Hier mal ein kleiner Streifzug durch den wesentlichen news-flow der letzten Monate; möge sich jeder, der will, einen eigenen Eindruck verschaffen. Ist zwar nicht so einfach, als wenn man's in gepushter Form vorgekaut bekommt, dafür auf Dauer aber um so nachhaltiger.
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18:17 EST Monday, December 11, 2006
Silvercorp Added to S&P / TSX Composite Index and S&P / TSX Global Gold Index, Effective December 18, 2006
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Dec. 11, 2006) - Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp") (TSX:SVM) is pleased to announce that Standard & Poors Canadian Index operations have added Silvercorp to the S&P / TSX Composite Index and the S&P / TSX Capped Gold Index (which has been renamed the S&P / TSX Global Gold Index). The change in both Indexes will be effective at market open, Monday, December 18, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Silvercorp Metals Inc.Rui Feng Chairman & CEO (604) 669-9397
or
Silvercorp Metals Inc. Cathy Fong President (604) 669-9397 (604) 669-9387 (FAX)
Email: info@silvercorp.ca
Website: www.silvercorp.ca
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17:01 EST Monday, November 13, 2006
Silvercorp Doubles Earnings to $0.11 Per Share for the 2nd Quarter Ended September 30, 2006
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Nov. 13, 2006) - Silvercorp Metals Inc. (the Company") (TSX:SVM) more than doubled its net earnings to $5,361,840, $0.11 per share on revenues of $10,708,123 for the 2nd quarter ended September 30, 2006 as compared to net earnings of $2,357,580, or $0.05 per share on revenues of $4,333,050 for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006.
Mine production at the Ying Property started on April 1, 2006. At this relatively early phase, and as part of a staged start-up to its mining operation, the Company generated gross revenue of $10,708,123 and $15,041,173 for the three-month and six-month periods ended September 30, 2006, respectively, by the selling of the direct shipping ore and silver-lead and zinc concentrates. This resulted in an earnings from mine operations of $8,279,088 and $11,691,802 and a gross margin of 77.3% and 77.7%, for the three-month and six-month periods ended September 30, 2006, respectively.
For the 2nd quarter ended September, 2006, the Company had net earnings of $5,361,840 or $0.11 per share, compared to a net loss of $2,339,299 or $0.06 per share for the same period of 2005. The increase in net earnings for the 2nd quarter ended September 30, 2006 as compared to the net loss for the same period of the prior year was mainly due to the commencement of mine production at Ying Property.
For the three-month period ended September 30, 2006, 40,525 tonnes of ores were extracted, from which 1,723 tonnes of direct shipping ores were hand-sorted for direct shipment to smelter, and 31,115 tonnes of ores were shipped to the custom mills for treatment to recover silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The custom mills have achieved high recovery rates: 93.6% for silver, 97.5% for lead, and 74.2% for zinc. The total production cost for silver adjusted for lead and zinc credits is negative $6.07 per ounce.
For the six-month period ended September 30, 2006, 71,244 tonnes of ores were extracted, from which 2,783 tonnes of direct shipping ores were hand-sorted for direct shipment to smelter, and 51,401 tonnes of ores were shipped to the four custom mills for treatment to recover silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The custom mills have achieved high recovery rates: 92.70% for silver, 97.34% for lead and 77.04% for zinc. The total production cost for silver adjusted for lead and zinc credit is negative $6.21 per ounce.
The 2nd quarter average selling prices, net of value added tax and smelter charges, were: $9.63 per ounce for silver, $345 per ounce for gold, $0.51 per pound for lead, and $1.11 per pound for zinc with average production costs of $2.19 per ounce for silver, $78.34 per ounce for gold, $0.12 per pound for lead, and $0.25 per pound for zinc, respectively.
On September 30, 2006, Silvercorp had a working capital position of $60,425,539 comprised mainly of cash and cash equivalents of $9,214,195, short-term investments of $50,602,000, offset by current liabilities of $3,260,723 without any debt.
Mine production is progressing well and is expected to reach anticipated capacity through staged ramping up of operations. With a view towards further increasing the availability and reliability of local milling capacity, the Company is currently constructing a 600 tonne per day flotation mill; presently, two third party flotation mills with a combined capacity of about 400 tonnes per day are used to treat the ore from the Ying Property through custom milling contracts. When the 600 tonnes per day mill is completed by the end of March 2007, the Company expects to be able to draw upon a combined milling capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day. The mill construction is on schedule with the majority of newly purchased equipments already installed.
