May 1, 2017. Thompson Falls, Montana. United States Antimony Corporation (“USAC”, NYSE MKT “UAMY”) reported that the caustic leach testing of the Los Juarez flotation concentrates has been successful, and the sequential pilot production of the Los Juarez gold, silver, and antimony project has commenced. Trucking from the mine has begun at an initial rate of 400 metric tons per month from the Mina Grande and Reynaldo open pits. Each 2.5 metric tons will be sampled and assayed by a third- party laboratory to determine feed grades and recoveries. The floatation concentrates will be caustic leached and the gold and silver will be recovered from the leach residue in Montana.
Assuming that the pilot testing of Los Juarez is economic, the pilot mill will be ramped up to 2,000 metric tons per month. In addition, the Company will consider all alternatives to growing production in a profitable manner. Such alternatives could include the installation of a cyanide leach circuit to increase the recoveries of precious metals from mill tailings and the completion of a 400 ton capacity mill at Puerto Blanco. The Company will continue a prudent expansion of the project.
Following are the production estimates for April, 2017:
Product | April 2017 |
Antimony pounds North America | 157,722 |
Antimony pounds Mexico | 44,092 |
Zeolite tons | 1,038 |
Gold ounces, Los Juarez | 3.666 |
Silver ounces, Los Juarez | 157 |
Since the end of Q1, 2017 the Rotterdam price of antimony per metric ton has increased from $8750.00 ($3.97 per pound) to $8900.00 ($4.037 per pound) or 2% in one month. Due to selling in advance, Mexican antimony metal production was sold at $3.49 per pound in April. In May, the Company expects to sell Mexican antimony at approximately $4.00 per pound.
CEO John Lawrence said “We are excited to start the Los Juarez gold, silver, and antimony pilot production. We are optimistic about further progress at Los Juarez and believe it could be a major event for shareholders. In addition, we remain focused on increasing Mexican antimony production and BRZ zeolite sales.
About U.S. Antimony
US Antimony is a growing, vertically-integrated natural resource company that has production and diversified operations in precious metals, zeolite and antimony.
