|
San Marcial, the Company's flagship project, is located 90 kilometres east of Mazatlan in Sinaloa, Mexico. Silvermex entered into an option agreement with Silver Standard Resources to purchase 100% interest in the 1,250 ha San Marcial property. Details terms regarding the of the purchase agreement are outlined in the Company's news release dated March 23, 2009.
In Quarter 2, 2009, Silvermex also completed an In-house Economic Assessment. The results of the assessment support a plan to advance the current resource to production. The preliminary results suggest that San Marcial can support commercial production rates of 2.3 million ounces annually over an initial mine life of five years. The area of focus is a high grade, on surface pod which can be extracted via open pit mining. This pod represents 1.1 million tonnes of material grading 321 g/t silver, or 11 million ounces silver. Internal studies also suggest low cost production rates. Much of the work to date will be applied to the preparation of a pre-feasibility study. This work includes advanced metallurgical testing, financial modeling, and environmental and permitting programs.
Click to enlarge
Cross Section of San Marcial high grade pod, including 15m @ 731 g/t Ag
|
|
The San Marcial deposit is open in all directions. The Company is confident that future resource expansion, and subsequent mine life extension, can be realized. Silvermex plans to continue exploration of San Marcial once it successfully reaches commercial production. However, as a component to the preparation of a pre-feasibility study, an additional drilling will be initiated. This program may provide sufficient data for a resource update.
On October 9, 2008 the Company announced a substantial increase of the resource estimate. The resource update was based upon results of mapping, sampling, and a 1,756 metre drill program. The resource estimate is outlined in the chart below:
Category |
Tonnes |
Ag (g/t)
|
Pb (%)
|
Zn (%)
|
Contained
Ag (oz)
|
Contained
Pb (lb)
|
Contained
Zn (lb)
|
Indicated |
3,755,893 |
149.20 |
0.36 |
0.67 |
18,021,221 |
29,931,874 |
55,328,145 |
Inferred: |
3,075,403 |
44.21 |
0.29 |
0.51 |
4,371,018 |
19,525,788 |
34,690,817 |
The property is underlain by basal conglomerates, rhyolites, and dacites of the Upper Volcanic Group, a sequence of andesite-dacite composition of the Lower Volcanic Group and finally a volcano sedimentary sequence. The silver mineralization is hosted in steeply dipping, north east trending quartz veins and stockworks up to 93 meters wide within the Lower Volcanic Group and within the volcano-sedimentary sequence. The drill programs have been successful in confirming the continuity of the mineralization over a strike length of 600 meters and a vertical extent of at least 250 meters. Detailed surface mapping and sampling of the mineralization has confirmed the zone is open down dip and along strike for at least 1,800 meters. As in similar deposits hosted near the Upper and Lower Volcanic contact the high grade silver mineralization occurs in irregular veins, stockworks pods and fissure fillings.
Property Photos:
Technical Report
|
