peru, including the recently pegged Tassa 5 tenement.
- The agreements unlock access to an Inferred Mineral Resource of 31.4Moz AgEq at 52.68 g/t AgEq from 18.53Mt, with an Exploration Target of 559–774Moz AgEq from 359–422Mt at 48–57 g/t AgEq sitting beyond the resource boundary.
- Patriot has announced its intention to divest both the Zambia Kitumba Copper Project and the Canadian Gorman Lithium Project, pivoting to a 100%-focused silver and gold Peruvian exploration company.
- Surface exploration at Tassa is expected to commence shortly, with a drill programme to follow — the first time the company has had full community consent to put drill bits into the ground across the entire project.
Patriot secures five-year exploration agreement with Tassa Community, unlocking drill program
Patriot Resources (ASX: PAT) has signed a five-year Land Access Agreement with the Tassa Community in southern Peru, covering all surface exploration activities including drilling across 100% of the Tassa Community’s land overlapping the project. The agreement clears the path for surface exploration on the Tassa high-grade silver deposit to commence shortly.
The significance is hard to overstate. The agreement unlocks access to the area hosting Patriot’s Inferred Mineral Resource of 31.4Moz AgEq at 52.68 g/t AgEq from 18.53Mt and a substantial Exploration Target, both of which had been sitting behind the gate of community consent.
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Q&A: Why community agreements matter for junior miners in Peru
A Land Access Agreement is a formal consent arrangement between a mining or exploration company and the community whose land overlaps the project area. In Peru, community consent is both a legal and practical requirement before surface exploration, including drilling, can proceed on community-held land. Without it, no drill bit turns.
Multi-year agreements carry a distinct advantage over single-season arrangements. A five-year term gives Patriot the operational certainty to plan and execute a full drill programme without renegotiating access each season. For a junior explorer, that stability is the difference between a workable exploration schedule and one that stalls on consent timelines. In Patriot’s case, this agreement unlocks access for the drill programme at Tassa.
Full project coverage now in place across Tassa
With the Tassa Community Exploration Agreement signed, combined with the Pachamayo Community Prospecting Agreement announced on 12 August 2026, Patriot now holds community access covering 100% of its Tassa Silver-Gold Project in southern Peru, including the recently pegged Tassa 5 tenement.
The two agreements side by side:
| Agreement | Community | Date | Coverage | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tassa Community Exploration Agreement | Tassa Community | September 2026 | Full surface exploration incl. drilling + Tassa 5 tenement | 5 years |
| Pachamayo Community Prospecting Agreement | Pachamayo Community | August 2026 | Northern Tassa | Not stated |
The resource sitting beneath this ground is material. The Inferred Mineral Resource, announced on 16 February 2026, stands at 31.4Moz AgEq at 52.68 g/t AgEq from 18.53Mt. Beyond the resource, the Exploration Target (announced 8 May 2026) points to a potential scale of 559–774Moz AgEq from 359–422Mt at 48–57 g/t AgEq.
The 774Moz silver Exploration Target was announced in May 2026 and represents the upper bound of a conceptual scale estimate covering 359-422Mt at 48-57 g/t AgEq across the broader Tassa tenement package.
Investors should note the required JORC cautionary disclosure: the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource for the target areas, and it is uncertain whether further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.
CEO quote: community relationships as a strategic asset
CEO and Managing Director Dominic Duggan pointed to the strength of the relationships built with both communities as central to reaching this milestone.
Dominic Duggan, CEO & Managing Director
“Concluding this five-year agreement with the Tassa Community gives us a clear, multi-year pathway to carry out surface exploration and drilling across the Company’s Tassa high grade silver deposit. The agreement includes our recently pegged Tassa 5 tenement. Our team works closely with both the Tassa Community and the Pachamayo Community. This agreement reflects the strength of the relationship we’ve built with both these local communities. We’re grateful for their continued support, trust and collaboration and we look forward to working closely with them as our exploration program progresses…”
Duggan also specifically recognised the contribution of the local team to this process, naming Jorge Aguilar, Jorge Santiago, Patricia Arevalo, and Miguel Araoz.
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Portfolio sharpened: Patriot pivots to pure-play silver-gold
Alongside the community agreement, Patriot has announced its intention to divest its Zambia copper portfolio, the Kitumba Copper Project. This follows the company’s previously announced intention to divest the Gorman Lithium Project in Canada.
The direction is deliberate. Once these divestments are complete, Patriot intends to be a 100%-focused silver and gold Peruvian exploration company, with the investment thesis concentrated entirely on Tassa.
For investors, the strategic implications of that pivot are worth understanding:
- Capital and management focus directed entirely at the Tassa Silver-Gold Project
- A simplified corporate structure, removing exposure to unrelated commodities and geographies
- Clear, undiluted leverage to silver and gold price movements
The immediate near-term catalyst is surface exploration commencing shortly at Tassa, building toward a drill programme across one of the more sizeable high-grade silver resource footprints on the ASX.
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