Pete Dougherty, Argonaut Gold’s President & CEO said “2015 was a challenging year for the industry and investors. However, I am pleased with our team for the achievements made during the year. We overcame many obstacles while meeting production guidance and completing key capital programs, including the payment of the final installment for the acquisition of the San Agustin project. We have reorganized our operations to operate in a lower gold price environment and have completed the bulk of our capital projects at our operating assets. These actions have placed us on solid footing to move forward and continue to maintain a strong balance sheet, even in a lower gold price environment.

“Capstone’s 2015 copper production met guidance, with outperformance at Pinto Valley and Minto offsetting the production challenges at Cozamin that occurred early in the year,” said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. “Pinto Valley had a very strong fourth quarter with record quarterly throughput of over 54,000 tonnes per day, demonstrating significant improvement and exceeding our expectations.”

22% increase in production year-over-year to 154,529 gold equivalent ounces in 2015.
New pro-business government elected in Argentina, positive policy changes already enacted.
4.2 grams per tonne average crushed gold grade at El Gallo Mine in Q4 2015 vs. 2.3 gpt in Q3 2015.
Production guidance of 141,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2016.
No debt, $5.2 million line of credit repaid in full.
$32 million in cash, cash equivalents and precious metals.
2nd semi-annual return of capital of $0.005 per common share will be paid on February 12th, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 3rd, 2016.

Bradford Cooke, CEO and Director, commented, “Our mining operations group is to be commended for delivering another solid year of production in 2015. Guanaceví continued to perform better than plan and the completion of the Phase 2 mine expansion from 1,500 tpd to 2,200 tpd at El Cubo was a significant achievement, offsetting the planned lower production from Bolañitos.

“Despite a difficult metals market, Hecla’s production continues to grow, setting the 2nd consecutive annual silver production record,” said Phillips S. Baker, Jr., Hecla’s President and CEO. “All three mines exceeded guidance and San Sebastian has begun production. We are continuing to see results from our strategy of investing in production growth, causing our silver equivalent production to be the most in our 125-year history. This growth, along with cost controls and focused investment, puts Hecla in a good position now and when metals prices rebound.”

Canarc Resource Corp. is pleased to announce that it has appointed Mr. Alfonso Canseco as Interim General Manager for Canarc’s fully permitted El Compas Gold-Silver Mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, effective immediately. Based in our Zacatecas office, Mr. Canseco will be responsible for directing our efforts to bring the El Compas mine into production in 2016.

GoGold Resources Inc. is pleased to announce that Brad Langille moves from Strategic Advisor to replace Terry Coughlan as President and CEO effective today. Mr. Coughlan will continue his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“Brad is the right person to take GoGold to the next level,” said Coughlan. “His experience in building and operating mines in Mexico is instrumental in executing GoGold’s growth plan.”