AMN - MOROCCO: Zgounder daily capacity up 40 per cent

Maya Gold & Silver has expanded daily production capacity by 40 per cent at its Zgounder Silver Mine in the Kingdom of Morocco. All needed elements and infrastructures are in place for processing 700 tonnes per day, up from the current rated capacity of 500 tonnes.

This capacity expansion occurred from October 2019 to March 2020 and was entirely funded from cash flow generated by the mine.

After starting in January 2019, Zgounder has now been operating on a commercial production basis for the first reporting year. Additionally, during 2019 the company undertook steps to upgrade the mine's performance through the addition of flotation cells.

This was aimed at improving input to refining of flotation processed core concentrates grades targeting 2,000 g/t silver to the existing cyanidation plant. Processing steps could then continue to reach the final production of silver bullion ingots.

After analysing the results and performances obtained from the Xinhai flotation plant, the company developed the capability to produce saleable quantities of enriched concentrates of up to 4,000 g/t. This approach proves to be very appealing to many smelters.

Directly selling the enriched concentrate from additional mine production was the preferred option approved by the company's board during the second half of 2019.

In order to benefit from this opportunity, the flotation circuit has been adapted by reprocessing the concentrate twice and adjusting the selectivity to produce a concentrate that is both rich in silver and purified from the penalising elements at the time of sale. The increase in daily mine throughput was directed in this manner.

In August 2019 and November 2019, two new sales contracts for the enriched concentrate were signed. Two shipments to smelters in China totalling 1,427 tonnes of concentrate have been completed by the end of 2019.

In order to supply the 500 tpd flotation cell plant with mine fed material, mining operations increased as evidenced by the extracted tonnage which increased by 167% in 2019 as compared to the previous year. The increase in enriched concentrate processed was the principal reason for the increase of 153% in tonnage processed as compared to the year 2018.

Production directed toward metal ingots through cyanidation increased by 11% in 2019. It is worth mentioning that this production is only a part of the total metal production at Zgounder Mine during the year.

Indeed, part of the flotation concentrates was treated with cyanidation to obtain ingots, but another part was sold directly as an enriched concentrate, adding metals to the 2019 production.

Chairman and CEO Noureddine Mokaddem said: “The decrease in our cost to produce silver is significant and is the direct result of the reduction in the consumption of sodium cyanide. After altering our refining process, only 7% of the ore tonnage now goes to cyanidation.

“Not only have we gained an efficiency advantage, but the reduction of sodium cyanide usage is beneficial from an environmental and strategic supply perspective.

“Indeed, we see a great improvement in the environmental aspect of our operations and change our image of the company with our neighbours and stakeholders. These positive results for the mine are leading us to explore today further opportunities in sales of enriched float concentrate as Zgounder's concentrate is now sought for its premium-grade by the Smelters consulted.

“The production cost decrease of 28% is a result to the introduction of the flotation process: $US 6.68 /ounce silver in 2019 versus $US9.29/ounce in 2018 and we are very encouraged by this cost-saving achievement.

“Under the current performance conditions of each of our flotation and cyanidation units, it is in our interest to expand towards selling the enriched concentrate. This strategy results in an 81% higher net margin than the sale of the refined ingots produced from cyanide concentrate.”

www.mayagoldsilver.com