Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Production Start | ... |
Mine Life | 2026 |
Puna is comprised of the Chinchillas mine and the Pirquitas property, which includes the Pirquitas processing facilities.
Based on current Mineral Reserves, mining from the Chinchillas open pit is expected to be completed in 2026. Technical work continues to evaluate opportunities to extend the Puna life of mine through Mineral Reserve conversion at Chinchillas, as well as the definition of initial Mineral Reserves at the Cortaderas target. |
Source:
p. 23
Company | Interest | Ownership |
SSR Mining Inc.
|
100 %
|
Indirect
|
Mina Pirquitas S. A.
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
Puna is directly owned (100%) by SSR through a subsidiary company Puna Operations Inc. (POI) which through other 100% owned subsidiaries own Mina Pirquitas S.A. (MPSA). MPSA operates the Project.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- Hydrothermal
- Vein / narrow vein
- Manto
Summary:
The Chinchillas and Pirquitas deposits are considered part of the Bolivian tin-silver–zinc belt that extends from the San Rafael tin-copper deposit in southern Peru into the Puna region of Jujuy. Deposits with similar styles of mineralization include San Cristóbal, Potosí, and Pulacayo. These deposits are characterized by dacite dome complexes with mineralization hosted in shears and breccias within the dacite domes or within shears and breccias within the host rocks. More rarely, as in the case of the Chinchillas Property and San Cristóbal, the deposits morphology includes flat-lying manto bodies within sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks. All the deposits have large vertical extents.
Chinchillas Mineralization
Significant silver-lead-zinc mineralization occurs in four main areas at Chinchillas: the Silver Mantos and Basement Mantos zones in the west part of the caldera and the Socavon del Diablo and Socavon Basement/Melina zones in the east part.
Northeast trending faults within the metasedimentary rocks are interpreted to control the location of the Basement Mantos deposit, the distribution of high grade mineralization in the Silver Mantos deposit, and, potentially, the Socavon del Diablo deposit. Mineralization is dominated by silver, with lesser amounts of lead and zinc. Mineralization occurs as disseminated sulfides, matrix infilling within the volcanic tuffs, and as matrix and fracture filling in breccias within the metasedimentary rocks. Daci ........
Summary:
MPSA uses standard open pit mining methods with a LOM sustained mining rate of approximately 22,600 tpd at the Chinchillas operation. The surface operations include:
• Cleaning and grubbing;
• Overburden removal;
• Drilling and blasting;
• Loading and haulage.
Mining is scheduled 24 hours per day, 365 days per year on a rotation of two, 12-hour shifts, and mine production is scheduled to directly send ore material to the designated stockpiles in the staging area close to the pit.
The current LOM plan provides 2.5 years of operational life, including one and half years of active mining followed by an additional one year of processing the medium grade stockpiles. The average stripping ratio is 2.4 waste units to 1 unit of ore (2.4 stripping ratio).
The optimized pit was built into an ultimate pit design that included access and took into account geotechnical considerations for designed highwall angles including the 20 m wide geotechnical stepout along the 4,045 m bench elevation, effectively breaking the more than 200 m high interramp slope into two stacks.
The final configuration of the Chinchillas pit isapproximately 750 m long, 660 m wide, and 235 m deep.
Drilling and Blasting
Blasthole drilling is performed with two Epiroc DM45 drill rigs that drill with both rotary and hammer drill bits. The rigs drill 17.1 cm diameter blastholes. The DM45 rigs can drill up to 8.4 m in a single pass.
Source:
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Pipelines and Water Supply
Source:
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Reserves at December 31, 2023:
Chinchillas Mineral Reserves are reported at NSR cut-off value of $48.97/t.
Chinchillas Mineral Resources are contained within a pit shell generated using an NSR cut-off of $37.91. Pirquitas UG Mineral Resources are contained within underground mining shapes in San Miguel, Potosi, Oploca, and Cortaderas veins based on an NSR cut-off on $110/t and are reported using a silver metal price of $22.00/oz, $0.95/lb lead, and $1.15/lb zinc. The cut-off grade includes lead and zinc attributable metal and is calculated at $110/t. Metallurgical recoveries vary with grade and on average are 82.7% silver and 53.7% for zinc. There are no Mineral Reserves in Pirquitas.
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven & Probable
|
Stockpiles
|
620 kt
|
Silver
|
111.8 g/t
|
2,228 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
3,547 kt
|
Silver
|
161.79 g/t
|
18,449 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
Stockpiles
|
620 kt
|
Lead
|
0.88 %
|
12.1 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
3,547 kt
|
Lead
|
1.29 %
|
100.7 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
Stockpiles
|
620 kt
|
Zinc
|
0.32 %
|
4.4 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
3,547 kt
|
Zinc
|
0.21 %
|
16.1 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Stockpiles
|
357 kt
|
Silver
|
70 g/t
|
803 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
8,474 kt
|
Silver
|
113.83 g/t
|
31,012 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
2,480 kt
|
Silver
|
300.91 g/t
|
23,992 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Stockpiles
|
357 kt
|
Lead
|
0.51 %
|
4 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
8,474 kt
|
Lead
|
1.03 %
|
192.1 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Stockpiles
|
357 kt
|
Zinc
|
0.58 %
|
4.6 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
8,474 kt
|
Zinc
|
0.42 %
|
79.2 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
2,480 kt
|
Zinc
|
5.85 %
|
319.8 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
1,509 kt
|
Silver
|
93.46 g/t
|
4,536 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
1,320 kt
|
Silver
|
194.9 g/t
|
8,273 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
1,509 kt
|
Lead
|
0.72 %
|
24 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
1,509 kt
|
Zinc
|
0.45 %
|
15 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
1,320 kt
|
Zinc
|
7.28 %
|
211.9 M lbs
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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