Trevali Mining reports that since commencing mill commissioning in late May at the Caribou complex, the company has achieved initial production of zinc and lead concentrates and has also shipped and sold initial zinc concentrates in July. Progress highlights are as follows:

• Approximate tonnes processed YTD as of July 31/15; 52,057 t
• Approximate zinc concentrate produced YTD as of July 31/15 (WMT); 1,933 t
• Average zinc concentrate grade; 50.3% Zn
• Approximate lead-silver concentrate produced YTD as of July 31/15 (WMT); 491 t
• Average lead-silver concentrate grade; 37.4% Pb, 598 g/t Ag.

Ongoing troubleshooting of ramp-up issues continued through the month of July with significant headway realised as Trevali continues to ramp up Caribou operations according to the strategy outlined in the company’s News Release dated May 19, 2015.The commissioning status of specific mill components is as follows:

Grinding – The new SAG mill, the two ball mills and the three IsaMills are all operational. Ongoing initiatives are focused on optimising charge rates, grind characteristics and media composition. Fine tuning of the IsaMills has them now operating at near nameplate grind size of 12 micron.

Flotation – Both zinc and lead flotation circuits, including the rougher and cleaner cells, are all online. Additional piping and pumping optimization and replacement occurred during July to further improve circuit stability and is ongoing.

Reagents – With concentrates now being produced, the focus is now on optimisation of both zinc and lead reagent mixtures/ratios to bring recoveries towards anticipated nameplate percentages, and optimise concentrate grades and characteristics.

Filtration & tailings – The zinc and lead filters are both online. Ongoing work in July focused on lead concentrate optimisation.Underground commissioning continues to make positive progress with de-watering, remaining refurbishment and various optimizing initiatives all proceeding in line with plans. Production continues at approximately 1,500 t/d, sufficient to maintain the approximate 100,000-t surface mill feed stockpile being used for mill commissioning purposes.

Trevali’s wholly-owned Caribou mine and mill complex consists of a developed underground mine with significant resources of zinc-lead-silver-copper-gold, a fully permitted 3,000 t/d processing mill, flotation recovery plant, metallurgical and geochemical laboratories, and a tailings treatment facility, all located some 50 km west of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada.