AVINO SILVER & GOLD MINES LTD

The first mineral reserves in the company's history: 27 million tonnes containing 95 million ounces of silver at 109 g/t, 356,000 ounces of gold and 85 million pounds of copper - 127 million silver-equivalent ounces - across La Preciosa, the Avino mine and the oxide tailings, effective 31 October 2025. Forty-two per cent of resources converted to reserves, and measured and indicated resources stand at 301 million silver-equivalent ounces. Fourteen years after restarting San Gonzalo, and after a 2012 cease trade order over its resource disclosure, Avino finally has reserves rather than only resources.

resource reserve update

The TSX accepted a buyback of up to 8,428,566 shares, 5% of the 168,571,331 outstanding, running from 8 April 2026. After fifteen years of funding itself by issuing stock - at US$2.42 in 2014, US$1.57 in 2016, US$0.65 in 2018 - Avino is buying shares back, on the strength of a rising silver price and expected 2026 free cash flow.

security holder rights change

Met 2025 guidance with 2.6 million silver-equivalent ounces - 1,157,828 ounces of silver, 7,621 of gold and 5,667,996 pounds of copper - and, more importantly, La Preciosa went from first blast in April to delivering development material to the mill within eight months. In the fourth quarter silver was over half of silver-equivalent output for the first time in years, which management frames as a return to being a primary silver producer after a decade in which the deepening Avino vein made the company increasingly copper-weighted.

production update

Bought out every royalty and contingent payment over La Preciosa from Deterra Royalties - the 1.25% net smelter royalty on Gloria and Abundancia, the 2.00% gross value royalty elsewhere and the outstanding contingent obligations from the 2021 Coeur purchase - for US$13.25 million now and US$8.75 million in a year, the latter being a payment already owed under the old agreement. La Preciosa is now unencumbered, four years after Avino bought it with those royalties attached.

business combination

First drilling Avino has reported at La Preciosa, four twin holes into the Gloria and Abundancia veins: 1,638 g/t silver and 1.92 g/t gold over 7.90 metres true width in PMLP 25-03, including 15,352 g/t silver over 0.37 metres, and 544 g/t silver over 6.42 metres in PMLP 25-04. The purpose was to verify Coeur's vein model rather than to find anything new, and the company says grades exceeded expectations while noting the pinch-and-swell geometry and nugget effect make single intercepts unreliable.

drilling result

Started underground development at La Preciosa after receiving every permit needed for mining - three years after buying it from Coeur, and the point at which one of Mexico's largest undeveloped silver deposits stops being a resource statement. Its silver grades are higher than what the Avino mine is currently feeding the mill.

production update

Filed a prefeasibility study on the oxide tailings project dated 5 February 2024 - a step up in study rigour from the preliminary assessments of 2012 and 2017, and the first time the tailings have been taken past the preliminary stage in twelve years of trying.

resource reserve update

2023 output was 2.4 million silver-equivalent ounces from 615,373 tonnes milled, 14% more tonnes than 2022 but at 13% lower silver grade (54 g/t) and 23% lower copper grade (0.47%), with gold grade up 21%. Silver recovery slipped to 87% from 92%. More rock for roughly the same metal - the pattern the deepening, lower-silver Avino vein implies.

production update

Four more deep step-outs southwest of ET 23-09 all returned width above the cut-off: 0.70% copper, 31 g/t silver and 0.21 g/t gold over 44.40 metres true width in ET 23-13, and 0.39% copper with 36 g/t silver over 27.15 metres in ET 23-10. The company is also tracing a hanging-wall breccia reachable through existing development and is working it into a mine plan.

drilling result

Hole ET 23-09, a 50-metre step-out west at 200 metres below Level 17, returned 296 g/t silver-equivalent over 57 metres true width, including 407 g/t over 37 metres and 2,866 g/t over 3.43 metres - which the company calls the best hole in its 55-year history, and the width supports the claim. Known mineralisation now extends at least 750 metres in depth, unusual for a Mexican epithermal system, and the vein remains open along strike and at depth.

drilling result

Ten more holes below Level 17 extended the Avino vein to 500 metres below the lowest mining level and at least 1,100 metres from surface outcrop, with 120 g/t silver-equivalent over 48.40 metres. A previously unknown breccia vein was found 15 to 30 metres below the Avino vein in the footwall intrusive, one intercept running 1,165 g/t silver-equivalent over 0.33 metres.

drilling result

Consolidated resources reached 368 million silver-equivalent ounces across all properties. On the Avino property alone, measured and indicated rose 38% to 161 million silver-equivalent ounces in 34.7 million tonnes - 70 million ounces of silver, 596,000 ounces of gold and 136,700 tonnes of copper - with inferred up 90%, and first estimates were added for the Guadalupe and La Potosina deposits found in the 2021 drilling.

