Category: Exploration and Development

Igor Gonzales, President, and CEO of Sierra Metals commented: “Management is committed to improving operations in Mexico and to increase the profitability of both the Bolivar and Cusi Mines. We have undertaken efforts to appoint experienced and qualified personnel to run the operational improvements program and improve the efficiency and operations at both mines. We expect that our program efforts should be more apparent in the latter part of 2017 and we will continue working toward completion of the improvements scheduled for the end of Q1 2018. We are optimistic about the outcome and expect to see higher cash flow from our Mexican operations starting in Q2 2018.”

Luis Castro, Vice President, Exploration for Endeavour Silver, commented, “These encouraging drill results help to verify the portion of the historic resource within the Argentina-Remedios area of the Veta Colorada. A new resource estimate will be prepared at year-end for release in the 1st quarter of 2018. Drilling is ongoing at other areas of the Parral property such as Palmilla and San Patricio, where there was a history of high grade mining but very little drilling and no previous resources, to test for new silver resources. We plan to release additional drill results during the 4th quarter of 2017.”

Frederick H. Earnest, Vista’s President and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to have Minera Alamos as a partner in the GdlR Project. We believe they have the requisite experience and skill to succeed in Mexico, and we are very supportive of their commitment to develop the GdlR Project. The Option Agreement preserves the upside of the GdlR Project for Vista shareholders by maintaining exposure to the underground potential as well as providing near-term non-dilutive strength for our balance sheet.”

Pete Dougherty, President & CEO stated: “The achievement of commercial production at San Agustin is a major milestone for the Company. I commend the team on its ability to deliver the project on schedule, under budget and with no major safety or environmental incidents. We view San Agustin as an important piece of the El Castillo Complex given the shared infrastructure and synergies with our neighbouring El Castillo mine. We believe the El Castillo Complex has the ability to ramp up to 150,000 gold equivalent ounces of production over the next couple of years, which will be the driving force of our approximate 60% production growth rate and lower operating costs by 2019.”

Mexico’s oil regulator will likely add another auction in 2018 featuring conventional onshore oil and gas blocks, the head of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) said on Thursday, potentially teeing up a third tender in an election year.

Bacanora CEO Peter Secker said, “Government approval for the Environmental Impact Statement is the latest key requirement that is now in place at Sonora. One-by-one we are ticking off our checklist ahead of our goal of developing Sonora into a world class lithium operation. Our work to date has already established Sonora as a large and scalable project; while our pilot plant at Sonora has been producing battery grade lithium carbonate on a continuous basis for the past eighteen months. This has served to prove the detailed flow sheet and metallurgical process that will be deployed at the Project, and has also helped to secure Hanwa as both a strategic and off-take partner for up to 100% of production.”

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng, President and CEO, remarked, “Our continued step-out drilling along the strike of the Babicanora Vein has added another 100 metres to the previously announced high-grade footprint. Our first holes in the Granaditas and Amatista veins, which intersected high-grade mineralization, continue to show further untested potential in the district. Drilling in all nine veins drilled to date has intercepted areas of high-grade mineralization that warrant further drilling to better define continuity and volume. Our Phase II exploration program at Las Chispas continues with six drills actively working from the surface and underground. The objective of this program is to drill-test the Babicanora Vein over 1.5 kilometres of its known 3.2 kilometres strike length. With our continued success, we are aiming to further expand high-grade mineralization along multiple veins in both the Las Chispas and Babicanora areas in preparation for a maiden resource in early 2018.”

El senador Luis Sánchez Jiménez solicitó a la Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social asumir la defensa de los derechos de los trabajadores mineros que demandan el pago del 5% de las acciones de la Compañía Minera de Cananea, comprometidos en el Convenio firmado desde el 20 de agosto de 1990.

Commenting on the drilling, Azure Managing Director, Mr Tony Rovira, said, “This is a very exciting time for Azure. With drilling underway at Oposura, the Company now has six rigs turning on three different projects, delivering a continual news flow over the next few months. Programs range from first-pass drilling on the exciting Sara Alicia gold-cobalt prospect to the resource drill-out program at Oposura, as well as deep exploration drilling being undertaken at Alacrán by our partner Teck Resources.”

El Gallo Mine, Mexico – Overcoming Challenges

Production in Q3 was 7,213 gold equivalent ounces, compared to 11,849 gold equivalent ounces during the same period in 2016. Production in Q3 continued to be below our expectations as a result of a serious mechanical failure at the end of July that removed the crushing circuit from operation. As a result we were unable to crush and place fresh ore to leach on the leach pad for a period of time. We currently have almost twice our normal crushing capacity available for the remainder of the year. Production is improving on account of the increased throughput, and access to better grades of ore in the pit that was predicted in the second half of the year. Increased production in Q4 will partially compensate for the shortfall experienced to date.