Tag Archives: Mexico

VanGold adds El Cubo mine and mill to El Pinguico precious metals mix

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VanGold Mining has signed a binding agreement with Endeavour Silver to acquire the El Cubo mine and mill complex in Mexico, accelerating the company’s transition from development to production at its nearby El Pinguico silver-gold project.

With a rated capacity of 1,500 t/d, the El Cubo complex is made up of two operating underground silver-gold mines and a flotation plant. It employed over 350 people and engaged over 200 contractors until Endeavour suspended operations at the end of November 2019.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, Endeavour produced a total of 4.58 Moz of silver-equivalent at the complex at an all-in sustaining cost of $8.86/oz.

Currently, the El Cubo mine, plant and tailings facilities are on short term care and maintenance. VanGold intends to re-start the mill at around 750 t/d using mineralised material from its surface and underground stockpiles at the El Pinguico project as a significant portion of its estimated throughput for the first 36 months of operation. Endeavour Silver states it has measured and indicated resources of 236,000 oz of silver equivalent at El Cubo.

VanGold Chairman and CEO, James Anderson, said: “After working well with the Endeavour team during our 1,000 t bulk sample in June 2020, it became clear that El Cubo would be the perfect production fit for VanGold.

“The availability of mineralised material from El Pinguico’s surface stockpile, El Pinguico’s underground stockpile, El Pinguico’s remaining high-grade historical stopes and pillars, as well as El Cubo’s historical resources, gives us great flexibility in deciding where to source material for the mill, and how to sequence that throughput.”

El Pinguico is a high-grade gold and silver deposit that was mined from the early 1890s until 1913. VanGold has recently gained access to some of the historical underground shafts and has drilling campaigns planned to explore these areas.

MAG Silver and Fresnillo make processing leap at Juanicipio

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Fresnillo and MAG Silver Corp’s Juanicipio silver-gold-lead-zinc project, in Mexico, has reached a major milestone, with development material from the project being processed at the Fresnillo beneficiation plant during the September quarter.

The joint venture, owned 56% by Fresnillo and 44% by MAG, saw 42,476 t processed during the quarter, with total production of 394,000 oz of silver, 610 oz of gold, 138 t of lead and 174 t of zinc, Fresnillo reported.

This first development material was processed through the nearby Fresnillo processing plant (100% owned by Fresnillo) with the lead (silver-rich) and zinc concentrates treated at market terms under offtake agreements with Met-Mex Peñoles, SA De CV in Torreón, Mexico, MAG said. The revenue from this production, net of processing and treatment costs, will be used by the joint venture to offset cash requirements of the initial project capital, according to MAG.

“This first production from Juanicipio is a major milestone for the company,” George Paspalas, MAG Silver’s President and CEO, said. “The successful processing of development material not only provides cash flow to offset capex, but further de-risks the project as it heads toward commercial production. We are looking forward to the first production stope coming online in Q4 (December quarter) 2020, and our potential to continue to produce cash whilst we complete the process plant construction.”

Fresnillo expects to process an average of 16,000 t/mth of mineralised material from the joint venture through its processing facility to mid-2021, at which time the Juanicipio beneficiation plant is scheduled for commissioning.

Development continues on site and the final preparation of the first production stope was concluded during the September quarter. Also during the quarter, progress was achieved on the construction of the Juanicipio processing plant.

Seequent helps miners in COVID-19 era with remote geoscience software tools

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Geoscience software company Seequent says it is accelerating the development of its cloud-based solution, Seequent Central, to enable organisations to continue work on critical, large-scale, earth, environment and renewable energy projects in the COVID-19 impacted environment.

Central works alongside Seequent’s other geoscience analysis, modelling and collaborative technologies, to contribute understanding to subsurface geoscience and engineering design solutions.

The cloud-based solution allows people in any location to visualise, track and manage geological models created for infrastructure and critical services projects, in a centralised, auditable environment, according to Seequent.

This means a wide range of stakeholders can readily access highly visual up-to-date information to manage risk and make better environmental and investment decisions, to progress projects, it said.

Seequent CEO, Shaun Maloney, said the company was working alongside customers to do everything it can to make it possible to meet the demands and operational challenges they may be facing in the current environment.

“In response to increased need and demand, we’re accelerating the development of Central to help our customers to continue to operate in interdependent and often remote work environments,” he said.

Seequent’s software is being used on hundreds of diverse projects across the globe, ranging from infrastructure projects including large-scale rail, road and tunnel projects across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific; renewable energy projects in the US, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Philippines and New Zealand; mining and exploration projects in North and South America, Africa and Australia; and environmental projects such as groundwater management in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

One of these projects is with Canada-based mining company First Majestic.