Ore production using the re-suing mining method has significantly improved productivity starting September 2006 and it will improve the net earnings for the future quarters. The Company has employed two mining methods in its mine production, namely, the shrinkage and re-suing mining methods. The shrinkage mining method is relatively easy to develop but may result in a larger waste rock dilution factor of over 150% when applied to the narrow, high-grade veins at the Ying Property. Application of the re-suing mining method requires highly skilled miners and takes more time to accomplish; however, it also incurs much lower waste rock dilution, with a dilution factor of less than 20%. Prior to September 2006, most of the ores at Ying were extracted using the shrinkage mining method.
The Company will have three mining permits, namely Ying Mining permit, HPG Mining permit, and NZ mining permit, in Henan province, China, enabling Silvercorp to achieve revenues from gold, silver, lead and zinc ores from three different mining operations upon further exploration and development work. Regarding the HPG project, the Company is currently still waiting for final approval from the Ministry of Commerce of China.
During this quarter, several new concealed veins containing massive galena mineralization were discovered including S14-1, S14-2, S16E1, S16E2, S16E3, S16E4, and S8E. A total of 41 drill holes totaling 11,231m (10 surface and 31 underground drill holes) have been completed. Sixteen of 41 drill holes intercepted massive galena sheets with silver equivalent grade exceeding 1,250 g/t, representing a 39% drilling success rate. During the six month ended September 30, 2006 additional 19,368 meters of tunnels were completed, and a total of 46,942 meters of tunnel have been completed since August 2004.
During the quarter, the Company has also focused on recruiting for key staffing positions, and has elected several independent Directors to its Board. At a time when the Company is in rapid growth and expansion mode, this is expected not only to contribute to an enhanced managerial capacity but also to the promotion and maintaining of corporate governance practices of the highest standard.
The complete financial statements and management discussion and analysis are available for review on our website: www.silvercorp.ca, and on the SEDAR system
at www.sedar.com.
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09:00 EST Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Silvercorp Acquires the Third Mining Permit
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Nov. 8, 2006) - Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp") (TSX:SVM) is pleased to announce that its 77.5% owned subsidiary company, Henan Found Mining Co. Ltd ("Henan Found"), has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the NZ Gold-Silver project, through acquisition of a private Chinese company by paying the private owner approximately US$1,080,000. The first payment of US$380,000 has been made. The sole asset of the private company is a gold mining permit covering the NZ Gold-Silver project - an area of 3 kilometers (km) long by 0.8 km wide or 2.4 square km in size, approximately 135 km southeast of the Ying Silver Project. The agreement is subject to final approvals by relevant Chinese government agencies.
With this acquisition, Silvercorp will have a total of three mining permits in Henan Province, China: the Ying, HPG, and NZ Mining Permits, enabling Silvercorp to produce gold (Au), silver (Ag), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn).
Limited underground mining operation on the NZ property from 1995 to 2004 produced a reported total 39,000 tonnes of ore grading about 6 grams per tonne (g/t) Au. The ores were custom milled to recover gold only. Other metal contents found in the ore were not recorded. Currently the mine is not in operation due to lack of development capital and skill.
The NZ Gold-Silver project is located in Nanzhao County of Henan province. Geologically, the project area is situated in the east extension of the Qinling Mountain Belt near the margin of the Northern China Craton, underlain by late Proterozoic metamorphic rocks that were intruded by Mesozoic quartz-feldspar porphyry. Surface mapping and trenching and limited tunnel mining carried out by the Henan Bureau of Geological and Mineral Resources ("HBGMR") and the previous owner's mining operations have defined three sub-parallel Au-Ag-Pb-Zn veins that extend east-westerly and dip steeply. The three veins were developed for nearly 3,000 metres (m) along a 200 to 300 m wide ductile shear zone that extends outside the mining permit boundary. These three veins are also intersected by several northwesterly trending parallel structures, where high grade Au-Ag-Pb-Zn zones were found.
The mineralized ore shoots within the three east-west veins were found to range between 0.7 to 2.7 m in true width and from 400 to 1,360 m in strike length. The best ore shoot, NZ1, in one of the veins is about 650 m in strike length and 1.1 to 2.7 m in true width averaging 11.02 grams per tonne (g/t) Au, 106 g/t Ag, 5.19% Pb, and 16.37% Zn as reported by the HBGMR.
No systematic sampling program was done by the previous owner. Prior to acquiring this project, Henan Found's geologists visited the NZ property and collected several continuous chip and grab samples.
Most of the assay results are from samples taken at or near the surface, which tend to yield lower grade due to surface leaching, as experienced at the Ying project. Once the acquisition is completed and the NZ project has been taken over, a thorough and systematic underground tunnelling and drilling program will be conducted on the property, which will lead to mining production, as the current mining permit is in good standing.
