TORONTO, May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Sierra Metals
Inc. (TSX-V:SMT)(BVL:SMT) ("Sierra Metals" or the "Company") is
pleased to report that the Company is on track to triple production
at its Cusi property during 2013. Development of new access
drifts at the La India mine and Minerva Mine is on time and daily
production is now double that of 2012. The Cusi operation is
scheduled to continue to expand and reach production of at least
500 tonnes per day within 4 months.
Press Release Highlights:
- Continued development of the Santa Eduwiges mine to depth has
revealed high grades of silver on Level 10A, with silver grades up
to 5,836 g/t silver and 4.1 g/t Au over 0.9 m width.
- Development of the La India mine (Candelaria, 20 de Noviembre, Durana and
Saturno veins) is well advanced with the access drift now 200 m
along the Candelaria vein.
Grades up to 1,496 g/t silver and 5.4 g/t gold over 0.4 m
have been encountered along the drift.
- The Fatima cross-cut drift has cut the Candelaria vein and a newly-started drift
along the vein has returned silver grades up to 189 g/t and 1.1 g/t
gold over 1.0 m width.
- Development of the Minerva Mine from a new adit has advanced 58
meters and cut the Minerva vein. Samples from Level 1 of the
mine in an older drift returned silver grades of up to 1,237 g/t
and gold up to 22.5 g/t over 0.3 m width.
- Development at the La India Mine has advanced 168 m
- The San Juan Mine has been developed and production will
commence during the fourth quarter at a rate of 80-100 tpd.
"Our Cusi operation continues to advance on
time with the objective of reaching production of at least 500
tonnes per day by October this year", stated Daniel Tellechea, President & CEO of Sierra
Metals. "This will complete Phase One of our development of
this large silver district, which was the acquisition, exploration,
development and pilot mining of the property to reach commercial
production and mill throughput of 500 tpd. At that rate and
with our budgeted silver grade and recovery, the objective is to
have an annualized silver production of over 1,000,000 ounces per
year. Phase Two will begin during 2014, consisting of
exploration and development with the objective of achieving
production of at least 2,000 tpd by 2015 with a new mill on
site. For each 500 tpd increment in mine production, we
expect a similar proportional increment in silver production.
The Cusi project will be the major driver for increasing the
Company's global silver production."
An NI 43-101 resource report is in progress and
is expected to be completed during the third quarter of this year.
The decision to construct a new mill will be subject to an economic
study and financing in place. The Company's Cusi Property
encompasses 60 concessions covering 11,319 hectares that include 12
inactive mines, each located on a mineralized structure, and which
lie within 40 kilometres of the Malpaso Mill. These mines produced
high-grade silver but became inactive due to revolution, silver
price collapses and world-wide depression in the first half of the
20th Century.
The Company's objective for the Cusi property in
2013 is to advance underground development from five mines, the
Santa Eduwiges, Promontorio, La India, Minerva and San Juan Mines to allow mining and
development both laterally and at depth. This will bring to five
the total of producing mines at the Cusi project. Management
believes that Cusi is only starting to reveal its full silver
potential.
MINE DEVELOPMENT ACCELERATES AT CUSI IN FIVE
MINES
Sierra Metals is advancing development of the
Minerva Mine, San Juan Mine,
Promontorio Mine, La India Mine (Candelaria, 20 de Noviembre, Durana and
Saturno veins) and Santa Eduwiges Mine to achieve production from
these mines of 500 tonnes per day or more in the fourth quarter of
2013 (http://files.newswire.ca/1167/CusiMiningArea.pdf).
Development work is being done by a combination of the Company's
employees plus contractors. Production during the first
quarter of this year has already nearly doubled from that of last
year, reaching 315 tpd (see press release of April 30, 2013) as opposed to an average of 170
tpd during 2012. This increase in production is due mainly to
expanded production from the Santa Eduwiges Mine with additional
production from the Promontorio Mine.
