Sierra Metals Inc. has placed the Cusi silver mine in Mexico on care and maintenance and initiated a process to sell the mine.
“Earlier this year, the company deemed the Cusi silver mine a non-core asset and given current market conditions has made the difficult decision to put the mine on care and maintenance,” said Ernesto Balarezo Valdez, CEO, Sierra Metals. “We have a process underway to sell Cusi. Sierra is transitioning to become a copper-focused mining company, and the planned divestiture of Cusi will allow us to focus on our two key mines, Yauricocha in Peru and Bolivar in Mexico, where we have significant potential to continue growing our copper production.”
Located in Mexico’s Chihuahua State, approximately 135 km from Chihuahua City, the Cusi mine is an underground operation that uses sublevel caving and longhole stoping. Last year, the mine produced roughly 1.5 million silver equivalent ounces. The property encompasses 73 concessions covering 11,665 hectares over a range of elevation of 2,000 to 2,500 meters above sea level in the Sierra Madre. The operation has the capacity to process 1,200 metric tons per day and its processing plant includes a conventional ball mill and flotation plants fed from a crushing circuit. The flotation circuit can produce silver, lead and zinc concentrates.
SCP Resource Finance is acting as financial advisor for the Cusi mine sale process.
