Pan American Silver Corp. is pleased to announce the positive results of a preliminary economic assessment of expanding its Dolores mine in Chihuahua, Mexico by adding a milling and pulp agglomeration circuit to the processing flow sheet to enhance silver and gold recoveries of higher grade mineralization, as well as by developing an underground mine to extract mineral resources that exist beneath and to the south of the ultimate open pit floor (the “Project”). The preliminary results indicate that the Project has the potential to generate excellent after-tax economic returns using the Company’s current reserve metal prices of $22 per ounce of silver and $1,300 per ounce of gold. The Project economics also remain robust at long term metal prices of $19 per ounce of silver and $1,200 per ounce of gold. The Project will increase average annual silver production from 3.65 million ounces to 5.04 million ounces, while average annual gold production will increase from an estimated 111,000 ounces to 148,000 ounces. The PEA contemplates an incremental capital investment of $105 million for the expansion. Pan American has decided to defer making a construction decision for the next 9 to 12 months while it invests a modest amount of capital (estimated at $3.0 to $5.0 million) to proceed with additional studies, and continue the delineation of the underground accessible mineralization, in order to further de-risk the Project.
