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925 West Georgia St.
Suite 1805 Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 3L2 Phone: 604.688.3033 Toll Free: 1.866.529.2807
TSX: FR
Pink Sheets: FRMSF Frankfurt: Symbol - FMV WKN - A0LHKJ | | |
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» La Parrilla Silver Mine » San Martin Silver Mine » La Encantada Silver Mine » Del Toro Silver Mine » Cuitaboca Silver Project    | | | La Encantada Silver Mine
The La Encantada Silver Mine is located in the "Sierra Madre Oriental" physiographic province of México. The mine is in the state of Coahuila and the access is through the road from Muzquiz to Boquillas del Cármen, Coah., through a 165 kilometres paved road and a branch of 45 kilometres dirty road, covering the distance in 2.5 hours. The mining activity in this district began in a low scale in 1950 up to 1969 and at the beginning of the 1970's until the year 2003 with Grupo Peñoles/Lacana Corp. exploiting the ore-bodies of; La Prieta, 660, Ojuelas, Escondida, San Javier Breccia, Milagros and some of the irregular veins in the San Javier zone. It is estimated that around 6.0 million tons with a grade of 418 g/ton silver and 9.83% lead have been extracted (P. Trejo and E. Chico).
Historically, the strategy was to obtain greater grades of silver while maintaining low tonnage. Mining is taking place mainly in the San Javier area, of "mantos" 314 and the Ojitos structure, between levels 635 to 680. The flotation plant with a capacity of 800 tons per day is presently being operated at 85% of its capacity. In recent years, very little reinvestment was made to open new areas up within the mine to take advantage of higher mill capacity. Construction of a 3500 tpd cyanide mill commenced in July 2008 and is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2009. Once this expansion program is complete, it is anticipated that silver production will reach 3,5 million ounces of silver on an annual basis. First Majestic has an ongoing program to improve the technologies within the mill to increase recoveries and production levels, while at the same time developing the underground mine in order to access additional ore to sustain higher daily tonnages thus increasing silver production. GEOLOGY La Encantada mining district is represented by a skarn type deposit with values of Ag and Pb in ore bodies of different morphology; In the upper section by veins and "mantos" related to bodies mineralized at depth. In the mid section the existence of chimney type bodies, "mantos" and irregular bodies with partial replacement and open space filled.
In the lower part metasomatic ore bodies in contact with horfels and skarn development, originating "manto" type bodies and stockwork zones. They are hosted mainly in calcareous Cretaceous rocks of the Aurora formation, which is intruded by dike type bodies, sills and intrusive of dioritic and granodioritic composition related to the mineralization, producing silicate aureoles (garnet-diopside) in contact with the calcareous sediments. Structurally, La Encantada is located in the western flank of an anticline of regional dimensions, affected by faulting mainly of NW-SE and NE-SW trend, as a result of a stage of deformation in the Oligocene. These areas of weakness have been the channels of emplacement of intrusive bodies, preparing the ground for the subsequent stages of mineral body formation. The mineralogy of the deposits is predominantly Fe oxides, carbonates and lead sulphates with high concentrations of silver (argentite and native silver) values as the result of an oxidation process and enrichment in a known vertical range of more than 400 meters; from an elevation of 2,035 to 1,600 m.a.s.l. Beneath the elevation 1,600, there is a presence of sulphides of Pb-Ag-Zn in the south-western part of the La Encantada mine (La Morena ore-bodie). The brecciated chimney type ore bodies are the ones where most of the tonnage has been extracted with volumes of 0.15 to 2.0 million tons (La prieta, Escondida, Milagros and San Javier breccias). In the replacement contact ore-bodies, the exploited tonnage varies from 0.3 to 1.0 million tons (660 and Ojuelas ore-bodies), and in the vein type structures and "mantos" the exploited tonnage varies from 0.04 to 0.2 million tons (San Javier area). The highest silver grades have been exploited in the nucleus of the brecciated columns and in the "mantos" areas with values higher than 1.0 kg/t of silver and more than 20% of lead (P. Trejo).
The resource/reserve inventories are reported in NI 43-101 Technical Reports published periodically by the Company. These complete report can be veiwed in the Reserve/Resource Section (link below) or on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). A continuous program of mine & Resource development, exploration, drilling is underway to continually improve mining oerations and upgrade data to 43-101 compliance. Additional potential within the property on a regional level exists in the anomalous zones defined by airborne magnetometry carried out by Peñoles. Additional exploration focus will be carried out on these areas in the current and up coming program. CONCLUSIONS The La Encantada Mining District is a skarn type deposit with veins, "mantos" and chimney type ore-bodies as well as replacement ore- bodies with high values of silver in an oxidation and enrichment zone detected in a vertical range of more than 400m, where the production record indicates that approximately 6.0 million tons with grade of 418 g/t of Ag and 9.83% of Pb have been extracted. The anticipated development and exploration program for 2007 will consist of approximately 7.6 km of mine development and 5000 meters of diamond drilling. Production levels are anticipated to reach 1,400,000 ounces silver in 2007. For more detailed geological information, readers are encouraged to review the Company's most recent NI 43-101 report (PDF, 14.93 Mb).
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| ©2006 First Majestic Resource Corp. All Rights Reserved. |
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