Scorpio Mining Maintains Strong Production Levels in Second Quarter 2011
13 July 2011 - 1:00PM
PR Newswire (Canada)
TORONTO, July 13, 2011 /CNW/ -- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS
WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S. TSX:SPM TORONTO,
July 13, 2011 /CNW/ - Scorpio Mining Corporation (TSX:SPM)
("Scorpio Mining" or the "Corporation") is pleased to report a
second strong production quarter in 2011 ("Q2 2011"), representing
significant increases over Q2 2010 and maintaining production
levels attained in the first quarter of 2011. Parviz Farsangi,
President and CEO, reports: "Scorpio Mining's production in the
second quarter of 2011 continued to demonstrate solid performance
at our Nuestra Señora operations. We set a record for tonnes
processed and lead produced, while silver and zinc approximated
last quarter's record production. During the quarter we
eliminated our debt using operating cash flows and are now ideally
positioned to advance the growth initiatives announced in our June
27, 2011 news release, which include increased processing capacity,
optimization of existing resource base and aggressive exploration
of our extensive land holdings in Mexico." Second Quarter
Production - 2011 -- Mill throughput for Q2 2011 was 128,674
tonnes; an increase of 86% compared to 69,138 tonnes processed in
Q2 2010. -- Recovered silver for Q2 2011 totalled 365,692 ounces;
an increase of 95% compared to 187,496 ounces recovered in Q2 2010.
-- Recovered zinc for Q2 2011 totalled 5,588,179 pounds; an
increase of 95% compared to 2,859,765 pounds recovered in Q2 of
2010. -- Recovered copper for Q2 2011 totalled 438,529 pounds; an
increase of 17% compared to 374,904 pounds recovered in Q2 2010. --
Recovered lead for Q2 2011 totalled 1,871,789 pounds; an increase
of 103% compared to 923,700 pounds recovered in Q2 2010. --
Recovered silver equivalent ounces* for Q2 2011 totalled 637,157
ounces; an increase of 86% compared to 342,943 ounces recovered in
Q2 2010. * For comparative purposes the metal prices used to
calculate silver equivalent ounces recovered are based upon the
approximate weighted average metal prices realized throughout Q2
2011 and are as follows: lead at US$1.13 per lb; zinc at US$1.00
per lb; copper at US$4.10 per lb and silver at US$35 per oz. While
comparisons to the second quarter of 2010 show large production
increases, it should be noted that Q2 2010 suffered from a
significant throughput reduction due to a ball mill failure.
Performance of Q2 2011 Mining during 2011 has diverged from the
budgeted sequence as difficulties were encountered with the
availability of some mobile mining equipment and the delivery of
equipment to assist with the back-filling of stopes was also
delayed. These issues are being corrected and high-density
definition drilling has mitigated much of the impact on
production. Notwithstanding that, the copper grade in some of
the current mining areas has been lower than projected from
drilling. At the end of Q2 2011, zinc and silver production was
significantly ahead of forecast (+22% and +7%, respectively),
whereas lead and copper were -13% and -25% respectively behind
forecast. Contingent plans are currently being evaluated to recover
the year-to-date deficit of lead and copper; however, the overall
objective of the Corporation is to maximize silver production.
Scorpio Mining's President and CEO, Parviz Farsangi, MEng, MBA,
PhD, PEng, is a Qualified Person for the Corporation's Mexico
projects and has reviewed the content of this release. ON
BEHALF OF SCORPIO MINING CORPORATION Parviz Farsangi
President & CEO This news release includes certain statements
that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning
of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation.
Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements with respect to production, objectives, strategy, mine
operations, exploration, future performance and forecasts, our
management team, and plans. Generally, these forward-looking
statements can be identified by the forward-looking terminology
such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected",
"budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "projects", "intends",
"anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or
"variations of such words and phrases or state that certain
actions, events or results "may", "can", "could", "would", "might",
or "will" be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking
statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of
activity, performance or achievements of Scorpio Mining Corporation
to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks
related to the exploration and development and operation of the
Nuestra Señora and La Verde projects, risks related to
international operations, construction delays and cost overruns,
equipment breakdowns, the actual results of current exploration,
development and construction activities, conclusions of economic
evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be
refined, future prices of silver, zinc, copper, lead and gold,
risks relating to completing acquisition transactions as well as
those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of
our business filed in Scorpio Mining Corporation's required
securities filings on SEDAR, including its Annual Information Form
dated March 30, 2011. Although Scorpio Mining Corporation has
attempted to identify important factors that could cause results to
differ materially from those contained in forward-looking
statements, there may be other factors that cause results to be
materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated,
assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any
forward-looking statements will prove accurate, as actual results
and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. Scorpio Mining Corporation
does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that
are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with
applicable securities laws. To view this news release in HTML
formatting, please use the following URL:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2011/13/c5056.html p
Rich Kaiser, YES International: 1-800-631-8127; 001-757-306-6090
(outside North America)br/ Email: a
href="mailto:rkaiser@scorpiomining.com"rkaiser@scorpiomining.com/a
/p
Copyright