Quality Control
Myles Gao, P.Geo, is the Company's Qualified Person on the project under NI 43-101. The Company's Quality Control/Quality Assurance Program is disclosed in the January 4, 2006 Press Release.
Silvercorp Metals Inc. is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and mining of precious and base metal mineral properties in China. Currently, Silvercorp's main mining operations are the Ying Ag-Pb-Zn mine, owned through a 77.5% Chinese subsidiary company and the HPG Ag-Pb-Zn mine, owned through a 60% Chinese subsidiary company.
Website:
Based on the exploration work completed during the period, it is expected that a substantial amount of the Inferred resource category estimate defined in the May 2006 Technical Update will be converted to Indicated resource category estimates. Further, it is expected that the estimated inferred resources will be expanded at depth. In addition, Silvercorp's tunneling and drilling program has also discovered several new concealed veins which contain massive galena mineralization: S14-1, S14-2, S16E1, S16E2, S16E3, S16E4, and S8E. The dimension and extents of these veins are not yet fully understood and are subject to further exploration work. Assay results for these new veins are pending.
Significant results from the new tunnels and drill holes are:
- 0.45m true width grading 2,090 grams per tonne (g/t) or 67.26 ounces per tonne (oz/t) silver (Ag), 34.44 % lead (Pb), 9.77% zinc (Zn) from a raise at 464m elevation on the S2 Vein.
- 1.31m interception grading 2,986 g/t or 96 oz/t Ag, 51.03 % Pb, 5.14% Zn from drill hole ZK814 at 458m elevation on the S6 Vein.
- tunneling intercepted 0.20m true width massive galena in S7-1 Vein grading 3,020 g/t (97.08 oz/t) Ag, 62.57% Pb, and 1.62% Zn at 600m elevation; drill holes ZK14A02 intersected 0.16m wide S7-1 Vein (core length) containing 845 g/t (27.16 oz/t) Ag, 2.4% Pb, and 7.05% Zn.
- 0.5m true width containing 3,500 g/t (112.53 oz/t) Ag, 4.54% Pb, and 3.47% Zn in a raise at 606m elevation on the S8 Vein.
- 0.30m true width grading 4,675 g/t (150.31 oz/t) Ag, 41.55% Pb, and 4.11% Zn in the 480m elevation tunnel on the S14 Vein; drill hole ZK812 intersected 0.35m wide (core length) massive galena of S14 Vein carrying 8,205 g/t (263.8 oz/t) Ag, 33.47% Pb, and 2.64% Zn at 409m elevation.
- 0.50m true width grading 1,390 g/t (44.70 oz/t) Ag, 33.80% Pb, and 16.19% Zn in a drift at 534m elevation on the S16E Vein.
- 1.18m true width grading 2,370 g/t (76.19 oz/t) Ag, 50.22% Pb, and 4.60% Zn in a drift at 534m elevation on the S16W Vein.
- 0.40m true width containing 3,131 g/t (100.66 oz/t) Ag, 3.08% Pb, and 1.28% Zn in a crosscut at 534m elevation on the S16W1 Vein.
- tunneling on S21 Vein cut 0.25m wide massive galena (true width) containing 2,790 g/t (89.7 oz/t) Ag, 57.33% Pb, and 0.28% Zn at 680m elevation.
S2 and S2E Veins
A 41m long section of raise was completed on S2 and S2E Veins from 460m elevation through CM103. Three drill holes (ZK1007, ZK1207, and ZK0606) intersected the S2 Vein with significant Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization at 442, 463, and 483m elevations. Hole ZK1807 intersected massive galena sheet in S2E Vein at 357m elevation.
S7-1 Veins
The tunneling on the S7-1 Vein was carried out at 600m and 560m levels through main access tunnels PD700 and CM103. At 600m elevation, 110m drift was driven, in which over 82m drift exposed massive galena sheet. At 560m elevation, 76m of 126m drift showed massive galena.
Three drill holes (ZK14A02, ZK5105, and ZK5504) intercepted significant Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization at 393m, 468m, and 482m elevation, indicating great downdip extension of the veins.
S8 Vein
A total of 989 m of tunnels were completed on the S8 Vein. The work included: 6 raises totaling 162m; 131 m drift at 705m elevation in tunnel CM104; 292m drift at 640m elevation in CM101; 58m drift at 600m elevation in PD66 and 346 m drift at 510m elevation in YPD01 at the YLG camp, respectively.
S14 Vein
On the S14 Vein, 82m drift and two raises totaling 100m were completed from the 480m elevation through main access tunnel CM102. The ongoing tunneling to the south along the vein at 480m elevation in CM102 instantly expose the massive galena sheet, indicating great possibility that MGS of S14 Vein could extend further south.
