Gold / Silver Production - Mexico
Overview
- Mexican gold/silver production aims to help finance VANE Minerals plc exploration and operating costs
- Extensive in-country operating experience
- Joint Venture in place with Ruiz Brothers (“Ruiz JV”); area of interest 1,500km2, 4 high-grade mines
- La Colorada vein system in production; Saltito expected to start production during 2013
- Processing capability of up to 120t/day via 100% owned SDA mill and flotation plant
- Merrill Crowe cyanide leaching plant built, tested and operational
Ruiz JV key facts
- 50/50 profit split
- Targeted production of 3,000t/month
- Expected grades 6g/t Au; 100g/t Ag
- Estimated cost of production $120/tonne
- Estimated recovery rates 78% Au; 75% Ag
Background information
The Company’s joint venture agreement with the Ruiz Brothers, members of a long-established mining family located in El Rosario, State of Sinaloa, continues to operate efficiently. The JV has an area of interest covering some 1,500 square kilometres in Southern Sinaloa. It includes three separate mining districts; La Rastra, Escuinapa and Rosario. Within the area of interest, the Ruiz family either owns or controls four concessions. The Colorada Mine located on the Colorada Concession is in production providing feed ore for the SDA Mill.
Operations at the Ruiz JV, the SDA Mill and the Merrill Crowe plant continue to be directed from VANE’s Mexican headquarters located in Acaponeta, State of Nayarit.
SDA mill & Merrill Crowe Plant
With the start-up of the SDA Mill in January 2008, VANE now has complete control over production and milling of its own ore and sale of the produced concentrates. The mill is capable of processing around 3,000 tonnes per month.
The construction of a cyanide leach/Merrill Crowe recovery plant to treat the gold-silver sulphide concentrates has been completed and is operational. The Directors believe that the Mexican business will be best served by continuing to operate the SDA Mill at up to 120 Tpd whilst our joint venture partner constructs a new 200 Tpd concentrator at a location central to future mining operations, once the relevant reserves/resources sufficient to provide five years of feed have been identified.
With the Company’s treatment facilities strategically situated along the major north-south highways and rail routes, VANE continues to seek and evaluate acquisition opportunities, being both stand-alone mine/mill operations and mine/mill production and/or concentrates as potential feed to the SDA and Merrill Crowe plant. We also continue to look both north and south of Acaponeta for opportunities similar to the Ruiz JV. This broad area of interest contains both producing mines with significant historic production and represents what the Company believes are a number of opportunities to expand its business.