February 15, 2024
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Fortuna Silver Mines, Inc. (NYSE: FSM) (TSX: FVI) provides its updated Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates.
As of December 31, 2023, the Caylloma Mine has Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves of 2.3 Mt containing 6.1 Moz Ag, 10 koz Au, 64 kt Pb, and 93 kt Zn in addition to Inferred Resources of 4.5 Mt containing 14.4 Moz Ag, 63 koz Au, 110 kt Pb, and 162 kt Zn.
Year-over-year, Mineral Reserve tonnes decreased by 28 percent, while silver grade increased 2 percent to 83 g/t, lead grade increased 5 percent to 2.78 %, and zinc grade increased 4 percent to 4.04 %. Changes are due to mining related depletion of 544,000 tonnes, a decrease by 51,000 tonnes due to higher cut-off values related to increases in operating costs, a decrease of 188,000 tonnes as a result of changes in commercial terms and metal price, a decrease of 218,000 tonnes due to adjustments in the estimation parameters and geologic interpretation, and conversion of 23,000 tonnes of Inferred Resources to Mineral Reserves.
Measured and Indicated Resource tonnes, exclusive of Mineral Reserves, decreased by 37 percent year-over-year to 1.8 Mt with silver and lead grades increasing slightly by 9 and 1 percent, respectively, and zinc grades decreasing by 12 percent, due to an increase in cut-off value as a result of higher operating costs and the application of operational dilution based on mineable shape optimizer evaluation to remove isolated and narrow mineralized structures from the inventory.
Inferred Resource tonnes decreased by 10 percent year-over-year. Silver grades decreased 6 percent, whereas lead and zinc grades increased by 9 and 8 percent, respectively. The decrease in Inferred Mineral Resources is a result of an increase in cut-off values used for reporting Mineral Resources from $65/t to $75/t resulting in a decrease of 416,000 tonnes and adjustments in the geologic interpretation, changes in commercial terms, and sterilization of material associated with isolated or narrow mineralization resulting in a decrease of 929,000 tonnes, offset by the discovery of 900,000 tonnes through exploration drilling of the Animas and Animas NE veins.
The Brownfields exploration program budget for 2024 at Caylloma is $2.0 million, supporting field exploration, regional geophysics, and ongoing studies of the structural controls to mineralization on the Animas vein (refer to Fortuna news release dated January 18, 2024).