Tangana Mining Unit
Overview
The Tangana Mining Unit lies within the Nueva Recuperada project (the “Project”) located within the Huachacolpa Mining District, Huancavelica, Peru, 479 km to the southeast of Lima. Nueva Recuperada is accessible by road from Lima. The Company’s assets include 230 mining concessions covering 20,472 hectares. Silver X acquired the Project through consolidation of various mining concessions from Buenaventura, Pan American Silver and Peruvian Metals.
Nueva Recuperada lies within an historic mining area, where mining has taken place since the 16th century. The Project has the complete support of the local communities. Community members have offered open-hearted assistance in developing any type of mining activities in the area.
The plant has been in operation for 60 years. Historic production accounts for approximately 200 million ounces of silver equivalent within a 30 km radius. The project was placed on care and maintenance in 2014. Silver X commenced production in 2022 and today is in a ramp up towards nameplate capacity of 720 tpd at the Nueva Recuperada processing plant is ongoing.
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Tangana is a concession spanning 966.01 hectares, characterized by Ag-(Au)-Base Metals mineralization within intermediate sulfidation epithermal veins. The Tangana vein system comprises thirteen structures and oriented in a southeast-northwest direction. These structures are bounded by the Chonta and Huancavelica-Huachocolpa regional faults. The veins have subvertical dips and reach lengths of up to 1.3 km, with a width vary from 0.50 meters up to 3.00 meters.
Tangana is comprised of polymetallic veins (Ag-Pb-Zn) with intermediate sulfidation type, the orientation of the veis are NW-SE and high angle dips. It consists of exposed quartz-rhodochrosite-calcite veins with lengths ranging from 0.5 to 1.25 km and width vary from 0.50 m to 3.00 m. These veins are hosted within volcanic breccia and andesitic domes of the Apacheta Formation. The system is crosscut by a N-S dike composed of biotitic diorite, which is believed to be associated with gold mineralization.
Tangana 1 (TN1), Tangana 2 (TN2) and Cauca veins are the three most significant structures and have been mapped at surface striking approximately southeast-northeast for 500 metres, 470 metres and 800 meters respectively. During the years 2021 and 2022, a systematic sampling campaign was conducted on these structures, resulting in the following results:
Currently, Tangana project is in the exploitation phase of its TN1 vein, with a projection to carry out an infill drilling campaign and extend its operations to increase the silver resources of the mine.
Mining & Processing
Mining is performed by a mining contractor via overhand. The longhole stoping is a mining method used for narrow vein deposits. It is a type of underground mining method that involves drilling a series of long holes into the ore body and then blasting the rock to create an open stope. The blasted ore is then removed from the stope using loaders or other equipment. Longhole stoping is typically used for narrow vein deposits that are too small for conventional mining methods. The waste mined is further used as fill material to set ground for mining the upper slice. In summary, a bottom-up mining sequence is undertaken following the veins strike. The method can be well adapted to the variations of the vein geometries.
The Nueva Recuperada plant can treat 720 tonnes per day and produces a zinc and a silver/lead/gold concentrate. The plant comprises crushing, grinding, flotation, thickening, filtration and reagent preparation and concentrate storage areas.
Resources
Notes:
- The independent QP for the mineral resource estimate, as defined by NI 43 101, is David Heyl, P.Geo. The effective date is October 31, 2022.
- The estimate is reported for an underground, conventional cut and fill scenario.
- The mineral resource estimate includes two resource models: 1) A block model defined for the core of the resource, estimated through the drilling and mine development; geo-statistical method is the reverse of the distance; 2) a polygonal model for some of the inferred resources based on veins outcrops and surface sampling.
- The approximate cut-off grade applied to all resources is $60/t.
- Silver equivalent (“AgEq”) ounces produced were calculated based on all metals produced using the average sales prices of each metal for each month during the period. Revenues from concentrate sales does not consider metallurgical recoveries in the calculations as the metal recoveries are built into the sales amounts.
- These Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- The Mineral Resource estimate follows CIM Definition Standards.
- The QPs of this PEA are not aware of any known environmental, permitting, legal, title-related, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues that could materially affect the Mineral Resource estimate other than those disclosed in the February 2023 NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report
Environmental & Social Impact Assessment
Silver X has begun updating the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for its Nueva Recuperada Project. The environmental studies and community consultations for the ESIA allow for collaborative discussions with stakeholders while providing the company with a clear path to expanding operations. We are very proud to have a strong social license to operate at Nueva Recuperada and we will continue reducing and mitigating our environmental impact while sharing the economic benefits of resource development with our stakeholders.
