Sierra Madre Gold & Silver (SM.V) has confirmed that as of the end of August, the company’s mill at the La Guitarra mine has processed just over 20,000 tonnes of mineralization, resulting in the production and shipment of 335 dmt of silver-gold concentrate. The average grade of these concentrate shipments ranged from 90-110 ounces of silver per tonne of concentrate with an average grade of 1 oz/t of gold. This means the mill produced a total of around 33,000 ounces of silver and 300-400 ounces of gold (based on a back of the envelope calculation using the average grade of the concentrate shipments. Readers are cautioned the company has not published a net payable amount of gold and silver yet, and we are anxiously awaiting more details on this as well).
The mill has been running at approximately 300 tonnes per day since the start of the test mining phase, and the daily throughput is now increasing towards 350 and subsequently 410 tonnes per day. The company still hopes to reach the 500 tpd milestone by the end of this year.
Keep in mind that the average grade of the processed rock should increase as Sierra Madre kicked off the test mining phase using development mineralization and only gradually transitioned towards mining and processing what it calls ‘economically attractive’ material. The next few months and quarters will be important for Sierra Madre as the company will be increasing its daily throughput while feeding the mill higher-grade material. This should increase the total concentrate production as well.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Sierra Madre. Sierra Madre is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer.
