Americas Silver Corporation (TSX: USA) (NYSE American: USAS)
(“Americas Silver” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide updated
Mineral Reserve and Resource estimates for its two 100% owned
assets, the Galena Complex in Idaho, USA and the Cosalá Operations
in Sinaloa, Mexico, including the San Rafael, El Cajón, and Nuestra
Señora mines, and the Zone 120 deposit. The estimate also includes
the San Felipe project in Sonora, Mexico on which the Company holds
an option.
This updated Mineral Reserve and Resource estimate reflects the
drilling programs completed between June 30, 2017 and June 30, 2018
as well as production data during that period (where applicable)
with an effective date of June 30, 2018 for the estimates. The
Mineral Resources attributable to the San Felipe project have an
effective date of March 15, 2018.
Highlights include:
- Silver inventory contains 26 million
ounces of proven and probable reserves, a decrease of 2 million
ounces or 9%; 70 million ounces of measured and indicated
resources, an increase of 12 million ounces or 21%; and 28 million
ounces of inferred resources, a decrease of 9 million ounces or
23%.
- Zone 120 indicated resources increased
by 30% to over 16 million silver ounces.
- Galena replaced the contained silver in
the proven and probable reserves.
- The inclusion of the San Felipe project
adds 9 million ounces of silver, 560 million pounds of zinc and 256
million pounds of lead to measured and indicated resources as
published in the May 3, 2018 technical report.
Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves †
June 30, 2018
Grade
Contained Metal
Tonnes
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
000s
g/t
%
%
%
koz
Mlbs
Mlbs
Mlbs
Total Cosalá P&P 2,912 110 -- 1.68 3.98 10,285 -- 107.7 255.7
Total Galena P&P 1,264 378
0.18 5.10 --
15,357 5.1 142.0
-- Total P&P 4,176 191
0.06 2.71 2.78
25,642 5.1 249.7
255.7
Measured and Indicated Mineral
Resources (Exclusive of Mineral Reserves) ‡ June 30, 2018
Grade
Contained Metal
Tonnes
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
000s
g/t
%
%
%
koz
Mlbs
Mlbs
Mlbs
Total Cosalá M&I 8,933 129 0.25 0.52 1.17 36,928 49.0 102.8
231.2 Total San Felipe M&I 4,685 61 -- 2.48 5.42 9,125 -- 255.9
559.7 Total Galena M&I 1,795
417 0.28 4.80 --
24,076 11.0 190.0
-- Total M&I 15,414 142
0.18 1.61 2.33
70,130 60.0 548.7
790.9
Inferred Mineral Resources ‡ June 30,
2018
Grade
Contained Metal
Tonnes
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
000s
g/t
%
%
%
koz
Mlbs
Mlbs
Mlbs
Total Cosalá Inferred 2,955 113 0.21 0.91 1.35 10,759 14.0 59.1
88.1 Total San Felipe Inferred 2,008 48 -- 1.43 3.57 3,110 -- 63.2
157.8 Total Galena Inferred 1,093
411 0.30 6.28 --
14,458 7.2 151.4
-- Total Inferred 6,057
145 0.16 2.05 1.84
28,327 21.2 273.7
246.0
“The Company has done a good job at managing its proven and
probable mineral reserves and measured and indicated resources
despite modest exploration budgets,” said Darren Blasutti,
President and CEO. “With reserves and measured and indicated
resources of approximately 100 million ounces of silver, 1.1
billion pounds of zinc, and over 800 million pounds of lead across
our royalty- and stream-free properties, we provide very attractive
production optionality and per share resource leverage to higher
commodity prices.”
Compared to the last Mineral Reserve and Resource estimate at
June 30, 2017, silver contained in the consolidated proven and
probable reserves dropped 9%, or 2.6 million ounces, to 25.6
million ounces due to mining depletion, the Nuestra Señora mine’s
repositioning to care and maintenance, and a change in pillar
design at San Rafael. These factors also contributed to the
decrease in zinc and lead comparatively between periods. The mining
recovery at San Rafael dropped from 90% to 80% after incorporating
geotechnical parameters which reflect the pillar requirements
associated with the “post-pillar cut and fill” mining method.
