Bulk mining a possibility for ECU

After some major discoveries at its Santa Juana mine in Mexico, ECU Silver Mining (ECU-V) is considering a move to bulk mining.

The company, based in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., has recently reached the commissioning phase of a new pyrite circuit and purchased a second mill located less then 100 metres away from the company’s on-site lab. Daily production is projected to increase from below 300 to 600 tonnes per day by early 2007.

ECU normally mines veins measuring 0.3 metre to 1 metre in thickness at the Velardea property where Santa Juana is located, but during recent exploration, wide mineralized sections uncovered were up to 30 metres wide.

During a bulk mining trial run, a stope on level 15 of the Santa Juana mine averaged 9 metres in width and 5,227 tonnes grading 2.23 grams gold per tonne, 191 grams silver per tonne, 2.66% lead and 3.27% zinc.

High-grade narrow veins are usually selectively mined at Velardea. The latest grades are lower than usual because 70% to 90% of the material mined came from the intervals between the veins during the bulk testing, but the productivity was higher.

The lower grades and days lost from preparing for the bulk-mining test resulted in lower revenues during the third quarter at $784,000 compared to $821,000 in 2005.

The company’s original goal was to eventually increase production to 1,000 tonnes per day, but now management believe they could go higher.

Drilling is being stepped up a notch with two new underground diamond drills arriving recently and two extra surface drills contracted in October.

Recently, a 7.74 metre-wide sulfide vein yielded 18.57 grams gold per tonne and 41 grams silver per tonne.

Next in line is the prefeasibility study, which will determine whether bulk mining would be more economical for Santa Juana. A scoping study will evaluate the size of any potential production increase.