During the period, diamond drilling was extensively used to carry out exploration program for the vein, which resulted in the discovery of significant amount of new intersections. This is expected to significantly increase the Inferred mineral resources and convert a large portion of the existing Inferred resources to Indicated. One drill hole, ZK814 intercepted two additional veins (S14-2 and S14-3) that are located less than 10m east of the S14 Vein, contain up to 1,314 g/t equivalent silver. The dimensions of the veins have yet to be defined. To date, a total of 22 holes (5,735m) of drilling were completed on the vein with 16 of them intersecting significant mineralization (Ag equivalent grade exceeding 100 g/t). Ten holes hit 0.30 to 1.15m wide (core length) massive galena sheets, representing a nearly 50% drill success rate. The holes were drilled on 50 X 80m spacing between Section lines 0 to 18 and from 286m to 444m elevations.
S16E
A total of 371m of tunneling on the S16E Vein was completed at the four levels. These included 79m at 680m elevation from PD680, 47m at 640m elevation from CM101, 11m at 570m elevation and 206m at 534m elevation through CM102. A 29m raise was driven at 570m elevation from CM102. The drift at 534m elevation and the raise all expose complete massive galena sheeting.
S16W
The S16W Vein was explored through four levels (680m, 650m, 570m, and 534m) and 227m of drifting, 141m of crosscutting, and 141m of raises were completed. The majority of drifting on 534m level and all five raises show 0.1 to 2.60m wide (true thickness) massive galena sheets.
S16W1
The vein was explored at 680m and 534m elevations. At the 680m level, 84m of drifting, 32m of raise, and 33m of crosscutting were completed. Massive galena sheets were intercepted at the 534m level when developing drawpoints in CM102.
S21
Exploration on the vein 105m long drift on 560m level in CM103 and 176m crosscutting and drifting on 680m level in PD680.
Tunnel and drill hole plans, cross sections and longitudinal maps of the veins are available on our website: www.silvercorp.ca.
Exploration and mining at the Ying mine is being carried out through Silvercorp's 77.5% subsidiary, Henan Found Mining Co. Ltd., a Sino-foreign joint venture company which holds 100% of the Ying Project and operates under a 30-year business license. Myles Gao, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person on the project under NI 43-101.
Quality Control
Quality Control/Quality Assurance Program is disclosed in the January 4, 2006 -press release.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Rui Feng
Chairman & CEO
(604) 669-9397
or
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Cathy Fong
President
(604) 669-9397
(604) 669-9387 (FAX)
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09:00 EDT Monday, August 14, 2006
Silvercorp Earns $0.05 per Share for the 1st Quarter Ending June 30, 2006 Immediately After Obtaining Mining Permit for the Ying Project, Henan, China
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Aug. 14, 2006) - Silvercorp Metals Inc. (the "Company") (TSX:SVM) is pleased to announce a net earning of $2,357,580 or $0.05 per share on revenue of $4,333,050 for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006.
On March 30, 2006, the Company obtained the mining permits for the Ying Project. Production from the Ying Mine commenced on April 1, 2006, concurrently with ramp-up activities including mine production, mine development, and mill and facility construction. As the Company is currently constructing a 600 tonnes per day flotation mill, two third party flotation mills with combined capacity of 400 tonnes per day are being used to treat the ores from the Ying Property through custom milling contracts until the construction of the 600 tonnes per day mill is completed at the end of March 2007.
As part of the staged startup of the mining operation, the Ying mine has generated gross revenues of $4,333,050 during the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006 by selling the direct shipping ore and silver-lead and zinc concentrates produced through custom milling of ores. This resulted in an earnings from the mine operation of $3,412,714 representing 78.8% of gross margin.
For the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006, the Company had net earnings of $2,357,580 or $0.05 per share, compared to a net loss of $798,350 or $0.02 per share for the same period of 2005. The increase in net earnings for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006 as compared to the net loss for the same period of the prior year was mainly due to the commencement of mine production at Ying Property since April 1, 2006.
During the quarter ended June 30, 2006, 30,719 tonnes of ores were extracted by shrinkage mining method and as by-products of tunneling, from which 1,061 tonnes of direct shipping ores were hand-sorted out for direct shipment to smelter, and 20,286 tonnes of ores were shipped to the two custom mills for treatment to recover silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The custom mills have achieved high recovery rates: 91.44% for silver, 97.06% for lead and 81.21% for zinc. The Company has produced 209,145 ounces of silver, 2,892,912 pounds of lead and 900,262 pounds of zinc. The total production cost for silver adjusted for lead and zinc credit is negative -$6.59 per ounce. The average selling prices, net of value added tax and smelter charges, were $9.73 per ounces for silver, $0.46 per pound for lead and $1.08 per pound for zinc with average production costs of $2.07 per ounce for silver, $0.10 per pound for lead and $0.23 per pound for zinc, respectively.