Focused on silver production in Mexico, First Majestic currently owns and operates the San Dimas silver-gold mine, the Santa Elena silver-gold mine and the La Encantada silver mine. The company is pursuing the development of its existing mineral property assets with industry practice modelling using Seequent’s solutions, according to the geoscience software company.

“First Majestic use Seequent’s Leapfrog Geo to develop a realistic presentation of the geology at each site (complex silver deposits with multiple veins), and Leapfrog Edge to aid resource estimation – and when geologic models are changed resource estimates also change dynamically,” Seequent says.

“Seequent Central allows the company to publish models and resource estimates – so they are immediately available to everyone from the mine geologists to management in real time.”

First Majestic Resource Geologist, David Rowe, says the company can now capture multiple resources across multiple mines.

“We can now get all cross-discipline experts together to review projects in one place, and I am notified when those reviews have happened,” he said. “This enables better access and collaboration for everyone.”

Outotec to deliver sustainable plant improvements at First Majestic Silver assets

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Outotec has been awarded a contract by First Majestic Silver for the delivery of minerals processing technology for its mill optimisation projects at the San Dimas silver-gold mine and Santa Elena silver-gold mine, in Mexico.

The circa-€15 million ($16.3 million) order has been booked in Outotec’s 2020 March quarter order intake.

Outotec’s scope covers the design and delivery of an AG mill, counter current decantation thickener and a tailings filter for San Dimas, and thickeners and a tailings filter for Santa Elena. The deliveries are expected to take place in 2020 and 2021, it said.

Outotec previously delivered HIGmill® high-intensity grinding mills to First Majestic, with one of these going to the Santa Elena operation (pictured), where it has significantly improved the recovery of silver and gold.

Paul Sohlberg, Head of Outotec’s Minerals Processing business, said: “The energy efficient AG mill and environmentally sound thickeners and tailings filters will enable First Majestic to improve plant operations in a sustainable way.”

Back in January, First Majestic President & CEO, Keith Neumeyer, said the company’s 2020 focus remained on “adopting new innovation projects to modernise our processing plants to achieve higher recoveries, improve efficiencies and reduce operating costs”.

He added: “We have witnessed significant benefits from high-intensity grinding at our Santa Elena operation in 2019 and we plan to install the same technology at San Dimas in 2020.”

The company, at that point, said it expected to increase production at San Dimas by restarting mining operations at the past-producing Tayoltita mine by the end of the March quarter, expecting to ramp up production to 300 t/d by the end of 2020. The Tayoltita mine was the original mining area at San Dimas and known to contain higher silver grades.

It said a new 3,000 t/d HIGmill circuit and AG grinding mill would be installed in the second half of 2020 to further improve recoveries and reduce operating costs.

At Santa Elena, meanwhile, it said it planned to install an AG/SAG grinding mill by the end of the year, with a dual-circuit flowsheet implemented to separate the ultra-fine and coarse particles prior to leaching to further improve metallurgical recoveries and reduce energy costs.

Mexico miners to suspend operations for April following government decree

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Mexico has become the latest country to enforce a suspension of non-essential activities in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its Ministry of Health ordering a temporary halt of activities until April 30 in order to slow the virus spread.

Mexico is the world’s largest silver producer, having produced 6,300 t of the precious metal in 2019, according to the US Geological Survey. This was an increase of 180 t, year-on-year. It is also hosts major copper and zinc mines operated by Grupo Mexico and Southern Copper, and produces a significant amount of gold.

It joins the likes of Peru, Quebec and South Africa in declaring suspensions of all non-essential activities in order to curb the spread of the virus.

Among the miners with operations in the country to have already reacted to the Mexico Ministry of Health’s announcement was Newmont, Pan American Silver, Sierra Metals and Argonaut Gold.

Newmont, which operates the Peñasquito mine in the state of Zacatecas, said it was taking steps towards a safe and orderly ramp down of operations at the asset.

“At this time, mining has not been deemed an essential activity under the decree and the company is engaging with the government to understand the intended impacts of the decree on operations,” it said.

“Peñasquito will work closely with local governments, neighbouring communities, employees, unions and contractors to ensure a safe and orderly ramp down that complies with the federal government’s directives.”

Tom Palmer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Newmont, said the company intended to comply with Mexico’s latest directive, while engaging with the government to gain further clarity regarding “important activities that may continue at the mine”.