resource reserve update

Four holes extended the Avino vein a further 315 metres down dip, taking known continuity to 800 metres below surface against the 483 metres mined so far. Hole ET 22-12 returned 248 g/t silver-equivalent over 16.66 metres, including 371 g/t over 8.57 metres true width, at 1.63% copper - again confirming the vein gets richer in copper with depth.

drilling result

Six more holes below Level 17 returned 150 g/t silver-equivalent over 26.77 metres, including 1,800 g/t over 0.28 metres, confirming widths and grades at or above what is currently being mined at the deepest working level. It builds directly on the June 2022 results and is what allowed the vein to be traced 315 metres deeper by January 2023.

drilling result

Six holes below Level 17 at Elena Tolosa cut 206 g/t silver-equivalent over 41 metres, confirming the Avino vein continues at least 290 metres down dip below current development with widths and grades intact. The release notes the copper-to-silver ratio rises consistently with depth, from under 100 above level 8 to over 400 at level 17 and below - so the deeper ore is progressively more a copper deposit than a silver one.

drilling result

Closed the La Preciosa purchase from Coeur, acquiring the two holding companies that own the project. Avino now controls an undeveloped silver resource next door to a mill with spare capacity, which is the whole basis of the deal.

business combination

Filed the Tetra Tech resource report on La Preciosa ahead of closing the Coeur purchase: 113 million silver-equivalent ounces indicated in 17.4 million tonnes at 202 g/t silver-equivalent, plus 24 million ounces inferred, at a 120 g/t cut-off. That single asset holds more silver-equivalent ounces than everything Avino owned before it.

resource reserve update

Agreed to buy the La Preciosa silver project from Coeur Mining, one of the largest undeveloped primary silver resources in Mexico and within 2 kilometres of Avino's own property, taking consolidated resources above 235 million silver-equivalent ounces. The price is layered: US$20 million cash (US$15 million at closing, US$5 million on a note within a year), 14.0 million units leaving Coeur with about 12% of Avino and warrants at C$1.09, US$8.75 million more within a year of first production, and US$0.25 per silver-equivalent ounce of any new reserve found outside the current resource area up to a US$50 million cap. Coeur also keeps a 1.25% net smelter royalty over Gloria and Abundancia and a 2.00% gross value royalty elsewhere, plus a board nomination right while it holds 10%.

business combination

Mining restarted at the Avino mine after roughly thirteen months idle - a COVID-19 suspension in 2020, then the union strike from July to October 2020 and a long rehiring and mill re-commissioning afterwards. Mill upgrades made during the closure are expected to improve recoveries, and higher metal prices should return the company to positive cash flow.

production update

Measured and indicated resources at the Avino property rose 60% to 75.9 million silver-equivalent ounces, on a 90% increase in tonnage to 20.3 million tonnes, with gold and copper grades up 6% and 11% - but consolidated silver grade fell 10% to 69 g/t because San Gonzalo is being depleted. Inferred slipped 6% to 21.8 million ounces. More tonnes at lower silver grade is a different company from the one that started at San Gonzalo's 300 g/t.

resource reserve update

Settled with the mining union after twelve weeks and ended the strike, though the release notes work is needed before restarting after the extended shutdown. Operations would not actually resume until August 2021, ten months later.

production update

Members of the Mexican mining union, including Avino's own unionised workers, blockaded the mine entrance and the company halted all mining and milling. It comes immediately after the COVID-19 ramp-up was completed, so the mine has now been idle for most of 2020 for two unrelated reasons.

production update

2019 output fell across the board: silver-equivalent production down 16% to 2,397,042 ounces, silver down 25% to 958,811 ounces and gold down 15% to 6,912 ounces, with only copper up 3% at 4,970,254 pounds. Note the equivalence is calculated at each period's own metal prices, so the silver-equivalent decline understates the drop in silver ounces.

production update

Closed the Bralorne sale on the announced terms: C$8.7 million cash, 12,580,000 Talisker shares then trading at about C$0.235 (roughly C$3.0 million) and 6,290,000 warrants at C$0.25, accelerable if Talisker trades above C$0.35 for 20 days after April 2020. Avino keeps an interest in Bralorne's outcome without funding it.

asset acquisition disposition

Agreed to sell Bralorne outright to Talisker Resources for C$8.7 million cash, 9.9% of Talisker's enlarged share count, warrants over half as many shares again at C$0.25 for three years, a further US$2.5 million if Bralorne ever reaches commercial production, and transfer of the restoration liabilities. Five years and a C$6 million flow-through program after buying it, Avino is exiting Canada and returning to being a single-property Mexican producer.

