Pan American Silver Corp. to Invest US$20 Million

Canada-based Pan American Silver, has provided results for 20 new infill and exploration holes, all of which contain multiple skarn and breccia intercepts. 

"Drilling has improved our confidence in the mineralization to the east, west and south of the known skarn footprint, as reported in our November 10, 2021 news release," said Christopher Emerson, Pan American's Vice President Business Development and Geology.

In addition, “drillhole S-73-21 confirmed high-grade mineralization more than 200 meters from S-71-21 with 78.55 meters of 76 g/t Ag, 0.36 percent Cu, 4.18 percent Pb and 9.55 percent Zn. To the west, U-83-21 confirmed high grade continuous mineralization, as previously indicated by hole U-05-21 and U-67-21."

The firm´s main focus in 4Q21 was to infill and step out the drilling to the east, west and south sides of the skarn with 17,050 meters of drilling. Over 72,000 meters were drilled in 2021, which focused on infill and exploration to further define, expand and add confidence to the current inferred resource, reported the Canadian company.

In  2022 Pan American expects to drill 55,000 meters at La Colorada for a cost between US$18 million and US$20 million to further explore and infill drill the skarn and adjacent veins.

La Colorada

The “La Colorada” mine is the company’s largest silver producing compound and is located in Zacatecas. According to other companies, Zacatecas is known for being a mining friendly state and one of the most important states for the industry in Mexico. Last year, it produced 10.6 percent of the gold in the country, placing Zacatecas as the fifth gold-producing state. In the silver category, Zacatecas is leader is with 33.4 percent of Mexico´s production. Regarding copper, the state ranked second with 6 percent of the total production, according to CAMIMEX.

Pan American Silver Corp. reports that the “La Colorada” complex produces oxide and sulphide ore, processed through separate plants. The total nominal plant capacity is 1,800 tons per day with the current life of the mine plan projecting the processing of 1,400 tons per day of sulphide ore and 400 tons per day of oxide ore, reported the company. Moreover, the oxide plant compromises a conventional cyanide leach circuit consisting of crushing, grinding, leaching, Merril Crowe zinc precipitation, and on-site refining to produce precious metal dore. The sulphide plant has a conventional floatation circuit comprised of crushing, grinding and selective lead and zinc froth floatation to recover precious and base metals into separate lead and zinc concentrates. 

Pan American Silver is a Canada-based business that owns and operates silver and gold mines located in México, Peru, Canada, Argentina and Bolivia. They have been operating in Latin America for 28 years and are earning an industry-leading reputation for sustainability performance, operational excellence and prudent financial management.