Galena continues to primarily produce silver-lead ore and the
proven and probable reserves associated with this material
decreased by 11% or approximately 0.9 million ounces. Drilling and
additional resource modeling work completed on the silver-copper
resource increased the contained silver reserves by 12%, or 0.8
million ounces to 7.9 million ounces. The net result at Galena is
silver contained in the reserves remained unchanged, despite
production depletion.
Silver contained in the consolidated measured and indicated
resources increased by 21% to 70.1 million ounces. The measured and
indicated resources were down slightly at Galena compared with the
2017 estimate while Cosalá Operations were boosted by gains at Zone
120 which increased 3.7 million ounces and the San Felipe Project
added 9.1 million ounces. Total silver contained in the inferred
category decreased by 23% to 28.3 million ounces primarily due to
the resource conversion at Zone 120, adopting more conservative
estimation parameters for inferred classification at Galena offset
by the inclusion of 3.1 million ounces from San Felipe Project.
Drilling completed in early 2018 in the Company’s Zone 120
deposit improved the confidence and understanding of the deposit.
The tonnage and silver contained in the indicated resources
increased to 2.7 million tonnes and 16.2 million ounces grading 186
g/t silver and 0.46% copper, an improvement of approximately 30%,
or 0.6 million tonnes and 3.7 million ounces. Given the
similarities in ore characteristics with the El Cajón measured and
indicated resource (1.1 million tonnes and 5.7 million ounces), and
critical mass of the combined measured and indicated resource
between Zone 120 and El Cajón, the Company is internally assessing
the economic viability of the joint development of these deposits.
The evaluation is expected to be completed in Q4, 2018.
Additional detail can be found on the Company’s website
www.americassilvercorp.com.
About Americas Silver
Corporation
Americas Silver is a silver mining company focused on growth in
precious metals from its existing asset base and execution of
targeted accretive acquisitions. It owns and operates the Cosalá
Operations in Sinaloa, Mexico and the Galena Mine Complex in Idaho,
USA. The Company holds an option on the San Felipe development
project in Sonora, Mexico.
Daren Dell, Chief Operating Officer and a Qualified Person under
Canadian Securities Administrators guidelines, has approved the
applicable contents of this news release. For further information
please see SEDAR or americassilvercorp.com.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information:
This news release contains “forward‐looking information” within
the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward‐looking
information includes, but is not limited to, the Company’s
expectations intentions, plans, assumptions and beliefs with
respect to, among other things, the realization of exploration,
operational, production, and development plans, the Cosalá
Operations and Galena Complex as well as the Company’s financing
efforts. Often, but not always, forward‐looking information can be
identified by forward‐looking words such as “anticipate”,
“believe”, “expect”, “goal”, “plan”, “intend”, “estimate”, “may”,
“assume” and “will” or similar words suggesting future outcomes, or
other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions,
intentions, or statements about future events or performance.
Forward‐looking information is based on the opinions and estimates
of the Company as of the date such information is provided and is
subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other
factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity,
performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking
information. This includes the ability to develop and operate the
Cosalá and Galena properties, risks associated with the mining
industry such as economic factors (including future commodity
prices, currency fluctuations and energy prices), ground conditions
and factors other factors limiting mine access, failure of plant,
equipment, processes and transportation services to operate as
anticipated, environmental risks, government regulation, actual
results of current exploration and production activities, possible
variations in ore grade or recovery rates, permitting timelines,
capital expenditures, reclamation activities, social and political
developments and other risks of the mining industry. Although the
Company has attempted to identify important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause
results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. By
its nature, forward-looking information involves numerous
assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and
specific that contribute to the possibility that the predictions,
forecasts, and projections of various future events will not occur.
The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or
otherwise revise any forward-looking information whether as a
result of new information, future events or other such factors
which affect this information, except as required by law.
Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors:
The terms “mineral resource”, “measured mineral resource”,
“indicated mineral resource”, “inferred mineral resource” used in
the press release are Canadian mining terms used in accordance with
National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of
Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Standards. Mineral resources which
are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic
viability.
While the terms “mineral resource”, “measured mineral resource”,
“indicated mineral resource”, and “inferred mineral resource” are
recognized and required by Canadian regulations, they are not
defined terms under standards in the United States and normally are
not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements
filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”). As
such, information contained in the Company's disclosure concerning
descriptions of mineralization and resources under Canadian
standards may not be comparable to similar information made public
by U.S companies in SEC filings. With respect to “inferred mineral
resource” there is a great amount of uncertainty as to their
existence and a great uncertainty as to their economic and legal
feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an
“inferred mineral resource” will ever be upgraded to a higher
category. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or
all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be
converted into reserves.
† CIM Definition and Standards were followed for Mineral Reserve
Estimates. Mineral Reserves are estimated at a NSR cut-off value of
US$40/tonne at Nuestra Señora, US$50/tonne at San Rafael and
US$198/tonne at Galena. The NSR cut-off is calculated using recent
operating results for recoveries, off-site concentrate costs, and
on-site operating costs. Mineral Reserves are estimated using metal
prices of $16.00 per ounce of silver, $2.50 per pound of copper,
$0.90 per pound of lead and $0.90 per pound of zinc. Numbers may
not add or multiply accurately due to rounding.
‡ CIM Definition and Standards were followed for Mineral
Resource Estimates. Mineral Resources are estimated at a NSR
cut-off value of US$34/tonne at San Rafael, US$40/tonne at Zone
120, US$30/tonne at El Cajón and US$198/tonne at Galena. Mineral
Resources at Nuestra Señora are estimated at a 90g/tonne silver
equivalent cut-off grade. Mineral Resources at San Felipe are
estimated at a 2.5% zinc equivalent cut-off grade. NSR and
equivalent cut-offs were calculated using recent or expected
operating results for recoveries, off-site concentrate costs, and
on-site operating costs. Mineral Resources are estimated using
$18.00/oz Ag, $3.00/lb Cu, $1.05/lb Pb and $1.05/lb Zn. Mineral
Resources are reported exclusive of Mineral Reserves and as such
the Mineral Resources do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Numbers may not add or multiply accurately due to rounding.
The Mineral Resource estimate for the Cosalá Operations is based
on block models prepared by independent mineral resource
consultants. The Nuestra Señora Mineral Reserve and Resource
estimate was prepared by Company personnel under the supervision of
James Stonehouse, a Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101.
The San Rafael, Zone 120, El Cajón and San Felipe Mineral Resource
estimates were prepared by Paul Tietz, C.P.G. who is an independent
consultant and Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101. The
San Rafael Mineral Reserve estimate was prepared by company
personnel under the supervision of Shawn Wilson, a Qualified Person
for the purpose of NI 43-101.
The Mineral Resource estimate for the Galena Complex was
prepared using a combination of block modelling and the
accumulation method. The Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by
Company personnel under the supervision of Aaron Gross, C.P.G., a
Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101. The Mineral Reserve
estimate was prepared by Company personnel under the supervision of
Shawn Wilson, a Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101.
The Mineral Resources attributable to the San Felipe project
have an effective date of March 15, 2018.
Varying cut-off grades have been used depending on the mine,
methods of extraction and type of ore contained in the reserves.
Mineral resource metal grades and material densities have been
estimated using industry-standard methods appropriate for each
mineral project with support of various commercially available
mining software packages. The Company’s normal data verification
procedures have been employed in connection with the calculations.
Verification procedures include industry standard quality control
practices. Sampling, analytical and test data underlying the stated
mineral resources and reserves have been verified by employees of
the Company under the supervision of Qualified Persons, for
purposes of 43-101 and/or independent Qualified Persons. Additional
details regarding Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimation,
classification, reporting parameters, key assumptions and
associated risks for each of the Company’s mineral properties are
provided in the respective NI 43-101 Technical Reports which are
available at www.sedar.com
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181011005235/en/
Darren BlasuttiPresident and CEO416-848-9503
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