Name and Location
Inmaculada gold/silver project, Ayacucho department, Peru.

Client
Minera Suyamarca, in which Hochschild Mining holds 60% and International Minerals Corporation 40%.

Project Description
Inmaculada is a 20 000 ha gold/silver project in Hochschild’s southern Peru cluster.

The property consists of 40 mining concessions. Envisaged is a 3 500 t/d underground operation, with average silver equivalent production of 11.6-million ounces a year from Immaculada’s main Angela vein.

The Angela vein will be accessed through a ramp, starting from a portal that is located at an elevation of about 4 400 m above sea level and that declines to about 4 300 m above sea level towards the middle and lower end of the vein.

A primary crusher plant will be sited close to the portal, with a 1.5 km conveyor belt transporting ore to the plant and a waste dump located 1 km to the south. There will be an additional horizontal access tunnel at the Quellopata gorge at 4 500 m and a drainage tunnel at the Patari Gorge at 4 300 m.

Key mining infrastructure will comprise three main levels to exploit all sections of the vein at the 4 300 m, 4 400 m and 4 500 m levels. These will be connected by four spiral ramps and six ore passes, with other shafts for ventilation, water and additional support services.

Value
$370-million.

Duration
Hochschild expects to receive the final mill-construction permit for the Immaculada project in the second half of 2013. Commissioning is scheduled for the second half of 2014.

Latest Developments
The Peru government has approved the mill construction permit for the Inmaculada advanced gold/silver project.

This represents the completion of the final stage of the project's construction permitting process, with commissioning on track for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Further, exploration is progressing at the property, which consists of 40 mining concessions, with measured and indicated resources currently estimated at almost 90-million silver-equivalent ounces.

Hochschild strongly believes that the mineable resource base can be expanded significantly by upgrading the inferred mineral resources in the south-west and north-east extensions of the Angela vein into the reserve category through more definition drilling work.

In addition, the Inmaculada district hosts more than 25 km of gold-/silver-bearing quartz veins of the low-sulphidation type, which remain largely untested.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Ausenco (feasibility studies).

On Budget and on Time?
Changes made by the Peruvian government to the submission requirements for construction permit applications and the processing of several industry applications will lead to a longer-than-expected permitting process, which is expected to add about $20-million to the project’s capital expenditure.

Contact Details for Project Information
Hochschild Mining, tel +511 317 2000, fax +511 437 5009 or email info@hocplc.com.