Silver Standard Resources shut down the Pirquitas mill to a gearbox failure. The process plant, excluding the ball mill, resumed operations at reduced levels processing high grade fines from the process water pond. Mine operations are unaffected and will continue to stockpile material at design rates.
“We took added measures to monitor the gearbox and were enjoying average daily production rates of 28,000 oz of silver and 85% recovery rates in September,” said John Smith, president and CEO. “We are refurbishing the gearbox now and in November will take delivery of a new gearbox providing full redundancy, allowing us to continually produce between 8 to 10 million oz of silver annually.”
The ball mill re-start is scheduled for mid-October and is expected to achieve design rates through year-end. As a result, 2011 silver production guidance is revised to 7.3 to 7.6 million oz.
