Canada-headquartered SilverCrest has been granted environmental approval for the development of the Las Chispas project, in Sonora, Mexico, which now positions the company to complete project finance and to begin construction activities in the second half of next year.
The operating permit allows the company to construct a 3 000 t/d underground mine and a conventional processing facility, with subsequent dry stack tailings and underground backfill.
The permit is based on conditions.
SilverCrest CEO Eric Fier commented on Thursday that the company expected to have all major operating permits in hand ahead of its schedule construction timeline.
“We are extremely pleased with the progress that our team has made in the 3.5 years that we’ve been exploring at Las Chispas. We continue to work hard to simultaneously de-risk and add value to the project in a cost-efficient manner.”
The feasibility study for Las Chispas should be completed in the first half of next year.
The preliminary economic assessment, released in May, indicated that at a 1 250 t/d production rate, the mine will produce 5.38-million ounces a year of silver and 55 700 oz/y of gold, or 9.6-million ounces silver-equivalent.
The life-of-mine all-in sustaining cash cost is estimated to be $7.52 a silver-equivalent ounce.
The mine is forecast to cost $100.5-million to build and it has a payback period of nine months.
The after-tax internal rate of return is 78% and the net present value is $406.9-million.
SilverCrest has 14 active drill rigs on site, which continue to test, expand and upgrade the high-grade resource delineated to date at Las Chispas.