asset acquisition disposition

Canadian-only bought deal of about C$6.0 million through Cantor Fitzgerald Canada: 4,706,000 shares at C$0.85 and 2,020,400 flow-through shares at C$0.99. The flow-through premium buys the tax treatment and ties that portion of the money to Canadian exploration - meaning Bralorne.

capital raising announcement

Priced at US$0.65 a share: 6,239,867 shares each with a full five-year warrant at US$0.80, raising about US$4 million. That is 41% of the US$1.57 unit price of the 2016 bought deal and 27% of the February 2014 placement price, and this time each share carries a whole warrant rather than a half.

capital raising announcement

Thirty-four new drill holes lifted measured and indicated resources by about 225% in tonnage, to 10.7 million tonnes containing 47.5 million silver-equivalent ounces (26.3 million ounces of silver, 217,000 ounces of gold and 86 million pounds of copper), while inferred fell 25% to 6.09 million tonnes and 23.2 million silver-equivalent ounces as material converted upward. The gain came from drilling between the San Luis workings and the producing ET area, so it is mill feed close to existing infrastructure rather than a new discovery.

resource reserve update

Filed the oxide tailings study: a pre-tax net present value of US$40.5 million at 8%, a 48.4% return, two-year payback and US$28.5 million of capital for a seven-year life treating 3.12 million tonnes of old plant residue. The company states plainly that the study rests on inferred resources and is not a reserve. Five years on from the first tailings study the value is little changed, and the project is still not built.

resource reserve update

Updated the oxide tailings economic assessment on the 2016 resource: pre-tax net present value of US$40.5 million at 8% and a 48.4% return. Essentially unchanged from the 2012 study's US$38.2 million and 60% return, five years and two resource estimates later - the project's value has not moved, and neither has its status.

resource reserve update

Bought-deal raise of about US$10 million: 6,370,000 units at US$1.57, each a share plus half a warrant, underwritten by Cantor Fitzgerald Canada with Rodman & Renshaw. The price is well below the US$2.42 unit price of the February 2014 placement, so more shares are needed for less money.

capital raising announcement

An updated resource for the Avino property by M.F. O'Brien of QG Australia, effective 31 August 2016, covering the Avino vein, the San Gonzalo vein and the oxide tailings. Tetra Tech, which had prepared every earlier estimate including the ones the regulator made Avino retract, is no longer the author.

resource reserve update

Completed an updated resource estimate for the whole Avino property - San Gonzalo, the main Avino mine system and the oxide tailings - prepared by QG Australia, replacing Tetra Tech as author. Management notes exploration and development spending in Mexico has averaged US$4.6 million a year since 2006.

resource reserve update

Declared commercial production at the Avino ET mine effective 1 April 2016 - the larger of the two Mexican mines and the one whose ore the 2012 drilling had traced below level 12, abandoned since 2001. Avino now has two producing mines on one property after a 19-month build.

production update

The Bralorne acquisition completed on 20 October 2014 by court-approved plan of arrangement, with each Bralorne share Avino did not already own exchanged for 0.14 of an Avino share. Avino now owns the Bralorne gold mine at Gold Bridge, British Columbia outright, alongside its Mexican operations.

business combination

The arrangement agreement of 31 July 2014 under which Bralorne would be taken over entirely, following the 34% stake bought privately three weeks earlier. Both companies are British Columbia issuers on the TSX Venture Exchange.

business combination

Bought 9,500,000 Bralorne Gold Mines shares privately at C$0.28, or C$2.66 million, taking Avino to 9,679,149 shares and about 34% of the company - a controlling stake in a British Columbia gold project, and the first move outside Mexico.

business combination

Replaced the exhausted facility with a much larger one: up to US$25 million of shares saleable through Cantor Fitzgerald on the NYSE MKT, with the stated uses now including acquiring and developing the Bralorne mine. The financing is being put in place for a deal not yet completed.

capital raising announcement

Raised a further US$5.0 million a week later through Noble Financial, placing 2,066,117 units at US$2.42 with institutions - each unit a share plus half a warrant exercisable at US$2.87 to February 2017. Two raises inside a fortnight, the second at a higher price than the market sales that preceded it.

capital raising announcement

First compliant resource for the whole property since the regulator forced the 2012 retraction: measured and indicated of 4,547,791 tonnes containing 27.5 million silver-equivalent ounces, of which San Gonzalo holds 222,407 indicated tonnes at 286 g/t silver and 2.13 g/t gold, plus inferred of 3,220,896 tonnes in the Avino system at 68.3 g/t silver, 0.73 g/t gold and 0.55% copper and 1,085,276 tonnes at San Gonzalo. Prepared by Robert Morrison of Tetra Tech; the oxide tailings figures carry forward from the July 2012 report.

resource reserve update

Restarted the second mill circuit on historic surface stockpiles alongside San Gonzalo: April produced 66,719 silver-equivalent ounces in total, 57,235 from San Gonzalo (6,460 tonnes at 274 g/t silver) and 9,484 from 4,040 tonnes of stockpile material at just 73 g/t. The low-grade circuit adds volume cheaply but dilutes the average.

