(Kitco News) - Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), the world's largest primary silver producer, announced today that the final testing of the downstream power distribution and control systems at the Juanicipio project is now complete.
The company said this concludes the additional testing requested by the state-owned power company, Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to verify compatibility between new and updated substation equipment installed by Fresnillo on behalf of Fresnillo and MAG Silver (JV partners) as part of the Juanicipio project and existing older CFE infrastructure.
“As such, the entire system has now been energised, and commissioning of the project has formally begun. Ramp up will now be conducted at pace, with the objective of reaching full nameplate capacity in the second quarter of 2023,” Fresnillo said in a statement.
It added, “Once commissioning is concluded, ore will be processed at the Juanicipio plant and could also continue to be processed at our nearby Saucito and Fresnillo operations if required.”
The Juanicipio mine is Fresnillo's next major growth project. From 2023 onwards, Juanicipio will be an increasingly major influence in its operations, with total average annual silver and gold production of 11.7 moz and 43.5 koz respectively over the life of mine.
Fresnillo is the world's largest primary silver producer and Mexico's largest gold producer. Fresnillo has seven operating mines, all of them in Mexico - Fresnillo, Saucito, Ciénega, Herradura, Soledad-Dipolos, Noche Buena and San Julián, two development projects - the Pyrites Plant at Fresnillo and Juanicipio, and a number of exploration projects. Fresnillo has mining concessions and exploration projects in Mexico, Peru and Chile.
