- Published: 23 March 2009
- Written by Editor
Endeavour Silver Releases Updated NI 43-101 Reserve/Resource Estimates: Silver-Equivalent Reserves/Resources Increase 24% Over Last Year
Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR)(NYSE Alternext US:EXK)(NYSE Amex:EXK.A)(FRANKFURT:EJD) announced today the updated NI 43-101 reserve and resource estimates to December 31, 2008 for its two producing silver mines in Mexico (the Guanacevi mine in Durango State and the Guanajuato mine in Guanajuato State) and one exploration project (the Parral project in Chihuahua State).
Highlights of the new estimates include sharp increases in both indicated and inferred silver resources at all three properties as a result of the successful exploration drilling programs conducted in 2008.
Total silver-equivalent reserves and resources rose 24% compared to one year ago, after consideration for replacing the reserves depleted by mining in 2008 (assuming a 75:1 silver:gold ratio for the silver equivalents based on gold/silver prices in December 2008, not including any base metals as equivalents).
Proven and probable reserves now total 7.8 million ounces (oz) silver (9.6 million oz silver-equivalents), indicated resources increased to 19.5 million oz silver (26.1 million oz silver-equivalents) and inferred resources climbed to 19.5 million oz silver (26.6 million oz silver-equivalents) as shown in the table below.
Godfrey Walton, President and COO, commented, "Last year, we put additional focus on exploration and successfully met our goal of substantially increasing the indicated and inferred silver resources at both Guanacevi and Guanajuato. We also made several new discoveries in both the San Pedro area of Guanacevi and the Bolanitos area of Guanajuato. This year, we have turned our attention back to boosting the reserves and production at our two operating silver mines in Mexico as part of our plan to grow the production at both operations by almost double over the next two to three years."
In 2008, Endeavour's exploration drilling programs focused on increasing its silver resources at the Guanacevi and Guanajuato mine-sites by step-out drilling from the previously outlined resource areas, and by drill testing new silver targets developed by our exploration team on other Endeavour properties within the two mining districts.
At Guanacevi, new silver resources were added to three ore-bodies within the Santa Cruz vein system, North Porvenir, Santa Cruz and Alex Breccia, all of which are located close to the operating Porvenir mine and all of which are now in development for production in 2009. Alex Breccia and Santa Cruz are poly-metallic ores that are being processed through the newly refurbished flotation circuit at the Guanacevi plant in order to recover the by-product lead and zinc.
In the San Pedro area north of Guanacevi, initial resources were outlined near the historic Noche Buena and Milache-Veronica-La Blanca mine areas. Additional exploration work is planned for 2009 in order to continue growing the resources in these areas. Click here to see the 2009 exploration program details: http://www.edrsilver.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=337819.
At Guanajuato, new silver resources were added in the Veta Madre and La Luz vein systems near the operating Cebada and Bolanitos mines. North of Cebada, initial resources were expanded in the 3785 mineralized zone and in the Bolanitos area, new resources were outlined in the Bolanitos, Lucero, San Jose, Soledad, Perquitas and San Francisco veins. Additional exploration work is planned for 2009 in order to continue growing the resources in these areas.
The new Lucero and San Jose discoveries in particular stand out because management was able to move them from exploration last September to development in November to initial production in January, 2009. Subsequent to the resource estimate at year-end, mine development in the Lucero and San Jose veins has progressed well beyond the edges of the new resource blocks and continues to define new high grade extensions to these mineralized zones. Mineralization in the current mine face of the Lucero South Sill averages 2.4 meters (m) wide grading 689 grams per tonne (gpt) silver and 7.35 gpt gold. All development muck is being sent to the Guanajuato plant for processing.
In addition, Endeavour confirmed and expanded the poly-metallic resources on the El Cometa property, part of the Parral exploration project, through in-fill drilling. Although zinc and lead appear to be approximately equal in value to silver and gold in the recently discovered Cometa mineralized zone, the base metals have been treated as by-product credits rather than silver-equivalents for the purposes of the Company's silver resource estimate.
The updated reserves and resources are shown in the table below:
Reserves and Resources (as of Dec 31, 2008)
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Reserves Proven & Probable
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag-Eq
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt Ag oz Au oz oz
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Proven
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Guanacevi 57,000 361 0.49 398 661,600 900 729,100
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Total
Proven 57,000 361 0.49 398 661,600 900 729,100
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Probable
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Guanacevi 478,000 352 0.49 389 5,410,200 7,500 5,972,700
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Guanajuato 214,000 251 2.20 416 1,727,100 15,100 2,859,600
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Total
Probable 692,000 321 1.02 397 7,137,300 22,600 8,832,300
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Total
Proven
& Probable 749,000 324 0.98 397 7,798,900 23,500 9,561,400
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(i) Cut-off grade for Proven & Probable Resources for Guanacevi is 270g/t
Ag for Porvenir and 230 g/t Ag-Equivalent for Guanajuato
(ii) Silver-Equivalencies are calculated using a 75:1 ratio based on
prices of USD$12 per ounce of silver and USD$900 per ounce of gold;
no base metal credits are used for calculating silver-Equivalencies
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Resources Indicated
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag-Eq
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt Ag oz Au oz oz
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Guanacevi 1,710,000 290 0.53 330 15,957,900 28,900 18,125,400
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Guanajuato 288,000 202 1.60 322 1,872,700 14,800 2,982,700
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Total
Indicated 1,998,000 278 0.68 329 17,830,600 43,700 21,108,100
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Resources Inferred
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag-Eq
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt Ag oz Au oz oz
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Guanacevi 1,563,000 240 0.37 268 12,069,800 18,800 13,479,800
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Guanajuato 782,000 229 2.00 379 5,751,000 50,300 9,523,500
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Total
Inferred 2,345,000 236 0.92 305 17,820,800 69,100 23,003,300
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(i) Cut-off grade for Indicated & Inferred Resources for Guanacevi is
200g/t Ag for Porvenir and 100 g/t Ag for Alex Breccia, Santa Cruz,
Porvenir Dos and Noche Buena.
