Canada-based Silver Bear Resources reported that its Mangazeisky silver project located in Sakha Republic in Far East Russia has produced its first silver.
Image: Silver bullion bar 1000oz top view. Photo courtesy of Unit 5/Wikipedia.
The company said that silver has been produced after carrying out the initial commissioning activities while commissioning continued through the second quarter.
The Mangazeisky silver project includes the Vertikalny deposit and is located within the Verkhoyansk mobile belt of northeastern Yakutia.
Silver Bear Resources revealed that it has mined 13,436 tonnes and milled 9,545 tonnes of ore for a total of about 41,500 ounces silver contained in dry powder up to mid-June 2018.
The company said that it is milling lower grade material for commissioning purposes and that current and ongoing metallurgical testwork at Vertikalny confirms the mining grade average of 963 g/t Ag.
As far as infrastructure at the Russian silver project is concerned, the company has installed four additional fuel tanks, two more leaching tanks, a sixth power generator and an additional crusher during the first two quarters of the year.
It had also completed installation and commissioning of a reverse osmosis potable water treatment plant and expects to wrap up the remainder of essential construction over the summer months.
Silver Bear Resources president and CEO Graham Hill said: “During this early commissioning phase, the Company is utilizing lower grade material for processing and will be feeding higher grade ore as commissioning progresses. We look forward to growing Vertikalny in the coming months in terms of Reserves and production throughput.”
Silver Bear Resources was given a 20-year mining license to the Vertikalny deposit in September 2013 and three years later was granted a 7-year extension for the exploration license.
According to the Canadian miner, Mangazeisky is host to four types of mineralization in the form of the Vertikalny deposit, the Mangazeisky North and South deposit, the Nizhny Endybal deposit and the Porfirovy prospect.
Silver Bear Resources said that it has developed a drilling plan for the Mangazeisky North deposit which includes technological and metallurgical sampling and analysis of probable extensions of the mineralization along strike and down-dip.