VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The Mexican environmental authority Semarnat has granted Great Panther Silver all the permits required to build and operate the new Phase II tailings storage facility (TSF) at its Topia mine, in Durango state, Mexico.
The Vancouver-based company said on Monday that the permits, in combination with the modifications to the processing plant earlier in the year, will allow dry stack tailings disposal under the company's current operating plan for the Topia mine.
"We are pleased with the conclusion of the permitting process without interruption of operations at Topia. We will be commencing imminently the construction of Phase II and have sufficient remaining capacity at Phase I to continue mining operations allowing a seamless transition to deposition at Phase II,” stated president and CEO James Bannantine.
The Topia silver/gold/lead/zinc mines are small, narrow-vein, underground operations utilising a modified cut-and-fill mining method known as resuing. Topia includes 11 small mining operations all feeding a central plant. The mine produced 899 000 oz of silver equivalent in 2016, and for 2017, the company expects a production level of 4-million to 4.1-million silver equivalent ounces, at a 70:1 silver-to-gold ratio.