Shares in Maya Gold & Silver Inc (CVE:MYA) jumped on Thursday after the Quebec-based company announced the first silver pour at its Zgounder silver mine in Morocco.
Zgounder Millenium Silver Mining, the 85% owned joint venture with l’Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines of the Kingdom of Morocco (15%) produced 234.5 kilos of silver from 20 ingots grading between 90-97% Ag at the site where silver mining dates back to ancient times.
Maya, worth $43 million on the Toronto Venture Exchange, is up nearly 50% this year.
Zgounder has measured and indicated resources of 6 million silver @ 343 g/t Ag, according to Maya’s May 2014 pre-feasibility study.
Under care and maintenance since 1990, Maya has been refurbishing Zgounder, one of only a handful of primary silver mines on the African continent, since September last year. Capex to bring the mine back to production is pegged at only $4 million.
From 1982 to 1990, previous operators of the underground mine extracted 500,000 tonnes of silver ore grading 330g/t Ag using a cut off grade of 125 g/t Ag.