Two mining methods shall be used in production: shrinkage and re-suing mining. The shrinkage mining method is relatively easy to develop but has resulted in a larger waste rock dilution of over 150% dilution factor for the narrow veins at the Ying Project. Development of the re-suing mining method requires higher skilled miners and takes more time to accomplish; however, it incurs much lower waste rock dilution, with a dilution factor of less than 20%. Currently, most of the ores are extracted using the shrinkage mining method. It is anticipated that ore production using the re-suing mining method will commence in September 2006.
Starting September 2006, when necessary development is completed and the re-suing mining method is used to extract ores, the waste rock dilution will be substantially reduced, giving much higher silver, lead and zinc head grades in ores to be milled by custom milling. If the Company can successfully deploy the re-suing mining method, it is anticipated that a significant improvement in sales revenue may be achieved starting September 2006. Therefore the projected annual sales revenue of US$54.2 million in the NI43-101 Technical Report dated May 26, 2006 is anticipated to be realized for the year ending March 31, 2007.
The production ramp-up is progressing well, as the monthly sales revenue has increased gradually and consistently since April 2006. In the single month of July 2006, sales revenue has substantially increased to $3,200,000 representing 74% of total sales revenue of $4,333,050 for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006.
The complete financial statements and management discussion and analysis are available for review on our web-site www.silvercorp.ca, and on the SEDAR system at www.sedar.com.
Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in mineral exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Production and revenue projections are based not on mineral reserves but on mineral resources which do not have demonstrated economic viability.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Rui Feng
Chairman & CEO
(604) 669-9397
or
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Cathy Fong
VP Corporate Development
(604) 669-9397
(604) 669-9387 (FAX)
info@silvercorp.ca
www.silvercorp.ca
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17:45 EDT Monday, July 24, 2006
Mr. Yikang Liu and Mr. Earl Drake Join Silvercorp's Board
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - July 24, 2006) SilvercorpMetals Inc. (TSX:SVM) ("Silvercorp") welcomes Mr. Yikang Liu of Beijing and Mr. Earl Drake of Vancouver as independent members of the Board of Directors of Silvercorp.
Mr. Yikang Liu is the Deputy General Secretary of the China Mining Association and the 35th & 36th Vice-Chairman of the Geological Society of China. Before he retired in 2001, Mr. Liu was the Chief Geologist for the former Ministry of Metallurgical Industry of China. While there he made significant contributions to the amendment of the last China Mineral Resources Law. Mr. Liu, representing Chinese interests, is the person responsible for the establishment of the first Sino-foreign joint venture for mineral exploration in China. Mr. Liu has over 40 years of geological experience in managing, evaluating and exploring mineral projects for the Chinese government in China and in 17 countries around the world including Bolivia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Iran, and Peru. In a mentoring capacity, Mr. Liu is an Adjunct Professor of Geology at the Changchun College of Technology, Northeast University and the China University of Geoscience. Silvercorp will benefit from the counsel of Mr. Liu's expertise in mining development and exploration in China.
Mr. Earl Drake is currently Vice Chairman of the Canada China Business Council and Project Director of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and was previously the Ambassador of Canada to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Indonesia.In the past 50 years, Mr. Drake was also the top Canadian representative in the governing councils of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris and the World Bank in Washington, DC and served in Ottawa as Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia-Pacific in the Foreign Affairs Department and as Vice President in the Canadian International Development Agency. As part of Mr. Drake's vision to transfer his knowledge to young Canadians, he is an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University in the Centre for International Communication. Silvercorp will benefit from the counsel of Mr. Drake's long experience in cross-cultural negotiation and communication to harmonize economic development goals with sustainable environmental policies and practices.
To permit the appointment of Mr. Liu and Mr. Drake as directors Mr. Michael Armstrong tendered his resignation from the Board on July 21, 2006, with immediate effect, the Board of Directors have accepted it. The Board has 6 members following Mr. Armstrong's resignation. Mr. Armstrong had been a Director since October 15, 2004, and Silvercorp thanks him for his service and great contribution, and wishes him well in his future endeavors.
