South
American Silver Files First Quarter 2012
Financial Statements and MD&A and Project Update
14 May 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia-South American Silver Corp. (TSX:SAC, US OTC: SOHAF) reports the release of its unaudited
condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended
March 31, 2012 and the related management's discussion and analysis of
financial position and results of operations ("MD&A"). The Company is also pleased to provide an update on the
Malku Khota silver-indium project in Bolivia and the Escalones copper -gold
project in Chile. In this press release, all amounts are expressed in U.S.
dollars, unless otherwise indicated.
As at March 31, 2012, the Company had working capital
of $21.8 million, including cash and cash equivalents of $23.4 million.
Subsequent to March 31, 2012, the Company raised gross proceeds of Cdn. $16
million through the completion of a private placement of 10 million units at a
price of Cdn. $1.60 per unit. Taking into account the subsequent financing, on
a pro forma basis, the Company had approximately $38 million in cash and cash
equivalents as at March 31, 2011. With these funds in place, the Company is in
a very strong financial position to accelerate the advancement of its Malku
Khota project toward feasibility, and its Escalones project to the preliminary
economic assessment stage. Further details including the full financial
statements and information on each of the Company's projects, including the
resource estimate and Preliminary Economic Assessment study at Malku Khota and
the resource estimate at Escalones, are available on the Company's website at www.soamsilver.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
President's Message
The past few months of 2012 have continued
the challenging market conditions for global equities and the resource markets
from 2011, despite relatively stable gold, silver and copper prices.
Global economic policy continues to have an expansionary and inflationary bias
which should be positive for commodities in the long term. The fundamentals
from a production side remain constrained in terms of bringing significant new
production to market and the prospects for continued industrial growth of metal
consumption and sustained investor demand appears to remain positive.
So far in
the year, South American Silver has tabled the technical report for the new NI
43-101 qualified resource on its Escalones copper-gold project with the
discovery of a 4 billion pound copper deposit in Chile and has initiated new
exploration programs on both the Malku Khota silver-indium and Escalones
copper-gold projects as part of its ongoing project advancement strategy.
In addition,
the recent closing of a $16 million strategic financing at a premium to market
with Asian based high technology groups from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea
will help facilitate rapid development of our projects and puts the Company in
a strong financial position with approximately $38 million in cash and no debt.
Current
activities are anticipated to deliver value to shareholders over the coming
quarters in what promises to be another exciting year for the Company.
At the Malku
Khota silver-indium project, a 20,000 meter exploration program is underway
with an updated Economic Assessment focused on production expansion and
optimization slated for June 2012. Feasibility work is slated to begin in the
second half of 2012. The Company has also continued with expansion of its
government and community relations initiatives as part of the Impact and
Benefit type agreements signed with local indigenous communities in the project
area.
At the
Escalones copper-gold project in Chile, a 7,000 meter exploration program is
presently underway for an updated resource estimate along with initial
metallurgical testing for use in a first Preliminary Economic Assessment Study
by Q4-2012.
With two
actively advancing projects, the Company anticipates significantly increased
news over coming quarters as we complete resource and engineering updates on
the projects which should deliver meaningful milestones for increasing
shareholder value.
South
American Silver offers some of the best value and leverage to silver of any
development stage silver company in the industry, with nearly 4 ounces of
silver per share and nearly 8 ounces of silver equivalent value including the
Company's copper, indium and gallium resources. This equates to more than $230
worth of metal in the ground per share.
Current
market and economic conditions
After
a relatively positive first 3 months of the year with precious metals and
precious metals equities prices generally higher, April and early May have
brought a return to high market volatility and further consolidation to the
precious metals sector. Prices for silver had steadily climbed to highs
of nearly $36/oz by the end of February, after ending 2011 below $28/oz and
gold had reached highs of nearly $1800/oz, up from early January prices of
under $1600/oz. April and early May have seen silver and gold
retest the $29/oz and $1,600/oz level bringing the two metals to nearly flat
for the year-to-date period.
In contrast the precious
metals equities are down sharply for this same period with the Junior Miners
Index and larger Gold Miners index, which includes the producers, being down
approximately 20% year-to-date. South American Silver has held up on a
relative performance basis better than the precious metals equity indices above
during the period, though as of early May was down approximately 5% for the
year.
Though the bull market
in gold has been in place since 2001 and is up nearly 115% from its 1980
nominal high of $850/oz, gold remains well below its inflation adjusted highs
of approximately $2350/oz in 2012 dollars. Silver remains 42% below the
1980 nominal high of $50/oz at current prices and well below its highs of
$140/oz in real terms.
Since early 2010, silver
has nearly doubled in value, significantly outperforming gold, which has
increased by about 60% over the same period. The current gold to silver price
ratio of just under 55:1 is approximately the 5 year average ratio but well off
of its 2010 lows in the 60-80:1 range and well below the historic highs ratios
of silver to gold of 15-20:1.
