Mexico-focused miner First Majestic Silver has had a solid start to 2019, with its first-quarter production reaching 6.3-million silver-equivalent ounces (SEOs).
This compares with 3.9-million SEOs in the same quarter of 2018, and 6.5-million SEOs in the fourth quarter of last year.
Total production consisted of 3.3-million ounces of silver, 32 037 oz of gold, 2.7-million pounds of lead and 1.3-million pounds of zinc.
“Pure silver production increased 2% to 3.3-million ounces as a result of higher grades at the San Dimas and La Encantada mines. The commissioning progress of the new La Encantada roaster improved in the month of March, but remained below throughput guidance for the full quarter. Nevertheless, La Encantada recorded a significant 60% increase in silver production in the quarter due to higher grades and tonnes processed,” president and CEO Keith Neumeyer said on Tuesday.
Consolidated silver grades in the quarter averaged 150 g/t compared with 144 g/t in the previous quarter. This 4% increase was primarily the result of higher grades at San Dimas and La Encantada. Consolidated gold grades averaged 1.26 g/t compared with 1.31 g/t in the prior quarter representing a 4% decrease, owing to lower underground grades at Santa Elena.
Consolidated silver and gold recoveries averaged 83% and 96%, respectively, and were consistent with the previous quarter.
Neumeyer added that Silver Majestic expected its investments in new innovations, such as high-intensity grinding and microbubbles, to begin to bear fruit in the second half of 2019 with higher recoveries and production at the Santa Elena, La Encantada and La Parrilla operations.