Silver and gold mineralization in the Project area can be grouped into the low sulphidation epithermal model of precious metal deposits. These types of deposits are found worldwide and have been commonly formed during the Cretaceous to Holocene.

The veins in the Project area consist of several stages of banded, crustiform (to colloform; quartz and cryptocrystalline quartz at shallow depths, adularia, barite and typically later carbonates both calcite and rhodochrosite, "illitic clay" (illite) commonly replaces the adularia (Coote, 2010). There are variable amounts of pyrite, sphalerite and galena plus argentite, and variable amounts of tetrahedrite-tennantite, freibergite and Ag sulfosalts.

The Ag:Au ratio is high, approximately 500:1 for the resource. Supergene oxidation extends to at least 300 m depth, and includes manganese oxide. There is abundant adularia, bladed calcite textures and coexisting vapor-rich and liquid-rich inclusions, all indicating an ascending, boiling fluid, consistent with the abundant evidence for brecciation, which suggests that that mixing caused metal deposition and carbonate formation.

Petrographic studies of the veins in Deposit, find that multiple stages of silver and base metal mineralization are associated with repeated fluid boiling and mixing events, defined by crustiform banded fill/cement assemblages within a framework of intermittent and more significant fracturing/rupturing of wall rock and pre-existin ........

The Project mine plan was developed using conventional hard rock open pit mining methods. No underground resource was envisioned in this mine plan. While a smaller, higher grade portion of the resource could be recovered in an underground mine, the scale and percent recovery of the resource would be substantially diminished. In addition, the complicated structure of the low angle Martha vein which makes up 60% of the resource would make underground mining complicated and costly.

Scoping studies indicated that a production schedule filling the mill at 10,000 tpd maximized the Project return on investment. The total material rate is tied to equipment productivity. The total material moved ramps up to 214,000 tonnes per day in year 6, and averages 60,400 ktonnes/yr or 167,700 tpd for the first 10 years. The mine is scheduled to operate 365 days/yr with two, 12-hour shifts/day.

The mine plan was developed with a phased approach to facilitate sufficient ore release to provide the mill feed desired. In addition to the phases, mining was envisioned on 5 m in ore and 10 m in waste to increase productivity and ore release.

Seven phases were designed for Project with a minimum of 100 m of operating width on each bench within a phase, in general.

Phase Design Parameters:
- Haul Road Width - 30 meters;
- Haul Road Grade - 10% Maximum;
- Interramp Slope Angles - by sector;
- Operating width between pushbacks - 100 meters nominal.

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