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Endeavour Silver Charts Path to Become a Senior Producer
Endeavour Silver, a mid-tier silver miner, recently announced the formal construction decision of their Terronera site in Mexico, which is set to move the company to the next level.
"We're coming into an important period of our existence," CEO Dan Dickson said. "We're developing the Terronera project, which is going to double our production and cut our cost profile in half, so very exciting times for us."
Endeavour (NYSE:EXK) secured project loan financing of $120 million from Societe Generale and ING Bank, which Dickson said makes the project fully funded. "We've got about 130 employees on the ground, over 150 contractors on the ground, so we're ready to hit the ground running and get this thing into production."
Dickson said they're targeting Q4 2024 for initial production, with full production slated for 2025. "Currently we produce nine million ounces of silver equivalents between Guanaceví and Bolañitos, roughly 60% of that silver, 40% comes in the form of gold. Terronera is similar, 60 silver 40 gold, and it will produce over a 10-year mine life an average of 7 million ounces per year."
Endeavour also acquired the Pitarrilla site from SSR Mining in July 2022. Located 160 kilometers north of Durango City in northern Mexico, Pitarrilla is one of the largest undeveloped silver deposits in the world, with a measured and indicated mineral resource of over 525 million ounces of silver. The price for Pitarrilla was $70 million, split evenly between cash and shares.
Dickson called Pitarrilla "a cornerstone asset" because of the site's potential and what it can do for Endeavour.
"The $70 million, we think we'll be able to get that tenfold for our shareholders over time", he said. "There's a lot of work left to be done at Pitarrilla. It was looked at in 2012 as an open pit mine, we're going to go back to what was originally thought there in 2008-2009, an underground operation."
"Terronera is an underground operation, and we hope Pitarrilla becomes our fourth operation and takes us to where we expect and hope to be, as a senior silver producer."
