Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
Endeavour Silver (NYSE: EXK; TSX: EDR) said on Monday it has resumed processing at its Guanacevi mine in Mexico after making temporary modifications to fix the primary ball mill. However, mining will only continue at a reduced rate during this time.
A week earlier, the miner announced a primary ball mill trunnion failure at the mine site, leading to its brief suspension. The company also adjusted down its third quarter guidance due to the incident.
One of the regrind mills has now been re-purposed as the primary ball mill, allowing ore processing to resume. The re-purposed mill is currently operating at a rate of 400 tonnes per day, Endeavour said.
While the grinding circuit is being closely monitored, there is potential for the plant to operate near 500 tonnes per day (tpd) or close to half of its planned production capacity of 1,200 tpd during this temporary phase, it added.
The mining operation, meanwhile, will focus on feeding the highest-grade ore to the mill and stockpiling the remaining material. Contract mining activities and local third-party material purchases will cease until the process plant operations have returned to full capacity.
These temporary solutions, according to Endeavour, are intended to manage cash flows until the primary mill is fully operational. Using current metal prices, management estimates that its cash shortfall could be limited to less than $5 million over an estimated 15-week period of reduced processing.
Initial quotes for the trunnion fabrication and installation have been obtained with an estimated fabrication cost of $500,000 and a period of 16 weeks to installation, the company said, adding that it is assessing several alternatives to shorten the estimated downtime of the primary ball mill.
During this reduced processing period, Guanacevi’s production is estimated to decrease by 900,000 to 1.1 million silver ounces and by 2,000 to 3,000 gold ounces compared to its original operating plan. Annual consolidated silver production for 2024 is expected to range from 4.4 to 4.6 million ounces, and gold production is expected to be between 36,000 and 38,000 ounces.
On a silver-equivalent basis, Endeavour’s production for 2024 is now forecast to total between 7.3 million and 7.6 million ounces. It achieved 4.4 million silver-equivalent ounces in the first half of the year.
