May 29 2020
Endeavour Silver Corp. has reported that it has resumed mining operations at three of its high-grade, underground silver-gold mines in Mexico.
The company filed its mine operating and health plans with the Secretariat of Health in Mexico to restart the mining operations, and has received approvals for the same.
The management prepared its mine restart plan using the stringent virus tracking, prevention, and response measures already in place at the company’s three mines that work in accordance with practices mandated by the government to guarantee a secure working environment for all employees.
The measures taken by Endeavour to safeguard its people, business, and communities in each location include the following:
- All contractors and employees who report for duty must undergo medical screening to confirm that no one with COVID-19 symptoms or contact with anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19 reaches on site
- The company has been provided with COVID-19 test kits if the doctors suggest testing of contractors, employees, or people in the local communities
- Sanitation and social distancing efforts have been taken throughout every workplace and transport vehicle
- Education campaigns have been conducted at the mines and in the communities to spread awareness
- Continuous help has been provided to local communities with medical care and sanitation supplies
- Active management of the supply chain is done to decrease the risk and enhance inventory levels
At present, the plants and mines are gradually increasing the activities to reach normal operations, and exploration crews will resume sampling, drilling, and mapping programs in June. Plants in each mine have initiated processing of ore stockpiles to rapidly increase their capacities while the mines catch up on ore extraction and stope development.
At Guanacevi, plant personnel have installed two reconstructed cone crushers at the time of the suspension period to enable the plant to return to its 1,200 ton per day (tpd) capacity in June.
At Bolanitos, mine personnel are finalizing the development of the San Miguel orebody in the next two months so that the plant can achieve 1,100 tpd before the end of the second quarter of 2020.
The plant at El Compas has started processing of the low-grade stockpile while the mine increases ore extraction to 250 tpd in the next month.
Following the recent government decree that mining is now an essential activity, we are efficiently ramping up our mining operations in a safe and timely manner. Everyone is happy to be returning to work where our strict health and safety measures take care of our people and their communities.
Bradford Cooke, Director and CEO, Endeavour Silver Corp.
Source: https://www.edrsilver.com/English/home/default.aspx