Silver Elephant To Start Sulphide Mining in 2024 at the Paca Project in Bolivia
Silver Elephant To Start Sulphide Mining in 2024 at the
Paca Project in Bolivia
Vancouver, British Columbia, July 8, 2024 — Silver Elephant Mining Corp. (“Silver
Elephant” or the “Company”) (TSX:ELEF, OTC:SILEF, Frankfurt:1P2N) is pleased to
announce it intends to begin phase one mining of sulphide materials this year at its Paca silver
project in Potosi department in Bolivia.
The company has completed design for a phase one underground mine plan at Paca aimed at
extracting approximately 10,000 tonnes of mineralized materials. The objective is to generate
cashflow, and verify the Paca resource model. The Paca sulphide project is outside the of scope
of the oxide sales and purchase agreement and master services agreement with Andean
Precious Metals Corp. (“Andean”) detailed in the news release dated September 12, 2023.
Phase one of the project plan is expected to last approximately 5 months, beginning in
September 2024, starting with the development of a 367-meter tunnel at level 0 with dimensions
of 2.4 meters height x 2.5 meters width at a 1% inclination into the Paca dome mineralization.
The total length of the tunnel will cross an estimated waste section of 160 meters and mineral
section of 207 meters.
The tunnel will provide access to the mineralized materials, which will be mined using the
shrinkage stoping method. The two stopes are designed with approximate dimensions of 30
meters length x 20 meters height x 4 meters width at a targeted peak extraction rate of 150
tonnes per day from November 2024 to January of 2025. The expected average grade of
extracted and sorted sulphide materials is 412 g/t Ag, 1.09% Pb, 0.38% Zn based on diamond
drill holes at Paca and internally developed mine model. This material is contained within the
Paca Resource estimate
Several examples of high-grade intercepts within the engineered mineralized mining zone
include:
Hole ID From m To m Length m True Width m Ag g/t Pb % Zn %
PND004 86 97 11 7.78 481 0.47 0.2
PND008 47 63 16 11.31 507 1.14 0.57
PND008 111.9 127 15.1 10.68 424 1.96 2.65
PND023 125 157 32 26.21 437 1.69 1
PND092 38 52 14 9.90 522 0.77 0.09
PND110 61 72 11 7.78 715 2.14 210
The full drill hole assay results have previously been released on SEDAR.
Capital Expenditure, Processing, and Concentrate Sales
The company owns the necessary underground mining equipment that is warehoused near
Paca at the historic Pulacayo mine site. This will be used during phase one mining and will
enable minimal startup procurement cost. The equipment inventory was stored there after the
trial mining at Pulacayo by the previous operator in 2012.
During Phase one, the Company will truck the mined materials from Paca to Potosi town for
toll-milling. Potosi is located about 180 km to the east by paved road. The Company is finalizing
agreements with custom mill facilities in Potosi to toll process mineralized materials to produce
silver-bearing zinc and lead concentrates. The concentrates will then be sold to one of several
major commodity traders active in Potosi.
Tunnel development is expected to start in September with modest capital expenditure of under
$200,000 on equipment refurbishment, labor, and consumables. The toll milling and revenue
generation is forecast to start in November .
The successful execution of the phase one plan could lead to full scale Paca open pit sulphide
mining in 2025, in conjunction with Paca oxide operation, working in collaboration with Andean.
Potosi Region
Potosi town district hosts the Cerro Rico silver deposit and is home to about 100 privately
owned, small-sized processing facilities (ranging from 50 to 500 tonnes per day capacity) that
produce zinc and lead concentrates sold to many active commodity traders. Potosi department
is one of most active silver producing region in the world. Majority of Bolivia’s annual 40 million
oz silver production came from Potosi department.
About Pulacayo-Paca
The Pulacayo - Paca silver-zinc-lead project, located in southern Bolivia, is situated near major
mining projects operated by Andean Precious Metals Corp. (San Bartolome), Pan American
Silver Corp. (San Vicente), and San Cristobal Mining Inc. (San Cristobal).
The Paca project hosts a high grade silver resource according to a technical report by Mercator
Geological Services, dated effective October 13, 2020 titled “Mineral Resource Estimate
Technical Report for the Pulacayo Project, Potosi Department Antonnio Quijarro Province
Bolivia” (the “Technical Report”). The report detailed 1.81 million tons of indicated resources
with a grade of 256g/t Ag, 1.22% Pb, and 1.22% Zn (95% of its resources being within 100m
from the surface). Additionally, it reported 190,000 tons of inferred resources grading 338g/t Ag,
0.98% Pb, and 0.61% Zn. Notably, the deposit remains open for expansion to the east, west,
and at depth beyond the current resource definition boundaries.
