Endeavour to Suspend El Cubo Operations
Endeavour Silver review of the reserves and resources, which are now exhausted, the Company will suspend operations at the El Cubo underground mine in Guanajuato, Mexico. All employees will be laid off and the mine, plant and tailings facilities will be placed on short term care and maintenance while management conducts an evaluation of the alternatives including final closure.
Mining operations will cease on November 30, 2019 and milling operations will continue for approximately one week until the ore stockpile has been processed and the mill cleaned of concentrates. Suspension costs are estimated to be approximately $3.5-4.0 million, primarily in Q4, 2019 including final severance payments for all employees.
Bradford Cooke, Endeavour CEO commented, “El Cubo was a good mine for us but our exploration programs in recent years failed to replace reserves and find new resources. We reduced the plant throughput this year in order to explore for new reserves but without success. As forecasted, grades and throughput have been declining all year, which resulted in declining economics of the mine in recent months.”
“We have started preparations to transition the mine from operations to care and maintenance while we evaluate final closure and will work closely with our employees and the local community to mitigate the impact of the suspension. We would like to thank our employees, contractors and business partners who helped to make El Cubo a core asset in recent years.”
