video
http://www.resourceintelligence.net/...e-gold-silver-production/10194
SilverCrest Mines’ Investors Prepare to Celebrate Silver-Gold Production
July 5, 2010
Junior Miner Steps Toward Mid-Tier Producer Status
Eric Fier (COO, SilverCrest Mines): Here we are back at Santa Elena, if you can remember back in 2008 we stood in the deposit area, which is over my right shoulder here, this is the Santa Elena main zone and the cliff, and at that time we had just completed our pre-feasibility study and we were discussing going into permitting, construction and production. Now we’ve completed the permits and as you can see we’ve started construction, we’re currently doing pre-stripping, here it is May 2010, and the cliff that you see in the background there, as its coming down we’ll be picking up more and more ore and it will be shipped to the crusher. If you can recall, we did a taping underground and there was an adit you can see in the base here, we went in there and we pointed out there was a large mineralized zone running approximately 5 grams per tonne gold and several ounces of silver. Our objective is to get this point as quick as possible in our short term mine plan, so that we can see revenues out on the leach pad as soon as possible.
Scott Drever (President, SilverCrest Mines): Today we are at the mine site and we saw the crusher start up, we’ve seen pretty much everything completed and its been a wild and wonderful four and half years, from start to pretty much finish — we’ll be producing gold and silver later this year.
Cecile Munoz (VP, Sonoran Resources): At the head of Santa Elena you have individuals with not only extensive experience in mining, but it’s their approach. They have real dedication, real commitment to not only building a very successful mine, but a mine that is in balance and in harmony with the community and with the environment around them.
Eric Fier (COO, SilverCrest Mines): In keeping with our commitment to the community, I’d like to present this ambulance to the municipality of Banamichi, Thank you very much.
Cecile Munoz (VP, Sonoran Resources): Also, what makes it unique is that arguably we could say it’s a small project but the quality of the mine is very strong and the location is very advantageous, easy access to the mine and then when you look at the community of Banamichi you have some great infrastructure, some great people from which to draw upon.
Jada Soomer (Director of Communications, SilverCrest Mines): …And it was really an invigorating feeling to be part of a company that cares so much about the community that surrounds its mine. It’s going to be a wonderful experience coming back here as we move into production and getting to know more of the locals who’ve been very hospitable. Everyone wants to know what SilverCrest is doing, everyone is very excited about it. The feeling in the community is very contagious.
Eric Fier (COO, SilverCrest Mines): As we transition into production, which is a milestone for SilverCrest, we’ll be staffing the mine. The employment here will be approximately 90 to 100 people, 50 to 75% of that I’m targeting to be local, which is very attractive. There are well-trained people who will be doing training as we’re ramping up and going into production. The more local people you can get is a cost savings to the mine site and to the company and it’s also excellent for community relations.
Eric Fier (COO, SilverCrest Mines): [Speaking to staff at the mine kick-off meeting] Ok, lets get started. Thank you for everybody getting here safely today. We did have a little meeting last night in a kickoff and I want to do the same here this afternoon. This meeting to me is very important because it’s a transition from advanced construction going into production and these are just logical steps that we have to go through in a systematic way in order to get people out of the construction mode and more into the pattern of production.
Geoff Allard, P.E. (Allard Engineering Services): From an investor’s viewpoint, the Santa Elena mine has many good features. It’s in a very nice area, it’s accessible, it;s close to town, has enormous community support as far as I’ve seen. The infrastructure is good and it looks like there’s plenty of potential to expand the mine to the Cruz De Mayo property and recent drilling pointed out some other high grade zones that seem very attractive.
Eric Fier (COO, SilverCrest Mines): We’re at the Santa Elena crusher. This is a critical milestone that we’ve just passed today. We’ve tested the crusher and this material that you see in front of you here is running about minus three-eighths inch, it’ll go out on our leach pad, it’s running about a gram per tonne gold equivalent. Over the next six months you can see values going through the crusher three to five grams gold equivalent. This has tremendous potential and has a great cost benefit. We’ve been very efficient to this point.
Geoff Allard, P.E. (Allard Engineering Services): …So a mine like Santa Elena, which has a very simple, straightforward, understandable metallurgy is a quite a prize. The nicest thing about Santa Elena is that it has no contamination.
Eric Fier (COO, SilverCrest Mines): The revenues from the mine will be used for the expansion plan, for mergers and acquisitions and other projects that we’re currently looking at, in Mexico and worldwide. Currently the mine plan is to the extract approximately 300,000 ounces of gold and about 12 million ounces of silver in the current reserve. That expansion plan will look at approximately 1 million ounces gold equivalent recovered. That’s from the current reserve, the re-treatment of the leach pad, underground resources, which are at about 300,000 ounces gold equivalent, and bringing in Cruz de Mayo which is about 35 kms from here and is the satellite deposit. Currently in Cruz De Mayo we have about 15 million ounces of silver with a gold credit in resource.
Scott Drever (President, SilverCrest Mines): Yes, I’m really proud, not so much for myself but certainly for the people that have put their heart and soul into this project over the last four and half years. They were believers from the outset and you can see how we’ve progressed and how we went through some really tough times in the financial markets and the general stock market itself to get where we are now. It wasn’t easy, but these guys stuck with it and we did it.
|