Sierra Metals reported its expansion plans are on track for the Bolivar mine in Mexico. In July 2018, the company announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) at Bolivar to achieve a sustainable and staged increase in mine production and mill throughput from 3,000 metric tons per day (mt/d) to 3,600 mt/d in the first quarter of 2019, and to 5,000 mt/d by mid-2020.
Completion of the expansion included the installation of a refurbished mill, an electrical substation with 1,250 KVA of capacity, a secondary crusher and a hydrocyclone cluster that allows for finer grind size optionality that is estimated to provide a 6% increase in copper recoveries from 80% to 86%. The expansion was completed with zero lost time incidents. The company used local engineering firms and local qualified contractors and technicians for the expansion project, with Sierra Metals staff conducting most of the supervision.
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