Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Longhole stoping
- Avoca
- Unconsolidated rockfill
|
Production Start | ... |
Mine Life | 2028 |
There are three orebodies being mined at Guanacevi: El Curso, Milache, and Santa Cruz Sur. Additionally, 20% of total ore milled is purchased from local artisanal miners. |
Source:
p. 8,58
Endeavour Silver Corp. controls the Guanaceví Project through its 100% owned Mexican subsidiary, Endeavour Gold Corporation S.A. de C.V. (Endeavour Gold). Endeavour Gold holds the project through its two 100% owned subsidiaries, Minera Plata Adelante S.A. de C.V. (Minera Plata Adelante) and Refinadora Plata Guanaceví S.A. de C.V. (Refinadora Plata Guanaceví).
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Vein / narrow vein
- Epithermal
Summary:
Project Geology
The Santa Cruz mine property, which forms part of the main portion of the Guanaceví Mines Project, covers about a 3.0 km strike length of the Santa Cruz fault/vein system. The Santa Cruz vein is similar in many respects to other veins in the Guanaceví district, except that it is the only one to lie on the west side of the horst of Guanaceví Formation and associated facies, and it dips west instead of east.
The broader and higher-grade mineralized ore shoots tend to occur along flexures in the Santa Cruz vein structure, where sigmoidal loops are developed both along strike and down dip. The vein in Deep Santa Cruz for instance splays into two, three or four separate mineralized structures with the intervening wall rocks also often well mineralized, giving mining widths up to 20 m in some places. These sigmoidal loops tend to develop with some regularity along strike and all the ore shoots at the Santa Cruz mine have about a 60° plunge to the northwest. A shallow northwest plunging striation, raking at 15°-30°, is noted on a number of fault planes within the Santa Cruz structure; these striations appear to be consistent with an observed sinistral movement seen on minor faults which produce small offsets of the Santa Cruz vein.
Local Structure
The Santa Cruz vein, the principal host of silver and gold mineralization, is located on the west side of the horst of the Guanaceví Formation. The mineralized vein is part of a major fault ........
Mining Methods
- Longhole stoping
- Avoca
- Unconsolidated rockfill
Summary:
Since January 1, 2007, EDR has been in control of the day-to-day mining operations at the Guanaceví Project. EDR assumed control of the mining operations from a local contractor to provide more flexibility in operations and to continue optimizing cost performance.
The mine operates with two 10-hour shifts, 7 days per week, whereas the mill operates with two 12-hour shifts, 7 days per week.
Mining Method
Long-hole stoping was introduced at Guanacevi in 2013. Since 2020, the operation has transitioned from conventional cut and fill to entirely long-hole stoping.
The long-hole method has increased stope heights from typically 1.8m to up to 17m, which has reduced mining costs. Dilution and hanging wall stability is controlled using 11m long cemented cable bolts. Mining dilution has been estimated using a minimum 0.4m of over break dilution and a minimum operational 2.2m width. Additional dilution is derived from the footwall during sill development, from occasional hanging wall sloughing and from re-mucking of floor fill.
In 2021 production was exclusively long-hole stoping. In the Santa Cruz Sur and El Curso mining areas, the Pure Avoca Method, in which mining retreats towards the access at one end while the backfilling advances from the opposite end to progressively fill the stope during extraction. The maximum unsupported span (MUS) between the fill and the stope brow prior to firing the next set of rings calculated using Rock ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Source:
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Production:
In 2021, EDR mined a total 364,955 tonnes ore and purchased an additional 46,433 tonnes third-party ore.
Commodity | Product | Units | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Silver
|
Metal in doré
|
koz
| ...... ^ | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 1,964 | 2,066 |
Gold
|
Metal in doré
|
koz
| ...... ^ | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
Silver Equivalent
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| ...... ^ | ...... | ...... | ...... | | | |
Silver
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 1,962 | 2,064 |
Gold
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Daily processing rate
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 885 t | 841 t |
Daily processing capacity
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 1,200 t | 1,200 t |
Waste
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | | |
Tonnes processed
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 322,988 t | 307,042 t |
Ore tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | | |
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Reserves at December 31, 2022:
Guanaceví Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves cut-off grades are based on a 201 g/t silver equivalent for Santa Cruz Sur, 207 g/t silver equivalent for Santa Cruz, 207 g/t silver equivalent for Milache of Guanaceví and 254 g/t silver equivalent for Porvenir Norte and the El Curso concession of Guanaceví.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven & Probable
|
1,002 kt
|
Silver
|
445 g/t
|
14,325 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,002 kt
|
Gold
|
1.21 g/t
|
39 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,002 kt
|
Silver Equivalent
|
541 g/t
|
17,431 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
612 kt
|
Silver
|
390 g/t
|
7,673 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
612 kt
|
Gold
|
0.94 g/t
|
19 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
612 kt
|
Silver Equivalent
|
466 g/t
|
9,160 koz
|
Inferred
|
711 kt
|
Silver
|
460 g/t
|
10,506 koz
|
Inferred
|
711 kt
|
Gold
|
0.95 g/t
|
22 koz
|
Inferred
|
711 kt
|
Silver Equivalent
|
535 g/t
|
12,239 koz
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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