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Mexico

Pitarrilla Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
 Archived Information
Commodities
  • Silver
  • Zinc
  • Lead
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotPitarrilla, one of the largest undeveloped silver projects in the world.

On January 17, 2022, Endeavour Silver Corp. acquired the Pitarrilla Project, located d in Durango State, Mexico, from SSR Mining Inc.

Currently, Endeavour Silver Corp classifies the Pitarrilla Project as an exploration project.

At Pitarrilla, the Company continued underground development to advance the kilometre long decline and lateral drifts that will be used to drill 5,000 metres to test the resource at various angles and conduct geological mapping activities. During 2023, the underground drive was re-directed due to ground conditions, which increased the development time and ramp fortification costs.

Please note that all data, besides Geology and Mineral Resources, presented below is sourced from 2012 technical report and should not be regarded as up-to-date.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Endeavour Silver Corp. 100 % Indirect
The Pitarrilla project is held by Minera Pitarrilla S.A. de C.V.(formerly SSR Durango S.A de C.V.).

On January 12, 2022, the Company entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the Pitarrilla project from SSR Mining Inc. (“SSR”) for total consideration of $70 million.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Epithermal

Summary:

The Property is located on the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. This mountain range is the erosional remnant of one of the Earth’s most voluminous accumulations of intermediate to felsic volcanic rocks, which formed a calc-alkaline magmatic arc that was built during Eocene to early Miocene time, roughly 52 to 25 million years ago, in response to subduction of the Farallón tectonic plate beneath North America, this mountain building event is known as the Laramide Orogeny. A large number of medium to high-level hydrothermal systems variably enriched in Ag, Au, Pb, and Zn were intermittently generated during this extended period of volcanism, including the epithermal mineral systems that formed the great Mexican silver mining districts at Guanajuato, Real de Angeles in Zacatecas, Fresnillo, and Santa Barbara-San Francisco del Oro. The silver-lead-zinc mineralization found on the Pitarrilla property is situated in Central Mexican Silver Belt, a metallogenic province defined by the four previously noted silver mining districts along with the mining districts of Parral, Santa Maria del Oro, and SombrereteChalchihuites.

The Pitarrilla Project Ag-Zn-Pb deposit is hosted by deformed Cretaceous marine sediments and unconformably overlying Eocene (52 to 40 Ma) and Oligocene (32 to 28 Ma) volcanics volcaniclastics and intrusives. Eocene volcanics and volcaniclastics were derived from arc volcanism and from the erosion of subaerial arc volcanoes and deposited into a back-arc basin. Uplift of the basin was accompanied by extension and voluminous bi-modal volcanism with the emplacement of andesitic and felsic sills and dykes during the early Oligocene. The culmination of the volcanism was the development of a rhyolitic dome which crops out on Cerro La Pitarrilla.

Ag-Zn-Pb mineralization at the Pitarrilla Project occurs as a vertically stacked mineralised system centered on rhyolitic dykes and sills that constitute the feeder system for an early Oligocene volcanic center manifest by the rhyolitic dome. Sulphide-associated mineralization is rooted in the basement Cretaceous sedimentary strata and is represented by an aerially restricted but vertically extensive zone of disseminated and veinlet Ag-Zn-Pb (-Cu-As-Sb) sulphide mineralization and strata-bound massive replacement mineralization within a polymictic conglomerate that occur at the Cretaceous-Eocene unconformity.

The sulphide mineralization extends into the overlying Eocene and Oligocene volcaniclastic rocks and felsic sills, where it grades into mixed sulphide–oxide or transitional mineralization and a more laterally extensive zone of disseminated iron oxide-associated mineralization. The Ag-Zn-Pb mineralization is interpreted to have occurred during or after emplacement of the early Oligocene rhyolitic dome.

The Pitarrilla deposit is centrally located within the Central Mexican Silver Belt, which is defined by numerous Ag-Pb-Zn (±Au ±Cu) deposits and is classified as an intermediate sulphidation epithermal deposit.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Silver Payable metal koz 10,102312,150
Zinc Payable metal M lbs 0.051,254
Zinc Concentrate kt 461,515
Lead Payable metal M lbs 0.018538
Lead Concentrate kt 18604

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsEstimated
Credits (by-product) Silver USD -5.46 / oz *  USD
Site cash costs (produced) Silver USD 11.6 / oz *  USD
Cash costs Silver USD 10 / oz * **  USD
Total cash costs Silver USD 15.9 / oz * **  USD
Assumed price Lead USD 0.9 / lb *  USD
Assumed price Zinc USD 0.95 / lb *  USD
Assumed price Silver USD 25 / oz *  USD
* According to 2012 study / presentation.
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency2024
OP mining costs ($/t mined) USD  ....  Subscribe
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2012 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M USD 2,420
G&A costs $M USD 282.1
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Income Taxes $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Net revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Net Income (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 5% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 5% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 15, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 15, 2024

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2012

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