Apogee Silver Receives Approval for the Development of Pulacayo by Bolivia's Ministry of Environment & Water - Seite 2

A new government-funded electrical substation for the town of Uyuni is being constructed with sufficient capacity for the Pulacayo Project as well, only 27 km away from the mine. Previously, the Feasibility Study anticipated building a switching substation at Tazna, 61 km from Pulacayo and the construction of a 115 kV power line. Permitting activities for both options are already underway.

Apogee have a proven management team with demonstrated operational success in Bolivia: In 2011 and 2012 over 31,000 m of additional surface and underground exploration drilling was concluded at the Pulacayo Project, resulting in significant increases in the NI 43-101 resources (see press releases dated October 19, 2011 and September 28, 2012).

In May 2012, the Company announced the commencement of an independent feasibility study, and the subsequent positive result was disclosed in press releases on January 17, 2013 and March 1, 2013.

The Company has successfully conducted bulk underground trial mining activities at the Pulacayo Project, and transport of ore to Potosi for toll milling operations where silver recoveries of up to 86% were achieved (see press release September 13, 2012) despite operational difficulties and sub-optimal concentrator performance. Management believes this may suggest that higher recoveries are possible with lower transport costs, should the Company be able to construct its own concentrator as planned at site.

Supervisors and operators have been sourced from affected communities and trained in partnership with the Pulacayo Cooperative. Upon reactivation of the mine site, this workforce is readily available for project construction and production. The Pulacayo Project additionally obtained overwhelming approval from affected communities and stakeholders in a well-attended community consultation meeting held in December 2012 (see press release Jan 9, 2013).

In 2013, 291 tonnes of lead-silver concentrates and 377 tonnes of zinc-silver concentrates were successfully exported to the port of Arica, Chile to realize pre-production sales of over US$1.6 million to Trafigura PTE Ltd., demonstrating the Company's ability to obtain all the necessary export permits. In addition, from these sales the Company was able to remit tax revenues and royalties to the people of the Bolivia, including the Pulacayo cooperative.