The mineral resource estimate from the Technical Report is as follows:
Paca Zone Category Tonnes Ag g/t Ag Moz Zn% Pb %
Phase 1 Oxide In Pit
Indicated 800,000 231 5.9 – –
Inferred 235,000 159 1.2 – –
Paca Zone Category Tonnes Ag g/t Ag Moz Zn% Pb %
Phase 2 Sulphide In
Pit
Indicated 1,810,000 256 14.9 1.22 1.22
Inferred 190,000 338 2.1 0.61 0.98
Oxide resources are based on a Pit-constrained estimate using a 90 g/t Ag cutoff. Sulphide
resources are based on a pit-constrained estimate using a 200 g/t Ag Eq cutoff. Ag Eq = Silver
Equivalent (Recovered) = (Ag g/t*89.2%)+((Pb%*(US$0.95/lb. Pb/14.583 Troy oz./lb./US$17 per
Troy oz. Ag)*(10,000*91.9%))+((Zn%*(US$1.16/lb. Zn/14.583 Troy oz./lb./US$17 per Troy oz.
Ag)*(10,000*82.9%)). Sulphide zone metal recoveries of 89.2% for Ag, 91.9% for Pb, and
82.9% for Zn were used in the Silver Equivalent (Recovered) equation and reflect metallurgical
testing results disclosed previously for the Pulacayo Deposit. Matthew Harrington P. Geo. is the
independent Qualified Person for the resource estimate.
The Technical Report was effective October 13, 2020 and is available under the Company’s
profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. This news release includes an estimate of mineral
resources as disclosed in the Technical Report. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves
do not have demonstrated economic viability.
QA/QC
An industry standard Quality Assurance/Quality Control program was used during the various
drill campaigns. All core and other samples were split with half being bagged, labelled and
shipped directly to the laboratory. The other 50% split is retained in a secure facility. Both
standards and blanks were inserted at regular intervals within each sample batch prior to
shipment to the laboratory. These comprised 3-5% (depending on the phase of the drill
campaign) of analyzed material. For further details, the reader is referred to the N.I. 43-101
cited above.
Qualified Person
The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Bill
Pincus, who is an independent consultant of the Company. Mr. Pincus is a qualified person as
defined by the guidelines of NI 43-101.
About Silver Elephant Mining Corp.
Silver Elephant is a silver mining company, with its flagship Pulacayo-Paca silver project in
production since October 2023 in Bolivia.
Further information on Silver Elephant can be found at www.silverelef.com.
SILVER ELEPHANT MINING CORP.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“John Lee”
CEO
For more information about Silver Elephant, please contact Investor Relations:
+1.604.569.3661 ext. 101
www.silverelef.com
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this news release, including statements which may contain
words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “estimates”, or similar
expressions, and statements related to matters which are not historical facts, are forward-
looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking
statements, which reflect management’s expectations regarding the Company’s future growth,
results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities, are based on certain
factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may
cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from future
results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking information in this news release include statements regarding the
potential of the drilling results disclosed in this news release, and whether current interpretations
of drilling results will be confirmed by future work.
Forward-looking statements are based on expectations and reasonable assumptions by
management as of the date of this news release, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that
may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied herein, including
the results of any future drilling campaigns which may differ from the results expected by
management, changes in the Company’s exploration plans, commodity prices, supply and
demand, the fact that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability, the Company’s requirements for additional capital, and general economic
and market conditions. There can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with any
forward-looking statements included herein. Readers are cautioned that all forward-looking
statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this news
release to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date of this news release, except
as required by applicable securities laws.
About Silver Elephant Mining Corp.
Silver Elephant is a silver mining company, with its flagship Pulacayo -Paca silver project in
production since October 2023 in Bolivia.
Further information on Silver Elephant can be found at www.silverelef.com.
SILVER ELEPHANT MINING CORP.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“John Lee”
Executive Chairman
For more information about Silver Elephant, please contact Investor Relations:
+1.604.569.3661 ext. 101
www.silverelef.com
Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the
TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.