The Juanicipio project, owned by Fresnillo and MAG Silver, has achieved commercial production.
MAG, which has a 44% interest in the project, announced on Monday that the mill was operating at about 85% of its design capacity of 4 000 t/d, with silver recovery consistently above 88%.
On a 100% basis, about 3.2-million ounces of silver have been produced from the Juanicipio processing facility from March 2023 to the end of May 2023, and production is expected to continue to increase steadily through the third quarter where it is envisioned the plant will be running at design capacity.
All major construction activities have been completed and Juanicipio is demonstrating its ability to sustain ongoing production levels.
“Reaching this important milestone of commercial production at Juanicipio completes our transformation from developer to producer,” said MAG president and CEO George Paspalas.
“Today marks the beginning of a very exciting and dynamic growth phase for MAG as we combine stable, high-margin silver production with the ongoing high-grade exploration potential that has made and continues to make MAG so unique.”
The project is located in the Fresnillo Silver Trend in Mexico, the world's premier silver mining camp.