Table 1: Selected Samples from Cusi project,
Chihuahua
Sample # |
Sample
Width (m) |
Ag g/t |
Au g/t |
Pb % |
Zn % |
Mn % |
Mine or Vein |
14642 |
0.90 |
5,836 |
4.1 |
1.366 |
1.273 |
0.475 |
S. Eduwiges |
14643 |
0.40 |
2,700 |
1.1 |
1.393 |
1.046 |
0.661 |
" |
14644 |
0.30 |
1,709 |
0.3 |
1.635 |
0.942 |
0.064 |
" |
14645 |
0.70 |
1,639 |
0.3 |
1.342 |
2.686 |
0.863 |
" |
14646 |
0.50 |
322 |
0.8 |
0.486 |
0.588 |
0.569 |
" |
|
208629 |
0.60 |
199 |
ind* |
0.164 |
0.458 |
2.869 |
Candelaria |
208630 |
0.80 |
448 |
ind |
0.506 |
0.551 |
5.312 |
" |
450140 |
0.60 |
165 |
ind |
0.206 |
0.423 |
3.784 |
" |
450141 |
0.50 |
120 |
ind |
0.105 |
0.351 |
3.757 |
" |
450142 |
0.80 |
127 |
ind |
0.210 |
0.304 |
2.236 |
" |
1803 |
1.00 |
189 |
1.2 |
0.066 |
0.075 |
1.334 |
" |
1804 |
0.40 |
1,496 |
5.4 |
0.359 |
0.157 |
2.122 |
" |
|
12055 |
0.30 |
1,237 |
22.5 |
1.36 |
0.15 |
3.03 |
Minerva |
12057 |
0.25 |
536 |
3.3 |
0.50 |
0.05 |
2.68 |
" |
12059 |
0.35 |
281 |
1.2 |
0.11 |
0.03 |
1.66 |
" |
12061 |
0.45 |
1,987 |
3.8 |
0.23 |
0.08 |
4.98 |
" |
12075 |
0.60 |
349 |
2.3 |
0.14 |
0.03 |
2.04 |
" |
12078 |
0.50 |
272 |
1.5 |
0.03 |
0.03 |
1.02 |
" |
12080 |
0.80 |
364 |
7.2 |
0.09 |
0.04 |
0.36 |
" |
12081 |
0.40 |
674 |
3.3 |
0.17 |
0.03 |
2.04 |
" |
12083 |
0.25 |
257 |
2.3 |
0.09 |
0.04 |
0.85 |
" |
12089 |
0.65 |
408 |
1.8 |
0.14 |
0.09 |
3.34 |
" |
12091 |
0.80 |
558 |
3.8 |
0.47 |
0.13 |
3.28 |
" |
12092 |
0.80 |
262 |
1.6 |
0.19 |
0.09 |
1.58 |
" |
*ind = less than detection limit
Santa Eduwiges Mine: This mine is where
the bulk of pilot mining production was done last year. As
development has progressed to deeper levels at Santa Eduwiges this
year, silver grades have increased as Table 1 shows.
Development of Level 10A of the Santa Eduwiges Mine continues to
encounter high grades of silver, as shown in the sample map
(http://files.newswire.ca/1167/SantaEduwigesMine.pdf).
Promontorio Mine: Development of the new
access ramp has reached Levels 5 and 7 and accessed the block
known as "La Azucarera" (the sugar bowl), which has an average
silver grade of 284 g/t and will provide significant mineralized
rock when production reaches 500 tonnes per day.
Moreover, the Promontorio ramp is nearing level
8 and will reach La Azucarera in about 150 meters, after which
development and mining of this block will begin. Development
of the ramp will then be extended to level 9 for further
development of La Azucarera and nearby veins.
Minerva Mine: This mine is being reopened
and is where historically the highest gold grades have been found
in this mining district. Sampling of the Minerva Mine
supports the earlier reported high gold levels in that mine (see
press release of May 10, 2010).