In the meantime, the company would ensure Peñasquito, which is the largest gold mine, second largest silver mine and one of the largest producers of zinc and lead in Mexico, remains well-positioned to safely and efficiently ramp up operations in a timely manner once the government’s directive is lifted, Palmer added. This includes maintaining critical safety, environmental management, infrastructure maintenance and security activities, while continuing to provide essential community support.

Pan American Silver, which operates the La Colorada (Zacatecas, pictured) and Dolores (Chihuahua) operations in Mexico, said it would expand its initiative of reducing the number of people on site to increase physical distancing, to bring the mines into compliance with the executive order.

It is continuing to conduct care and maintenance at the suspended operations to sustain strict safety and environmental systems, and to ensure operational readiness when the government restrictions are lifted and Pan American determines it is safe to resume operations, it added.

La Colorada produced 8.2 Moz of silver in 2019, while Dolores’ output came in at 5.1 Moz.

As a result of this declaration, Sierra Metals said it will only maintain an essential services crew at its Bolivar mine site until April 30, and the Cusi mine site will be placed into care and maintenance during this period. “The company anticipates resuming normal production levels at the mines after this period,” it said.

Bolivar, an underground mine with a 3,600 t/d processing capacity, had previously been expected to produce 16,402- 18,225 t of copper-equivalent in 2020, while the Cusi underground mine was down to produce 1,732-2,126 oz of silver.

Sierra Metals added: “Production can recommence to normal levels very quickly after April 30, and the company has some operating flexibility at Bolivar to run the ore processing mill at higher levels, which should help recover lost ore tonnages from this suspension.”

Argonaut Gold, which is looking to merge with Alio Gold – a transaction that will see it increase its Mexico exposure – said it was working towards an orderly suspension of mining, crushing and stacking activities at its El Castillo gold-silver open-pit mine in Durango, and its La Colorada open-pit operation in Sonora. These assets produced 131,277 gold-equivalent ounces and 55,338 gold-equivalent ounces, respectively, in 2019.

The company added: “Given that Argonaut operates heap leach mines, the company expects metal production and metal sales will continue during the temporary suspension of mining activities.”

Torex’s Stanford looks forward to big year with advancement of Muckahi Mining system

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It was a year of milestones for Torex Gold in 2019, with the Mexico-focused gold miner posting record operational and safety performance, alongside record EBITDA and free cash flow.

The company produced 454,800 oz of gold in 2019 and is guiding for 420,000-480,000 ounces in 2020.

From a technology perspective, the company also made significant progress on advancing its Muckahi Mining System, an alternative to established underground mining processes that, Torex says, can create a more continuous mining process able to accelerate return on investment.

The benefits of the technology include an up to 30% reduction in underground mining capital expenditure, an up to 80% reduction in time between investment and revenue, up to 30% reduction in mining operating expenses and an up to 95% reduction in underground greenhouse gas emissions, Torex says.

President & CEO, Fred Stanford, said: “On the Muckahi front, we successfully demonstrated the viability of the most innovative aspects of the mining system in 2019. We are now excavating our second 30° down ramp and are continuously improving the technique.”

The company is currently testing out the technology at the El Limón Deep zone (ELD) at its El Limón Guajes mining complex (ELG), in southwest Mexico.

Incorporating 30° ramps into mine designs will be a “game changer” for the industry, according to Stanford.

“Moving beyond tunneling to ore production, we demonstrated we could achieve ‘conveyable fragmentation’ when blasting a long hole open stope. The team then demonstrated they could completely ‘muck out’ the long hole open stope with a low cost electric slusher,” he said.

With the major innovations demonstrated as viable in 2019, 2020 will focus on optimising the processes tested in 2019, and initiating testing of the various conveyor applications in the Muckahi Mining System, Stanford said.

“A conveyor for the 30°-ramp has been designed, manufactured, and is currently in transit to the mine,” he said, adding that it will be installed in the ELD deposit in the June quarter.

“We all look forward to getting the conveyor installed and demonstrating the potential,” he said.

ABEL to supply HMQ pumps to major LatAm silver mine

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Pump manufacturer ABEL says it recently landed a major order for three HMQ membrane piston pumps to be fitted at one of the largest silver mines in Latin America.

On site, these HMQ pumps (Hydraulic Membrane Quadruplex pumps) are used to transport mine water pumped from a shaft at a depth of 700 m at around 80 bar to the surface into a reservoir.

The HMQs are quadruplex-acting piston diaphragm pumps and manage high flow rates up to 450 m³/h, according to ABEL. They are primarily made for applications like transfer of tailings, mine dewatering and backfilling in mines.

