Del Toro NI 43-101 Technical Report & Pre-Feasibility Study
FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP. (AG: NYSE; FR: TSX) (the “Company” or “First Majestic”) is pleased to announce a new NI 43-101 Technical Report (TR) and Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Del Toro Silver Mine.
REPORTED HIGHLIGHTS
- Silver Equivalent Measured & Indicated Resources increased by 186% to 74.5 million ounces
- Silver Equivalent Inferred Resources increased by 79% to 79.0 million ounces
- Total estimated production to reach 9.7 million silver equivalent ounces in 2014
- Estimated total operating costs at $34.96 per tonne and cash costs of $7.32 per ounce of silver on a by-product basis
- Post Tax NPV at 5% discount = US$147.1 million using a US$25 silver price
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is 43% with a payback period of 2.5 years from completion
- Life of Mine (LOM) currently estimated at 6.5 years taking into consideration mine dilution from underground mining operations and metallurgical silver recoveries
- Total capital requirement over three years of $124.2 million including a 5% contingency
- The Del Toro Silver Mine is 100% owned by First Majestic Silver and there are no Royalties payable
This new NI 43-101 TR and PFS considers exploration and development work completed as at the cut-off date of March 31, 2012. These estimates include all work completed as at the cut-off date, including a total of 35,230 metres of diamond drilling over 117 holes and development metres totalling 7,133. Assays for 33 holes did not make the cut-off date and were not included in this report. Seven drill rigs remain actively drilling on site. The new Resource estimates as at the cut-off consists of 74.5 million ounces of silver equivalent in Measured and Indicated Resources, representing an increase of 186% from the 2008 estimates plus an additional 79.0 million ounces contained in Inferred Resources representing a 79% increase from the previous estimate.
Construction of the new 4,000 tpd dual circuit processing mill commenced in April 2011. As of today’s date, construction remains on time with first phase of production scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter 2012. Ramp up of production used in the PFS was as follows; Phase 1 – starting in October 2012 through the first half of 2013 includes only sulfide ore processing through the flotation circuit at a capacity of 1,000 tpd; Phase 2 — includes the last half of 2013 through 2017 which includes oxide ore processing through cyanide leaching at a capacity of 2,000 tpd plus sulfide ore processing through flotation at a capacity of 2,000 tpd for total throughput of 4,000 tpd; Phase 3 – Year 2018 includes only 4,000 tpd of sulfide ore through flotation.
