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Guanaceví mine, Mexico

5th May 2017

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Name: Guanaceví mine.

Location: The Guanaceví project is located in the north-west portion of the Mexican state of Durango, about 3.6 km west of Guanaceví.

Holding and Controlling Company: Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR) controls the Guanaceví project through its 100%-owned Mexican subsidiary, Endeavour Gold Corporation. Endeavour Gold holds the project through its two 100% owned subsidiaries, Minera Plata Adelante and Refinadora Plata Guanaceví.

Brief Description: The project comprises 51 mineral concessions for a total property area of 4 172 ha. It consists of the plant facility and the Porvenir 4, North Porvenir and Santa Cruz mines, which are on the Santa Cruz vein.

The North Porvenir and the Santa Cruz mines are accessed using the same portal, while the Porvenir 4 mine is 2 km north of the Santa Cruz portal.

Brief History: Guanaceví is Endeavour Silver’s first mine, acquired in May 2004.

Products: Silver and gold.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Guanaceví silver/gold district hosts classic, high‐grade silver/gold, epithermal vein deposits characterised by low-sulphidation mineralisation and adularia‐sericite alteration.

The Guanaceví veins are typical of most other epithermal silver/gold vein deposits in Mexico, in that they are primarily hosted in the Tertiary Lower Volcanic series of andesite flows, pyroclastics and epiclastics, overlain by the Upper Volcanic series of rhyolite pyroclastics and ignimbrites.

Evidence is accumulating in the Guanaceví mining district that the mineralisation is closely associated with a pulse of silicic eruptions that either signaled the end of Lower Volcanic Sequence magmatism or the onset of Upper Volcanic Sequence activity.

Mineralisation at Guanaceví occurs in association with an epithermal low-sulphidation, quartz‐carbonate, fracture‐filling vein hosted by a structure trending about 45° nortj-west, dipping 55° south-west. The Santa Cruz vein is the principal host of silver and gold mineralisation at Guanaceví, and is located on the west side of the horst of the Guanaceví formation. The mineralised vein is part of a major fault system that trends north-west and principally places the Guanaceví formation in the footwall against andesite and/or rhyolite in the hanging wall. The fault and vein comprise a structural system referred to locally as the Santa Cruz vein structure or Santa Cruz vein fault.

The Santa Cruz vein itself has been traced for 5 km along trend, and averages about 3 m in width. High‐grade mineralisation in the system is not continuous, but occurs in steeply north-west‐raking shoots up to 200 m in strike length. A secondary mineralised vein is located subparallel and subjacent to the Santa Cruz vein, in the footwall, and while less continuous is economically significant in the Porvenir Dos and North Porvenir portions of the project.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 5.95-million tonnes grading 260 g/t silver and 0.62 g/t gold.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 2.34-million tonnes grading 295 g/t silver and 0.71 g/t gold. Inferred resources were estimated at 638 000 t grading 379 g/t silver and 0.82 g/t gold.
Mining Method: Conventional cut-and-fill mining or long-hole stoping methods are employed at Guanaceví.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Ore and waste are transported by scooptram and truck haulage.

Ore and waste haulage is performed using three 15 t underground trucks, which are complemented by 13-t-capacity diesel highway trucks.

For stope and development mucking, EDR and the contractor have scooptrams ranging in size from 1 yard to 4.5 yards.

Single boom jumbo drills and jacklegs are used for development headings and conventional cut-and-fill stope drilling is by jackleg.

Long-hole stopes are drilled using three pneumatic long-hole machines.

A scissor lift truck is used for services including bolting, and installing piping and ventilation.

Complete maintenance and service facilities for the underground mobile equipment are located near the mine portal and the Porvenir North and Santa Cruz underground shops.

The beneficiation plant consists of crushing, grinding, a cyanidation and counter-current decantation circuit, a Merill-Crowe circuit with two leaf clarifiers and one de-aeration tower, a refinery and filtration facilities. The plant is capable of processing 1 300 t/d of ore.

Prospects: Outside of the currently known reserve/resource areas, the mineral exploration potential of the Guanaceví mines are considered to be very good. Parts of the known vein splays beyond the historically mined areas also represent good exploration targets for additional resource tonnage.

The concession areas contain many veins and there is reasonable potential of discovering new veins and splays besides those that are currently mapped. An exploration budget for the mine has been approved for 8 000 m of drilling in 2017.

Contact: Investor relations, Meghan Brown.

Contact Details:
Endeavour Silver Corp
Tel +1 604 685 9775 
Fax +1 604 685 9744
Email info@edrsilver.com
Website http://edrsilver.com

 


 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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