The fundamentals for
both silver and gold appear to remain strongly supportive for continued higher
prices as governments continue to combat economic concerns with stimulus
strategies to encourage economic growth and increase their sovereign
debt. Increasingly, investors are returning to hard assets as a store of
value and hedge against inflation and currency devaluation resulting in
increased investment demand for both silver and gold in all forms, including
Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's), new physical metal investment trusts, bars and
coins.
For silver specifically,
its hybrid nature as both a precious and industrial metal shows in the
significant continued demand last year in both investment and industrial use.
Industrial demand for silver is closely tied to global economic growth
particularly in developing countries with applications ranging from biomedical
to high technology. Based on the recently issued World Silver Survey from
GFMS, silver saw continued strong industrial demand and strong investor demand
again in 2011. A recent industry report on silver by Byron Capital highlighted
that the sustained growth in use of silver in technology usage alone which has
risen an average of 20 million ounces per year over the past 10 years may be
enough to support silver at twice the current price levels.
With global mining
production of silver only increasing 1.4% during 2011, in a strong year for
silver prices, it supports the case for higher silver prices going forward with
increased total demand tied to overall population growth and growing industrial
use and constrained production growth. Primary silver production actually
declined in 2011 vs 2010, with the top two primary silver mines decreasing by a
total of 11 million ounces alone, and 8 of the top 15 primary silver mines
showing declines in production. This decrease was primarily due to falling ore
grades at those top mines. This decline in primary silver production was
only off-set by a modest increase in by-product silver production from
lead/zinc and gold mining. This small increase in total silver production
points to the need for new deposits to be developed in the silver sector to
meet growing global demand. The increased timelines from discovery
through exploration and then through engineering, permitting and construction,
make it challenging for the industry to bring new significant deposits online
in less than 10 years from discovery to production of metal. This creates
a potential significant time lag between increased market demand and new
sources of supply to meet that demand.
After
correcting from highs of nearly $700/kg in November 2011, the indium and
gallium market has begun to show more strength in 2012, currently trading at
prices of nearly $600/kg, well above trough pricing of around $500/kg during
the global economic slowdown of 2008/2009. Recent developments in the
indium and gallium markets continue to suggest a compelling supply/demand
dynamic for these high technology metals.
The
main usages for indium and gallium are in flat panel displays and touch
screens, high efficiency solar panels and high-efficiency, long life LED
lighting. Global indium and gallium consumption is anticipated to continue to
grow significantly in these rapidly expanding market sectors. In total, global
indium use has grown approximately ten times since 1990.
Base
metals have also seen significant ranges in their prices over the past year but
have held relatively steady year-to-date despite global economic uncertainty
with copper in the $3.70 to $3.90 range and zinc in the $0.90 to $0.95
range. Recent price fluctuations in base metals appear to have been
driven largely by short term economic concerns and general market volatility.
Long term growth in demand for copper and zinc is likely to continue to
be driven largely by growth in developing economies particularly in Asia where
per capita consumption levels remain well below that of more developed nations.
With
one of the largest development stage silver and indium resources, a significant
new copper discovery in Chile, strong fundamentals and an attractive valuation
level relative to peers, South American Silver has substantially outperformed
both the metals and the silver and gold equity indexes over the past 2 years
and has been one of the strongest performers on a year to date basis through
early May 2012.
Property review
Malku Khota silver-indium project,
Bolivia
South American Silver's most advanced
project is the Malku Khota silver-indium-gallium project located in the
world-class silver mining district of central Bolivia, approximately 200
kilometers north of Potosi. Malku Khota is one of the world's largest silver,
indium and gallium resources with a NI 43-101-qualified Indicated Resource of
255 million tonnes of mineralized material containing 230.3 million ozs of
silver, 1,481 tonnes of indium and 1,082 tonnes of gallium at a grade of 28.7
g/t silver, 5.8 g/t indium and 4.3 g/t gallium (43.8 g/t silver equivalent),
and an additional Inferred Resource of 230 million tonnes containing 140
million ozs of silver, 935 tonnes of indium, and 1,001 tonnes of gallium at a
grade of 18.9 g/t silver, 4.1 g/t indium and 4.3 g/t gallium (33.0 g/t silver
equivalent). An updated Preliminary Economic Assessment study released in March
2011 showed robust economics for a bulk-mineable heap leach operation with the
potential to be one of the largest new silver, indium and gallium producing
mines in development with over 13.2 million ounces of silver production
annually over the first 5 years. The project is road-accessible, with
commercial scale natural gas and electricity nearby.
Engineering and metallurgical process work is underway to further optimize the
project production levels and process flowsheet. These studies have looked at
increasing overall scale to better optimize the resource. An updated NI 43-101
qualified Economic Assessment study based on the work over the past year for
Malku Khota is targeted for release in June 2012. In addition, exploration
activities are currently underway on a 20,000 meter drill program. This drill
program will include infill drilling to convert inferred resources to measured
and indicated resources and eventually into reserves and to test further
resource expansion at depth and between the two known deposits. To date, only
about 30% of the known prospective mineralized host stratigraphy at Malku Khota
has been drill tested. The 2012 drill program will also include drilling to
test several additional high-priority, near surface targets based on surface
sampling and geophysics.
