Exploration & Development
| Americas Silver's land holdings have a number of significant exploration targets across all assets: Cosalá District Americas Silver is a major land holder in the Cosalá district with holdings of approximately 26,800 hectares. Fieldwork was completed in several areas in 2014 and the region was re-mapped with the aid of satellite images to provide an improved understanding of the geology. The Company has several advanced projects including the San Rafael zinc-lead-silver deposit and El Cajón silver-copper deposit, as well as the La Verde silver-copper mine. In the La Verde Mine, approximately 84 holes and 10,800 meters of previous drilling were re-logged and sampled and a model of the mineralization was developed. Several zones of mineralization were found to be faulted extensions or repetitions of the two principle zones and 2,000 meters of drilling was completed to follow up where previous intersections had been detected. Potential extensions of these known zones were investigated and explored. One of these areas, the South Zone, was tested and preliminary indications are that this area could contain meaningful silver-copper mineralization. Galena Complex The 2014 exploration mandate at the Galena Complex was to develop near-term resources, define the highest grade areas close to existing infrastructure and complete block modeling on priority veins. Drilling for the year totaled 7,550 meters and focused mainly on the 2400, 4600, 4900 and 5500 levels in support of the Company's transition to silver-lead dominant production. Drilling on the 4900 level successfully intersected the upward extension of the 175 Vein, and test mining is currently taking place between the 5200 and 5500 levels to fully define the resource in this area. Drilling in the 171 Vein resulted in good intercepts ranging in depth from approximately 4 - 20 meters below track elevation. This information is being incorporated into current development activities in the area. Block-modeling of the newly re-evaluated Upper Country Silver Lead (UCSL) Veins is continuing and additional silver-lead resources have been defined between the 2400 and 3700 levels. While drilling focused on defining silver-lead resources, silver-copper intersections were also encountered. Coeur Mine The Coeur Mine was developed in 1963 but has been inactive since 1997. In 2011 and 2012, the Company spent over $5 million to re-open the Coeur Mine, however low prices in 2013 forced the Company to put the asset on care and maintenance pending higher silver prices. Plans were in place to bring Coeur production up to a mining rate of over 2,000 tons per month of silver-copper ore. These plans could be reinitiated with a relatively low capital investment. Drumlummon The 100% owned Drumlummon Mine in Montana is currently on care and maintenance as of 2013. A small, ongoing exploration program is being maintained and the remaining equipment, materials inventory and supplies were moved to the Galena Complex. The exploration and production history of the Drumlummon Mine dates back to the late 1800s, with historical production of 1 million ounces of gold and 12 million ounces of silver. Prior to the 1980s, the Marysville District was the primary hard rock gold producer in the State of Montana and the Drumlummon Mine was the largest mine within the district. | |