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Dr. Rui Feng, Chairman & CEO, (604) 669-9397
info@silvercorp.ca
www.silvercorp.ca" target="_blank" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">www.silvercorp.ca[/url
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09:00 EDT Tuesday, September 12, 200
Exploration Update for the SGX Area of Ying Silver Project
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Sept. 12, 2006) - Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp") (TSX:SVM) is pleased to provide an update on exploration results for the SGX area of the Ying Silver Project for the period from May 1st to August 15th 2006. The ongoing tunneling and drilling exploration program is intended to convert inferred resources to indicated and measured resources, to expand inferred resources at depth and along strike, and to find and define new mineralized veins. A total of 3,144 meters (m) of exploration tunnels and a total of 41 drill holes totaling 11,231m (10 surface and 31 underground drill holes) have been completed. Sixteen of 41 drill holes intercepted massive galena sheets with silver equivalent grade exceeding 1,250 g/t, representing a 39% drilling success rate. This drilling (exploration) success rate is comparable to results obtained in our previous drill programs.
Based on the exploration work completed during the period, it is expected that a substantial amount of the Inferred resource category estimate defined in the May 2006 Technical Update will be converted to Indicated resource category estimates. Further, it is expected that the estimated inferred resources will be expanded at depth. In addition, Silvercorp's tunneling and drilling program has also discovered several new concealed veins which contain massive galena mineralization: S14-1, S14-2, S16E1, S16E2, S16E3, S16E4, and S8E. The dimension and extents of these veins are not yet fully understood and are subject to further exploration work. Assay results for these new veins are pending.
Significant results from the new tunnels and drill holes are:
- 0.45m true width grading 2,090 grams per tonne (g/t) or 67.26 ounces per tonne (oz/t) silver (Ag), 34.44 % lead (Pb), 9.77% zinc (Zn) from a raise at 464m elevation on the S2 Vein.
- 1.31m interception grading 2,986 g/t or 96 oz/t Ag, 51.03 % Pb, 5.14% Zn from drill hole ZK814 at 458m elevation on the S6 Vein.
- tunneling intercepted 0.20m true width massive galena in S7-1 Vein grading 3,020 g/t (97.08 oz/t) Ag, 62.57% Pb, and 1.62% Zn at 600m elevation; drill holes ZK14A02 intersected 0.16m wide S7-1 Vein (core length) containing 845 g/t (27.16 oz/t) Ag, 2.4% Pb, and 7.05% Zn.
- 0.5m true width containing 3,500 g/t (112.53 oz/t) Ag, 4.54% Pb, and 3.47% Zn in a raise at 606m elevation on the S8 Vein.
- 0.30m true width grading 4,675 g/t (150.31 oz/t) Ag, 41.55% Pb, and 4.11% Zn in the 480m elevation tunnel on the S14 Vein; drill hole ZK812 intersected 0.35m wide (core length) massive galena of S14 Vein carrying 8,205 g/t (263.8 oz/t) Ag, 33.47% Pb, and 2.64% Zn at 409m elevation.
- 0.50m true width grading 1,390 g/t (44.70 oz/t) Ag, 33.80% Pb, and 16.19% Zn in a drift at 534m elevation on the S16E Vein.
- 1.18m true width grading 2,370 g/t (76.19 oz/t) Ag, 50.22% Pb, and 4.60% Zn in a drift at 534m elevation on the S16W Vein.
- 0.40m true width containing 3,131 g/t (100.66 oz/t) Ag, 3.08% Pb, and 1.28% Zn in a crosscut at 534m elevation on the S16W1 Vein.
- tunneling on S21 Vein cut 0.25m wide massive galena (true width) containing 2,790 g/t (89.7 oz/t) Ag, 57.33% Pb, and 0.28% Zn at 680m elevation.
S2 and S2E Veins
A 41m long section of raise was completed on S2 and S2E Veins from 460m elevation through CM103. Three drill holes (ZK1007, ZK1207, and ZK0606) intersected the S2 Vein with significant Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization at 442, 463, and 483m elevations. Hole ZK1807 intersected massive galena sheet in S2E Vein at 357m elevation.
S7-1 Veins
The tunneling on the S7-1 Vein was carried out at 600m and 560m levels through main access tunnels PD700 and CM103. At 600m elevation, 110m drift was driven, in which over 82m drift exposed massive galena sheet. At 560m elevation, 76m of 126m drift showed massive galena.
Three drill holes (ZK14A02, ZK5105, and ZK5504) intercepted significant Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization at 393m, 468m, and 482m elevation, indicating great downdip extension of the veins.
S8 Vein
A total of 989 m of tunnels were completed on the S8 Vein. The work included: 6 raises totaling 162m; 131 m drift at 705m elevation in tunnel CM104; 292m drift at 640m elevation in CM101; 58m drift at 600m elevation in PD66 and 346 m drift at 510m elevation in YPD01 at the YLG camp, respectively.
