Name: Galena Complex.

Location: The Galena Complex is located in the Coeur d’Alene mining district in Shoshone County, Idaho, in the US.

Holding and Controlling Company: Americas Silver Corporation.

Brief Description: The Galena Complex is an operating mine using four shafts in various capacities. It comprises the operating Galena mine with two shafts (Galena and #3), the Galena processing plant, the idle Coeur mine with one shaft (Coeur), the Coeur processing plant (currently on care and maintenance) and the Caladay exploration property with one shaft (Caladay). 

Galena produces about 550 t/d of ore. 

Brief History: The Galena Complex is situated in the centre of the Coeur d’Alene mining district. Placer gold was first discovered in the district in 1858. By 1860, the gold rush prospectors had also discovered the silver/lead veins in the district. 

The Galena mine has a long history dating back to 1887. Several companies have owned all or part of the mine properties since 1887, including Killbuck Mining, Galena Mining, Callahan Mines, Federal Mining and Smelting, Vulcan, ASARCO, Day Mines, Coeur d'Alene Mines, US Silver, and US Silver and Gold Inc. 

The modern history of the mine started in 1947 under the management of ASARCO.

From 1953 to 2013 the Galena mine primarily mined silver/copper ore, with minor production of silver/lead ore. Since 2014, silver/lead ore has become the predominant ore type. 

The Coeur mine shaft was collared in 1963 by Coeur d'Alene Mines. The mine produced continuously from 1976 to 1991, and again from 1996 to 1997. The mine was put on care and maintenance from 1997 to 2007, when work started to rehabilitate the Coeur mine 3400 Level and later the Coeur shaft.

The Coeur mill was restarted in September 2007 to process silver/lead ore from the Galena mine. By early 2008, silver/lead ore was trammed from the Galena mine 3700 Level to the Coeur shaft (Coeur 3400 Level) and was hoisted up the Coeur shaft for processing at the Coeur mill. During 2012, the Coeur mine was rehabilitated for mining, which started in September 2012, but underground work ceased in 2014. 

The Caladay property began in the mid-1960s as a joint venture between Callahan Mining, ASARCO and Day Mines. The joint venture sank a 1 554 m shaft during the early 1980s on the east end of the Coeur d’Alene silverbelt, east of the Galena property. From the 4900 Level of the Caladay shaft, an exploration drift was developed east and west. The western drift intersects the Galena mine’s 4900 Level. 

The joint venture was acquired by Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp in the 1980s. The Caladay shaft and workings are currently used as ventilation exhaust for the Galena workings. 

After the 1980s no exploration was undertaken on the Caladay property until 2012, when US Silver and Gold Inc drilled several thousand metres and defined additional mineral resources.

In 2014, Americas Silver, then known as Scorpio Mining Corporation, merged with US Silver & Gold Inc.

Americas Silver currently operates Galena through its wholly owned subsidiary US Silver–Idaho Inc.

Products: Silver/copper/lead/zinc.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Galena Complex and most other deposits of the Coeur d’Alene mining district are hosted by metamorphosed Precambrian sedimentary rocks, which are part of the Belt Supergroup. The strata comprises primarily of fine-grained quartz and clay – the clay now metamorphosed to fine-grained white mica, or sericite.

Three major rock types are recognised – vitreous quartzite, which is primarily metamorphosed fine-grained quartz sand; siltite-argillite, which is silt-sized quartz grains that are completely separated from each other by a large proportion of sericite; and sericitic quartzite, which contains intermediate proportions of quartz and sericite. 

Mineralisation at the Galena Complex occurs in steeply dipping fissure-filling veins and in wide disseminated zones, all occurring near four major fracture systems and three major faults. The veins generally strike east–west and northeast–southwest, and range in thickness from a few inches to more than 4 m. 

The vein mineralisation comprises silver/copper mineralisation containing tetrahedrite and lesser chalcopyrite as the principal economic minerals; and silver/lead mineralisation dominated by argentiferous galena. Gangues in both types are mainly siderite, with varying amounts of pyrite and quartz. The silver/lead mineralisation occurs as well-defined, steeply-dipping, relatively narrow veins and as wider zones of disseminated and stringer mineralisation. The latter type occurs predominately in the eastern part of the property, in the Caladay Zone, on and adjacent to the former Caladay property. 

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at July 30, 2017, were estimated at 1.35-million tonnes grading 354 g/t silver, 0.13% copper and 5.93% lead.
 

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources at June 30, 2017, were estimated at 1.91-million tonnes grading 405 g/t silver, 0.24% copper and 5.64% lead. Inferred resources were estimated at 1.67-million tonnes grading 321 g/t silver, 0.14% copper and 7.49% lead.

Mining Method: The Galena Complex currently uses conventional cut-and-fill and mechanised cut-and-fill mining methods. 

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The Galena Complex comprises the Galena and Coeur processing plants.

The Galena processing plant has a nameplate capacity of 250 000 t/y and consists of crushing and screening, grinding and cycloning, flotation concentration, concentrate dewatering, tailings pumping for sand fill and tailings pumping for the Osburn tailings storage facility.

The Coeur plant has been on care and maintenance since April 2016.

The mine includes compressor houses, mine dry, mine and administrative offices, warehouses, a timber framing yard, parking areas, hoist houses and headframes, a core storage facility, electrical power lines and substations for both mines and a modern telecommunications system.

Prospects: Exploration is under way at the western end of the 3400 Level targeting new high-grade, high-tonnage silver and lead targets.

Further, drilling is being undertaken to confirm the continuity of the 4900 Level 360/366 vein and to extend and upgrade the resource.

Contact Details:
Americas Silver Corporation
Tel +1 416 848 9503
Fax + 1 866 401 3069
info@americassilvercorp.com