Mar 2 2013
Trevali Mining Corporation ("Trevali" or the "Company") provides a construction update on its 2,000-tonne-per-day Santander Zinc-Lead-Silver mine in Peru. Construction is very advanced in all areas and soft commissioning and testing of various circuits and components is ongoing.
Trevali and development partner Glencore International anticipate commissioning to commence in late-March with subsequent ramp-up to commercial production to follow thereafter.
A summary of key areas is as follows:
CRUSHING
The approximately 60,000-tonne-capacity coarse feed storage area is complete. The primary crushing area - jaw crusher and grizzly are installed. The secondary and tertiary crushing - vibrating screens and crushers are installed. Service crane installation is scheduled for early March. Grating and handrails are approx. 90% complete and painting details are ongoing. The feed transfer tower to the fine feed bin is completed and conveyors are advanced. Installation of the cabin for the rock-breaker is outstanding and will occur over the upcoming weeks.
FINE FEED BIN
Fine Feed Bin construction is approx. 99% complete with approx. 1,200-tonne capacity (Figure 1).
MILL
All four mills (rod-ball combination) are in place and aligned. Classifiers / Cyclones are in place and cladding of the building is in progress. A twenty-tonne maintenance crane is installed and commissioned.
FLOTATION
Reagent tanks are installed. All flotation cells, zinc and lead (silver), are in place. Various pumps and pump boxes are in place and installation is in progress. Piping is predominantly complete. The maintenance crane installed and fully commissioned (Figure 1).
COMPRESSORS
All three compressors and flotation blowers are in place with building cladding currently underway.
CONCENTRATE STORAGE
Lead and zinc thickeners are complete. Zinc storage is complete - lighting installed - installing fixtures (Figure 1). Construction crews are presently focusing on the Lead concentrate storage area. There will be an estimated one-months concentrate storage capacity in both areas.
TAILINGS MANAGEMENT FACILITY
Tailings and reclaim pipelines are complete. The tailings basin (a closed system) is complete and is fully lined with impervious geo-membrane. Thickener construction is advancing.
POWER
The approx. 67-kilometer Santander - National Grid transmission line was energized on February 13th with operations currently transferring over to grid power as various components and sub-stations are completed (Figure 2). Underground development is now running on grid power.
The main electrical sub-station has been completed and is fully commissioned - presently finalizing various electrical sub-stations on site (Figure 2).
Majority of cable trays are installed and cable pulling is in progress. Approx. 60 additional electricians are mobilizing to site to finalize wiring now that physical installation of large equipment is essentially complete.
UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT
Pre-production underground development is progressing with a primary focus on the Magistral North and Central Zones. There are currently four levels of development complete on Magistral North and two on Magistral Central (Figure 3).
Ongoing Footwall development and associated underground mapping in the Magistral North zone has exposed several potentially significant replacement and vein zones that were partially intersected but poorly defined by previous exploration drilling.
These zones, termed Tortillitas - Manto 1 to 3, are currently traceable over 70-metres strike and approximately 60-to-80-metres vertically, and remain open. In the uppermost levels they are relatively narrow averaging approximately 1.2-to-1.4-metres thick however by level 4, the deepest development level to date, based on exposure, widths are increasing to 4-to-5 metres. A continuous channel sample of one such zone returned 4.46 metres at 4.76% zinc, 3.96% lead and 2.98 oz/t silver - please see News Release TV-NR-12-31 dated November 27th, 2012 for details. Future underground definition drilling will attempt to better define such zones for potential inclusion in the Santander mine plan.
There are currently 107,000 tonnes of mineralized material grading 5.19% Zn, 0.99% Pb, 0.28% Cu & 1.46 oz/t Ag stockpiled for plant commissioning and production ramp-up. The first production Simba (long-hole production drill) is scheduled to mobilize to site in the first week of March.
To view Figures 1-3, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/tv301_F1-3.pdf.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Trevali is attending the 2013 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) International Convention and Investors Exchange in Toronto, March 3-6, 2013, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building. Additionally, the Company is also participating in PDAC's Core Shack program on March 3-4 on Level 700 of the Convention Centre.
The Company invites current and prospective shareholders to meet and speak with members of its Executive Team at Investors Exchange booth No. 2927 (March 3-6) and its Senior Geology Team at Core Shack booth No. 5024 (March 3-4) where samples of drill core from all its advanced stage projects will be available for review.
Source: http://www.trevali.com/