S14 Vein
On the S14 Vein, 82m drift and two raises totaling 100m were completed from the 480m elevation through main access tunnel CM102. The ongoing tunneling to the south along the vein at 480m elevation in CM102 instantly expose the massive galena sheet, indicating great possibility that MGS of S14 Vein could extend further south.
During the period, diamond drilling was extensively used to carry out exploration program for the vein, which resulted in the discovery of significant amount of new intersections. This is expected to significantly increase the Inferred mineral resources and convert a large portion of the existing Inferred resources to Indicated. One drill hole, ZK814 intercepted two additional veins (S14-2 and S14-3) that are located less than 10m east of the S14 Vein, contain up to 1,314 g/t equivalent silver. The dimensions of the veins have yet to be defined. To date, a total of 22 holes (5,735m) of drilling were completed on the vein with 16 of them intersecting significant mineralization (Ag equivalent grade exceeding 100 g/t). Ten holes hit 0.30 to 1.15m wide (core length) massive galena sheets, representing a nearly 50% drill success rate. The holes were drilled on 50 X 80m spacing between Section lines 0 to 18 and from 286m to 444m elevations.
S16E
A total of 371m of tunneling on the S16E Vein was completed at the four levels. These included 79m at 680m elevation from PD680, 47m at 640m elevation from CM101, 11m at 570m elevation and 206m at 534m elevation through CM102. A 29m raise was driven at 570m elevation from CM102. The drift at 534m elevation and the raise all expose complete massive galena sheeting.
S16W
The S16W Vein was explored through four levels (680m, 650m, 570m, and 534m) and 227m of drifting, 141m of crosscutting, and 141m of raises were completed. The majority of drifting on 534m level and all five raises show 0.1 to 2.60m wide (true thickness) massive galena sheets.
S16W1
The vein was explored at 680m and 534m elevations. At the 680m level, 84m of drifting, 32m of raise, and 33m of crosscutting were completed. Massive galena sheets were intercepted at the 534m level when developing drawpoints in CM102.
S21
Exploration on the vein 105m long drift on 560m level in CM103 and 176m crosscutting and drifting on 680m level in PD680.
Tunnel and drill hole plans, cross sections and longitudinal maps of the veins are available on our website: www.silvercorp.ca.
Exploration and mining at the Ying mine is being carried out through Silvercorp's 77.5% subsidiary, Henan Found Mining Co. Ltd., a Sino-foreign joint venture company which holds 100% of the Ying Project and operates under a 30-year business license. Myles Gao, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person on the project under NI 43-101.
Quality Control
Quality Control/Quality Assurance Program is disclosed in the January 4, 2006 -press release.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Rui Feng
Chairman & CEO
(604) 669-9397
or
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Cathy Fong
President
(604) 669-9397
(604) 669-9387 (FAX)
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09:00 EDT Monday, August 14, 2006
Silvercorp Earns $0.05 per Share for the 1st Quarter Ending June 30, 2006 Immediately After Obtaining Mining Permit for the Ying Project, Henan, China
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Aug. 14, 2006) - Silvercorp Metals Inc. (the "Company") (TSX:SVM) is pleased to announce a net earning of $2,357,580 or $0.05 per share on revenue of $4,333,050 for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006.
On March 30, 2006, the Company obtained the mining permits for the Ying Project. Production from the Ying Mine commenced on April 1, 2006, concurrently with ramp-up activities including mine production, mine development, and mill and facility construction. As the Company is currently constructing a 600 tonnes per day flotation mill, two third party flotation mills with combined capacity of 400 tonnes per day are being used to treat the ores from the Ying Property through custom milling contracts until the construction of the 600 tonnes per day mill is completed at the end of March 2007.
As part of the staged startup of the mining operation, the Ying mine has generated gross revenues of $4,333,050 during the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006 by selling the direct shipping ore and silver-lead and zinc concentrates produced through custom milling of ores. This resulted in an earnings from the mine operation of $3,412,714 representing 78.8% of gross margin.
For the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006, the Company had net earnings of $2,357,580 or $0.05 per share, compared to a net loss of $798,350 or $0.02 per share for the same period of 2005. The increase in net earnings for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006 as compared to the net loss for the same period of the prior year was mainly due to the commencement of mine production at Ying Property since April 1, 2006.
During the quarter ended June 30, 2006, 30,719 tonnes of ores were extracted by shrinkage mining method and as by-products of tunneling, from which 1,061 tonnes of direct shipping ores were hand-sorted out for direct shipment to smelter, and 20,286 tonnes of ores were shipped to the two custom mills for treatment to recover silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The custom mills have achieved high recovery rates: 91.44% for silver, 97.06% for lead and 81.21% for zinc. The Company has produced 209,145 ounces of silver, 2,892,912 pounds of lead and 900,262 pounds of zinc. The total production cost for silver adjusted for lead and zinc credit is negative -$6.59 per ounce. The average selling prices, net of value added tax and smelter charges, were $9.73 per ounces for silver, $0.46 per pound for lead and $1.08 per pound for zinc with average production costs of $2.07 per ounce for silver, $0.10 per pound for lead and $0.23 per pound for zinc, respectively.