In addition to mining, ABEL’s HMQs are also frequently used in the wastewater industry to transport sludge or feed filter presses.

Jim Cooper to optimise Newmont’s Peñasquito gold mine

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Newmont has decided to transfer Jim Cooper, General Manager of the Boddington mine in Australia, to lead the Peñasquito mine, in Mexico, in order to optimise the asset.

Cooper will assume leadership of Peñasquito in the March quarter and report to Dan Janney, Newmont’s Regional Senior Vice President for North America.

Peñasquito is one of several assets where the company intends to deliver cost and productivity improvements over the next few years, with Newmont seeing potential for debottlenecking the mill feed and lowering mining costs.

Tom Palmer, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Under Jim’s leadership, Boddington has delivered step-change improvements in safety, mill throughput and recovery, mine plan sequencing and execution.

“Boddington’s scale and processing characteristics are similar to Peñasquito’s, making Jim uniquely qualified to replicate Boddington’s consistently strong performance at Peñasquito in Mexico.”

Jen Bennett, currently serving as Vice President of Operations for Newmont’s South America region, will succeed Jim to lead Boddington and build on the operation’s success through a continued focus on safe, efficient production, and project delivery, the company said.

Peñasquito’s current General Manager, Brian Berney, will focus on government and community engagement in Mexico while supporting an effective transition with Cooper.

In October, Peñasquito’s production was halted for close to two weeks following an illegal blockade. This followed another illegal blockade, earlier that year, involving trucking contractors.

The mine produced 272,000 oz of gold in 2018.

Major Drilling reaches new depths at Industrias Peñoles’ Bismark mine

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Major Drilling says its Mexico division recently drilled its deepest NQ diameter hole at the Industrias Peñoles-owned Bismark mine in Chihuahua.

The drill hole, which reached just over 1,985 m, is a “true milestone for drilling operations in the region”, Major Drilling said.

Cory Crawford, Major Drilling Mexico Assistant Branch Manager, said: “These are not easy holes to complete. Being dry holes, we have to use special back-end dry hole valves made in house.”

Major Drilling established its first contract with Industrias Peñoles just 18 months ago and has already drilled nearly 50,000 m for the miner. Its core drilling contract at Bismark is to explore and support long-term mining, it said.

Bacanora taps Veolia Water Technologies for Sonora lithium carbonate flowsheet

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Veolia’s exhaustive testing program and process design expertise with its HPD® evaporation and crystallisation technologies recently validated Bacanora Lithium’s product purity requirements at the Sonora lithium project in Mexico, while removing potassium and converting a waste stream into a high-value-added fertiliser, according to the water- and chemical-focused technology company.

The company’s Veolia Water Technologies division engineered and designed the production process that recovers lithium carbonate and sulphate of potash from clay deposits using HPD systems.

Veolia explained: “Although lithium is a relatively abundant metal, high-purity lithium chemicals used by battery makers are rarer because lithium extraction, either from brines or hard rock, consists of a series of complex operations that make design production rates hard to achieve.”

While these issues are also common in other mining sectors, the problems with lithium are compounded because of the reduced number of lithium plants in operation, meaning industry knowhow is limited, according to the company.

To mitigate the risks of the Sonora project and confirm that the proposed technical and commercial process is both feasible and scalable, Bacanora, a lithium exploration and development company, relied on Veolia’s lithium production expertise to test the process flowsheet developed during the feasibility study and simulate the unit operations planned for the project. The outline was an integrated mine in northern Mexico designed to reach a capacity of 17,500 t/y of battery-grade Li2CO3 (lithium carbonate) operation in its first phase.

Different from most of the world’s lithium produced from hard-rock mines in Australia or from brines in South America, the lithium at Sonora is mined from clay — a rare type of deposit with the potential to become one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost lithium resources, according to Veolia.

Integrated to this plant, Veolia designed an evaporation circuit with a double crystallisation sequence featuring HPD® thermal separation technologies to maximise the recovery of potassium sulphate – also known as sulphate of potash (SOP) – and sodium sulphate, a valuable salt recycled upstream as the reagent in the clay roasting process.

The production line is completed by ion-exchange purification, solid-liquid centrifugal separation and drying systems to achieve >99.5% battery-grade lithium carbonate.

“We are proud to help game-changing miners in search of a partner with the knowhow to produce lithium from a variety of feedstocks. Veolia looks forward to further supporting the transformation of Bacanora into a major supplier of battery-grade lithium chemicals,” Jim Brown, Executive Vice President Veolia Water Technologies Americas, said.