A team of divers has recovered nearly $23 million worth of gold from the icy waters off Argentina's south-eastern coast, a source close to the recovery operation said.

The cargo of gold and silver sank in January on board a ship named the Polar Mist, which disappeared off Argentina's Patagonian coast in bad weather.

A marine recovery outfit raised the haul from the depths of the south Atlantic and transported it to an Argentine customs facility, where it was weighed in front of a federal judge, the source said.

The ill-fated vessel sank on January 18 at a depth of 80 metres, around 40 kilometres off the coast of Santa Cruz, prompting a search for its 9.4 tonnes of gold and silver.

After months of negotiations between the shipment's owners and insurers, the C-Sailor search ship located the wreck on June 23 and confirmed the cargo was still aboard.

The Polar Mist was scheduled to make a stop in Punta Arenas, a port in Chile's southern tip, and then head north to Santiago.

The load was to be flown from the Chilean capital to Switzerland.

The British insurance company Lloyd's, which insured the cargo, hired Dutch recovery company Mammoet to locate the ship after it disappeared. Mammoet in turn contracted C-Sailor for the job.

In July, divers from the C-Sailor recovered the first of nine baskets of the precious cargo from the ocean bottom.

- AFP