Two mining methods shall be used in production: shrinkage and re-suing mining. The shrinkage mining method is relatively easy to develop but has resulted in a larger waste rock dilution of over 150% dilution factor for the narrow veins at the Ying Project. Development of the re-suing mining method requires higher skilled miners and takes more time to accomplish; however, it incurs much lower waste rock dilution, with a dilution factor of less than 20%. Currently, most of the ores are extracted using the shrinkage mining method. It is anticipated that ore production using the re-suing mining method will commence in September 2006.
Starting September 2006, when necessary development is completed and the re-suing mining method is used to extract ores, the waste rock dilution will be substantially reduced, giving much higher silver, lead and zinc head grades in ores to be milled by custom milling. If the Company can successfully deploy the re-suing mining method, it is anticipated that a significant improvement in sales revenue may be achieved starting September 2006. Therefore the projected annual sales revenue of US$54.2 million in the NI43-101 Technical Report dated May 26, 2006 is anticipated to be realized for the year ending March 31, 2007.
The production ramp-up is progressing well, as the monthly sales revenue has increased gradually and consistently since April 2006. In the single month of July 2006, sales revenue has substantially increased to $3,200,000 representing 74% of total sales revenue of $4,333,050 for the 1st quarter ended June 30, 2006.
The complete financial statements and management discussion and analysis are available for review on our web-site www.silvercorp.ca, and on the SEDAR system at www.sedar.com.
Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in mineral exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Production and revenue projections are based not on mineral reserves but on mineral resources which do not have demonstrated economic viability.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Rui Feng
Chairman & CEO
(604) 669-9397
or
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Cathy Fong
VP Corporate Development
(604) 669-9397
(604) 669-9387 (FAX)
info@silvercorp.ca
www.silvercorp.ca
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17:45 EDT Monday, July 24, 2006
Mr. Yikang Liu and Mr. Earl Drake Join Silvercorp's Board
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - July 24, 2006) SilvercorpMetals Inc. (TSX:SVM) ("Silvercorp") welcomes Mr. Yikang Liu of Beijing and Mr. Earl Drake of Vancouver as independent members of the Board of Directors of Silvercorp.
Mr. Yikang Liu is the Deputy General Secretary of the China Mining Association and the 35th & 36th Vice-Chairman of the Geological Society of China. Before he retired in 2001, Mr. Liu was the Chief Geologist for the former Ministry of Metallurgical Industry of China. While there he made significant contributions to the amendment of the last China Mineral Resources Law. Mr. Liu, representing Chinese interests, is the person responsible for the establishment of the first Sino-foreign joint venture for mineral exploration in China. Mr. Liu has over 40 years of geological experience in managing, evaluating and exploring mineral projects for the Chinese government in China and in 17 countries around the world including Bolivia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Iran, and Peru. In a mentoring capacity, Mr. Liu is an Adjunct Professor of Geology at the Changchun College of Technology, Northeast University and the China University of Geoscience. Silvercorp will benefit from the counsel of Mr. Liu's expertise in mining development and exploration in China.
Mr. Earl Drake is currently Vice Chairman of the Canada China Business Council and Project Director of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and was previously the Ambassador of Canada to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Indonesia.In the past 50 years, Mr. Drake was also the top Canadian representative in the governing councils of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris and the World Bank in Washington, DC and served in Ottawa as Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia-Pacific in the Foreign Affairs Department and as Vice President in the Canadian International Development Agency. As part of Mr. Drake's vision to transfer his knowledge to young Canadians, he is an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University in the Centre for International Communication. Silvercorp will benefit from the counsel of Mr. Drake's long experience in cross-cultural negotiation and communication to harmonize economic development goals with sustainable environmental policies and practices.
To permit the appointment of Mr. Liu and Mr. Drake as directors Mr. Michael Armstrong tendered his resignation from the Board on July 21, 2006, with immediate effect, the Board of Directors have accepted it. The Board has 6 members following Mr. Armstrong's resignation. Mr. Armstrong had been a Director since October 15, 2004, and Silvercorp thanks him for his service and great contribution, and wishes him well in his future endeavors.
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Dr. Rui Feng, Chairman & CEO, (604) 669-9397
info@silvercorp.ca
www.silvercorp.ca