Level 1 of the Minerva Mine, which was sampled
in 2010, was re-sampled this year in order to obtain manganese
grades, which had not been determined during the earlier
work. The re-sampling numbers shown above are within the same
range and are consistent with the earlier reported numbers, the
highest of which were 32.7 g/t gold and 2,530 g/t silver. The
Minerva vein is being developed from a new adit located about 100 m
to the north of the sampled area with the objective of reaching
un-mined portions of the vein below the sampled area of Level 1
(http://files.newswire.ca/1167/MinervaMine.pdf).
La India Mine: This mine is also
being reopened. Development in the La India Mine will result
in near-term production from two separate veins, the Durana and
Candelaria veins
(http://files.newswire.ca/1167/LaIndiaArea.pdf). The
Fatima and Candelaria tunnels are
developing the Candelaria vein at
locations about 400 m apart. The Candelaria tunnel has been developed over a
length of 200 m
(http://files.newswire.ca/1167/CandelariaTunnel.pdf) and has
encountered high grades of gold and silver, as shown in Table
1.
The La India tunnel will eventually be extended
about 100 m to reach the Saturno vein, which will result in
production in this mine from three separate veins.
San Juan Mine: This mine is also in the
process of being reopened this year. The San Juan Mine has
been developed and production will commence during the fourth
quarter at a rate of 80-100 tonnes per day.
Milling: At the present, mineralized rock
is shipped 35 km to the Company's wholly-owned Malpaso mill. Construction of a mill on
site will reduce logistics and transport costs, and it is the
Company's objective to have a 2,000 tpd mill operating on site by
2015. The decision to construct a new mill will be subject to
an economic study and financing in place.
Method of Analysis
Samples were prepared at the Company's lab
facility at its Malpaso lab and
analyzed by atomic absorption for Cu, Zn, Pb, Bi, Co, Mn, Sb, Cd
and Fe. Gold and silver are analyzed by fire assay
method. The Malpaso
laboratory follows the quality control methodology recommended by
CANMET of Canada, such as assaying
of blanks, duplicate samples, and check assays by commercial
laboratories such as Chemex.
Quality Control
The technical content of this news release has
been approved by Thomas L. Robyn,
Ph.D., CPG, RPG, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.
About Sierra Metals
Sierra Metals Inc. is a Canadian mining company
focused on precious and base metals from its Yauricocha mine in
Peru, its Bolivar mine and Cusi in
Mexico. In addition, Sierra Metals
is exploring several precious and base metal targets in
Peru and Mexico. Projects in Peru include Adrico (gold), Victoria (copper-silver) and Ipillo
(polymetallic) at the Yauricocha Property in the province of Yauyos
and the San Miguelito gold
properties in Northern Peru.
Projects in Mexico include
Bacerac (silver) in the
state of Sonora, La Verde (gold) at the Batopilas Property in the state of Chihuahua, and Las Coloradas (silver)
at the Melchor Ocampo Property in the state of Zacatecas.
The Company's shares trade on the Bolsa de Valores de Lima and TSXV under the symbol
"SMT".
This press release does not constitute an
offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in
the United States or any other
jurisdiction. The Common Shares will not be and have not been
registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an
applicable exemption from the registration requirements.
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for statements of historical fact
contained herein, the information in this press release may
constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of
Canadian securities law. Other than statements of historical fact,
all statements are "forward-looking statements", which involve
various known and unknown risk and uncertainties and other factors,
including market conditions that may affect the Company's ability
to execute its current business plan. Actual results might
differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking
statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the
forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual
results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking
statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable
to the Company. Additional information identifying risks and
uncertainties is contained in filings by the Company with the
Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at
www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Sierra Metals Inc.
PDF available at:
http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2013/05/28/20130528_C2659_DOC_EN_27133.pdf
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