Coeur Mining said its newly expanded Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada achieved commercial production as of March 31. It is expected to become America’s largest source of domestically produced and refined silver.
“Following its full hand-off to the operations team in early March, the expanded Rochester mine has ushered in a new growth phase for Coeur leading to higher silver and gold production levels, lower unit costs, and positive free cash flow,” said Mitchell J. Krebs, president and chief executive officer.
“The invaluable experience and learnings gleaned over the past three years from operating similar infrastructure that we installed at the legacy operation has contributed to an impressive ramp-up curve to date and positions the mine for a strong second half of 2024.”
Commissioning of the new three-stage crushing circuit and truck load-out facility was completed in early March. Since then, Coeur said the crushing circuit has operated at an average throughput of nearly 70,000 tons per day.
The miner said ramp-up to full design capacity of 88,000 t/d – or approximately 32 million tons annually – remains on schedule for completion during the first half of 2024. Materially higher production levels are anticipated to build throughout the second half of the year consistent with completion of Rochester’s ramp-up.
In addition to Rochester, Coeur owns the Palmarejo gold-silver complex in Mexico, the Kensington gold mine in Alaska and the Wharf gold mine in South Dakota. The company also wholly-owns the Silvertip polymetallic exploration project in British Columbia.
Source: Coeur Mining