Canada’s Intercontinental Gold and Metals (TSXV: ICAU) announced that it has completed the first zinc-silver concentrate shipment from its toll processing facility in Bolivia.
In a press release, the commodity trading firm said that the initial shipment added up to 420 tonnes of zinc-silver concentrate. The zinc concentrate graded in excess of 50% zinc and over nine ounces of silver per tonne with no material impurities or penalties.
“This export represents another major milestone for the company occurring, as forecast, in calendar 2020,” the company said. “The company has now demonstrated the viability of the operation’s entire logistics chain from ore purchases, processing, concentrate production, export logistics and physical concentrate shipment.”
According to Intercontinental, the forecast for the first half of 2021 is to aggressively grow its zinc-silver concentrate export volumes to approximately 2,000 tonnes per month. The plan is to increase these quantities again in H2 2021.
“To initiate and complete our first concentrate shipment in just 1.5 months from the start of discussions with producers, processing facilities, off-takers and logistics providers is a testament to the experience, dedication and culture within the company,” CEO Gorden Glenn said in the statement.
“The response to the company entering the concentrate export business was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from mine operators right through to off-takers and service providers and is a testament to our transparent business/regulatory business plan.”
Ingenio Santa Lucía is a fully-licensed 200 tpd mineral processing facility located in the southwestern Potosí department. At this plant, mined product is processed utilizing conventional crushing, grinding and flotation technology to produce zinc-silver and lead-silver concentrate.