Toronto, July 13, 2011 – Scorpio Mining Corporation (TSX:SPM) (“Scorpio Mining” or the “Corporation”) is pleased to report a second strong production quarter in 2011 (“Q2 2011”), representing significant increases over Q2 2010 and maintaining production levels attained in the first quarter of 2011.
Parviz Farsangi, President and CEO, reports: “Scorpio Mining’s production in the second quarter of 2011 continued to demonstrate solid performance at our Nuestra Señora operations. We set a record for tonnes processed and lead produced, while silver and zinc approximated last quarter’s record production. During the quarter we eliminated our debt using operating cash flows and are now ideally positioned to advance the growth initiatives announced in our June 27, 2011 news release, which include increased processing capacity, optimization of existing resource base and aggressive exploration of our extensive land holdings in Mexico.”
Second Quarter Production – 2011
- Mill throughput for Q2 2011 was 128,674 tonnes; an increase of 86% compared to 69,138 tonnes processed in Q2 2010.
- Recovered silver for Q2 2011 totalled 365,692 ounces; an increase of 95% compared to 187,496 ounces recovered in Q2 2010.
- Recovered zinc for Q2 2011 totalled 5,588,179 pounds; an increase of 95% compared to 2,859,765 pounds recovered in Q2 of 2010.
- Recovered copper for Q2 2011 totalled 438,529 pounds; an increase of 17% compared to 374,904 pounds recovered in Q2 2010.
- Recovered lead for Q2 2011 totalled 1,871,789 pounds; an increase of 103% compared to 923,700 pounds recovered in Q2 2010.
- Recovered silver equivalent ounces* for Q2 2011 totalled 637,157 ounces; an increase of 86% compared to 342,943 ounces recovered in Q2 2010.
While comparisons to the second quarter of 2010 show large production increases, it should be noted that Q2 2010 suffered from a significant throughput reduction due to a ball mill failure.
Performance of Q2 2011
Mining during 2011 has diverged from the budgeted sequence as difficulties were encountered with the availability of some mobile mining equipment and the delivery of equipment to assist with the back-filling of stopes was also delayed. These issues are being corrected and high-density definition drilling has mitigated much of the impact on production. Notwithstanding that, the copper grade in some of the current mining areas has been lower than projected from drilling.
At the end of Q2 2011, zinc and silver production was significantly ahead of forecast (+22% and +7%, respectively), whereas lead and copper were -13% and -25% respectively behind forecast. Contingent plans are currently being evaluated to recover the year-to-date deficit of lead and copper; however, the overall objective of the Corporation is to maximize silver production.
Scorpio Mining’s President and CEO, Parviz Farsangi, MEng, MBA, PhD, PEng, is a Qualified Person for the Corporation’s Mexico projects and has reviewed the content of this release.
ON BEHALF OF SCORPIO MINING CORPORATION
Parviz Farsangi
President & CEO
For further information contact:
Rich Kaiser, YES International: 1-800-631-8127; 001-757-306-6090 (outside North America)
Email: [email protected]