(ii) Cut-off grade for Indicated & Inferred Resources for Guanajuato is
200 g/t Ag-Equivalent
(iii) Silver-Equivalencies are calculated using a 75:1 ratio based on
prices of USD $12 per ounce of silver and US$900 per ounce of gold,
no base metal credits are used for calculating silver-Equivalencies.
Silver-Gold-Lead-Zinc
Resources - Guanacevi
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Resources Indicated
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag Au Ag-Eq Zn Pb
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt oz oz oz % %
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Guana-
cevi 85,000 66 0.18 80 179,500 500 217,000 2.2 3.6
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Total
Indicated 85,000 66 0.18 79 179,500 500 217,000 2.2 3.6
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Resources Inferred
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag Au Ag-Eq Zn Pb
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt oz oz oz % %
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Guana-
cevi 260,000 72 0.15 83 604,300 1,300 701,800 2.1 3.4
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Total
Inferred 260,000 72 0.16 84 604,300 1,300 701,800 2.1 3.4
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(i) Cut-off grade for Indicated & Inferred Resources for Guanacevi is
50 g/t Ag plus 3.5% combined Pb-Zn.
(ii) Silver-Equivalencies are calculated using a 75:1 ratio based on
prices of USD$12 per ounce of silver and USD$900 per ounce of gold;
no base metal credits are used for calculating silver-Equivalencies.
Silver-Gold-Lead-Zinc
Resources - Cometa
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Resources Indicated
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag Au Ag-Eq Zn Pb
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt oz oz oz % %
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Com-
eta 934,000 49 1.46 159 1,471,400 43,800 4,756,400 3.2 3.2
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Total
Indicated 934,000 49 1.46 158 1,471,400 43,800 4,756,400 3.2 3.2
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Resources Inferred
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Ag-
Ag Au Eq Ag Au Ag-Eq Zn Pb
Description Tonnes gpt gpt gpt oz oz oz % %
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Com-
eta 528,000 61 1.45 170 1,035,500 24,600 2,880,500 3.0 2.7
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Total
Inferred 528,000 61 1.45 170 1,035,500 24,600 2,880,500 3.0 2.7
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(i) Cut-off grade for Indicated & Inferred Resources for Cometa is
USD$40 NSR based on metal prices of USD$12 per ounce of silver,
USD$900 per ounce of gold, USD$0.50 per pound of lead, USD$0.50
per pound of zinc; metallurgical recoveries used were 71% for
silver, 75% for gold, 80% for lead and 74% for zinc.
(ii) Silver-Equivalencies are calculated using a 75:1 ratio based
prices USD$12 per ounce of silver and USD$900 per ounce of gold;
no base metal credits are used for calculating silver-Equivalencies.
Endeavour mine and exploration personnel prepared the updated reserves and resources to December 31, 2008 for the Guanacevi and Guanajuato mines. The in-house Qualified Person for reporting the reserves and resources is Barry Devlin, M.Sc., P. Geo.,Vice President of Exploration for Endeavour, who was also responsible for re-estimating the El Cometa resources.
Endeavour retained Micon International Ltd. to audit the updated reserves and resources as of December 31, 2008 for the Guanacevi and Guanajuato mines. The Qualified Persons for Micon are William Lewis, B.Sc., P.Geo., Charley Murahwi, M.Sc., P.Geo, MAusIMM, Dibya Kanti Mukhopadhyay, MAusIMM and Jim Leader, P.Eng. Their reports will be filed on SEDAR at the end of March when they have been completed.
The reserve and resource statements for the Guanacevi, Guanajuato and Parral projects were classified following the definitions and guidelines of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum CIM standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves (CIM Standards) and the guidelines of NI 43-101.
Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR)(NYSE Alternext US:EXK)(NYSE Amex:EXK.A)(FRANKFURT:EJD) is a small-cap silver mining company focused on the growth of its silver production, reserves and resources in Mexico. Since start-up in 2004, Endeavour has posted four consecutive years of aggressive silver production and resource growth. The organic expansion programs now underway at Endeavour's two operating silver mines in Mexico combined with its strategic acquisition program should help Endeavour achieve its goal to become the next premier mid-tier primary silver producer.
ENDEAVOUR SILVER CORP.
Bradford Cooke, Chairman and CEO
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements and information herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future silver and gold production, mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, and planned work programs. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Endeavour and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such risk factors herein include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in future metal prices and exchange rates, uncertainties inherent in the estimation of reserves and resources and the availability of capital. Such factors are described in the section "risk factors" contained in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and Form 40-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Mineral resources do not have demonstrated economic viability. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
SOURCE: Endeavour Silver Corp.
Endeavour Silver Corp. Hugh Clarke (604) 685-9775 or Toll Free: 1-877-685-9775 (604) 685-9744 (FAX) Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website: www.edrsilver.com