Due
to the bulk mineable and heap leachable nature of the deposit, there remains
excellent potential to continue to expand production levels beyond the 13.2
million ounces of silver per year level in the 2011 Economic Assessment study
through further optimization of the resource and increases in overall mine
throughput. Current optimization studies are targeting expansion of annual
silver production toward 18 to 20 million ounces per year as part of the
updated Economic Assessment and would make Malku Khota one of the largest
producing silver mines in the world.
Over
the past year South American Silver has significantly broadened its community
relations activities and the Company has entered into Impact and Benefit-type
agreements with local indigenous communities to facilitate local economic and
business development through the various stages of project implementation. The
project contributes significantly to the local economy and it is estimated that
the construction phase would likely create as many as 1,000 new jobs in the
region with over 400 full time workers directly employed during mine
operations. Feasibility and baseline environmental work is planned to begin in
the second half of 2012. The Company anticipates continuing to build on its
community relations initiatives to support the feasibility and permitting
stages in 2012 and 2013.
During
the quarter ended March 31, 2012 expenditures on the Malku Khota project
totaled approximately $1.1 million. Work focused on drilling, engineering
optimization studies, metallurgical testing, environmental baseline data
collection and increased community programs based on the signed Impact and
Benefit agreements with the local land owning Ayllus in the project area.
Escalones
copper-gold project, Chile
The Escalones
copper-gold project is located in the world-class central Chilean mining
district which includes the nearby El Teniente deposit - the world's largest
underground copper mine. The project is accessible by road and is approximately
100 kilometers south-east of Santiago. South American Silver filed a detailed
NI 43-101 technical report for the Escalones resource estimate in February
2012.
The newly defined
Inferred Resource of 420 million tonnes of mineralized material contains 3.8
billion lbs of copper, 56.9 million lbs of molybdenum, 610,000 ozs of gold and
16.8 million ozs of silver at a grade of 0.41% copper, 0.05 g/t gold, 1.24 g/t
silver and 61 ppm molybdenum using a 0.2% Cu Equivalent cut-off grade (see
December 19th, 2011 News Release). This is a copper-equivalent content of 4.5
billion lbs of copper grading 0.49% based on approximate 3-year average metal
prices as of December 2011.
The
Escalones deposit remains open to expansion laterally and down dip with 90% of
the current resource hosted in copper, gold and silver replacement-style
mineralization, and only limited drilling testing porphyry-style
mineralization. Initial interpretation of a ZTEM and aeromagnetic survey shows
several large areas of untested conductivity anomalies which may represent
areas of potential additional sulfide mineralization related to both
replacement style and porphyry mineralization. 2D and 3D modeling and
interpretation of these geophysical targets is in progress.
A
Phase II exploration program is underway with two core drills currently working
on the site. Holes targeting both porphyry and replacement-style mineralized
zones have been completed with the final holes in the program before the South
American winter season designed to test new targets based on the recently
completed aerial ZTEM and magnetic surveys. The planned program for 2012
is for 7,000 meters of drilling with a resource update to support development
of a first Preliminary Economic Assessment of the project in Q4-2012. Initial
engineering work including metallurgical testwork has been started to determine
recovery of copper, gold, silver and molybdenum and concentrate characteristics
of the deposit. Updates on Escalones will be provided as drill results are
received and interpreted.
During
the quarter ended March 31, 2012 expenditures at the Escalones copper-gold
project totaled approximately $1.8 million. Work primarily focused on drilling,
sample analysis, metallurgical testing and geophysical modeling.
Looking Forward
The period ahead includes a number of important milestones for
South American Silver with engineering and optimization studies underway at the
Malku Khota silver-indium project and a major economic assessment update due
out in June 2012. A number of improvements in the process approach are
being considered for that assessment that look to further optimize more of the
resource and increase annual production levels and cash flows.
In particular the technical team at South American Silver is
focused on adding shareholder value at Malku Khota through a process of
refining engineering with the start of feasibility studies in the second half
of 2012. That refinement process will include refinement of capital and
operating cost estimates, and optimizing production levels from the deposit.
Work will also focus on understanding the potential level of further resource
expansion and collecting baseline environmental information to be able to begin
the permitting process while working closely with the local communities to facilitate local economic
and business development.
The
current phase of the program includes in-fill confirmatory drilling to move
additional inferred resources into measured and indicated resources, as well as, testing expansion along trend and down dip to
expand the project resources which remain open in nearly all directions.
We believe that the above will support the move toward a fairer
market valuation for the Malku Khota project reflecting the world class scale
of the resource, production potential and robust economics.
At the Escalones copper-gold project, the on-going exploration
drill program is anticipated to begin to highlight the exceptional value of
that newly discovered resource as well. The exploration activities
underway are expected to allow for an updated resource and initial
metallurgical work to support a first Preliminary Economic Assessment Study by
Q4-2012.
In the months ahead, we are committed to reporting on a number of
important project milestones which we believe will broaden shareholder value as
we advance each of our South American projects through the next stages of
development.
Greg
S. Johnson
President & CEO