production update

First quarter 2013 milled 19,723 tonnes at 309 g/t silver and 1.29 g/t gold for 191,107 silver-equivalent ounces, against 19,539 tonnes at 259 g/t and 151,372 ounces in the fourth quarter. Throughput barely moved; the 26% production gain came from grade, plus a change in the equivalence ratio from 50:1 to 55:1.

production update

First full month of San Gonzalo production: the mill averaged 220 tonnes a day in October and produced roughly as much silver-equivalent in that one month as in the whole of the third quarter running old stockpiles. Grade, not tonnage, is what changed.

production update

The turning point from explorer to producer: on 1 October Avino began milling high-grade San Gonzalo ore through a 250 tonne-a-day circuit at its own plant, five years after exploration there started. Until then the mill had been running old surface stockpiles from the main Avino mine.

production update

The amended Tetra Tech technical report on the whole Avino property, effective 24 July 2012 - the fourth revision of a report first drafted in June, produced under the British Columbia regulator's review of Avino's resource disclosure. It covers the oxide tailings resource and study plus the sulphide tailings, San Gonzalo and Elena Tolosa as targets.

resource reserve update

The British Columbia regulator issued a cease trade order after its review of Avino's resource disclosure, which had already forced a clarification and retraction in May 2012 and which the company compounded by leaving a presentation carrying a global resource estimate on its website. An amended technical report has been filed with the regulator. Every resource number Avino published before this point should be read against this.

listing compliance notice

More Elena Tolosa results in the same vein: 76 g/t silver, 0.29 g/t gold and 1.0% copper over 30.8 metres. Two consecutive holes of about 30 metres confirm that the main Avino vein below level 12 is a wide, moderate-grade target rather than a narrow one.

drilling result

The first 2012 hole into the Elena Tolosa zone cut 142 g/t silver over 28.8 metres - far wider than anything at Guadalupe or San Gonzalo. It tests the main Avino vein below level 12, abandoned in 2001 on low metal prices and the closure of a key smelter, and follows a February 2012 agreement letting Avino mine the main vein again. The company cites a historic, non-compliant figure of 1,681,253 tons at 100 g/t silver, 0.92 g/t gold and 0.63% copper left behind at closure.

drilling result

Tetra Tech Wardrop's updated study on retreating the old Avino tailings put the pre-tax net present value at US$38.2 million at an 8% discount, a 60% internal rate of return and a 1.5-year payback, at a 1,370 tonne-a-day facility and long-term prices of US$1,271 gold and US$20.59 silver. Reprocessing waste is cheap growth for a company with little cash.

resource reserve update

Sold the first 200 tonnes of bulk concentrate from the San Gonzalo sample to MRI Trading, grading about 12 kg per tonne silver and 30 g/t gold. The 10,000-tonne programme finishes in early April, after which the feed grades, metallurgy and smelter returns decide whether commercial production goes ahead; the target is a sustained 250 tonnes a day. Wardrop has also been engaged to update the 2006 tailings study.

asset acquisition disposition

About 10,000 tonnes have been mined and stockpiled from two San Gonzalo stopes above the 2260 level as part of the bulk sample, with roughly 1,500 tonnes left, and the mill has started processing it. Back-of-stope channel samples returned up to 4,576 g/t silver and 9.09 g/t gold over 0.65 metres, and a new stope is being opened towards a 2007 hole that cut 141 g/t silver over 6.55 metres.

drilling result

Closed a C$3.0 million non-brokered private placement, 2,400,000 units at C$1.25 each carrying a three-year warrant at C$1.52, with Sprott Asset Management taking part. No commission was paid. It funds the San Gonzalo bulk sample and development.

capital raising announcement

Development on two levels at San Gonzalo intersected both the main vein and a splay, broke into the old workings to the northwest, and returned channel samples up to 5,522 g/t silver and 1.30 g/t gold over 0.80 metres. Stope preparation for production is about to start on the San Gonzalo 1 vein.

drilling result

A 4-by-4 metre decline reached the San Gonzalo vein on schedule and on budget after four months, and drifting northwest and southeast has exposed the vein over 25 metres of strike. Channel samples across true widths of 1.45 to 3.15 metres returned 167 to 498 g/t silver with about 0.8 to 2.2 g/t gold - the underground development that turned San Gonzalo from a drill target into a mine.

drilling result

First ten holes into the ET zone of the main Avino vein, which the company mined for gold, silver and copper from 1975 until 2001. Hole ET-07-01 cut 77.3 metres of Avino vein down-hole, with a significant 5.1-metre section at 114 g/t silver and 0.84% copper. Two rigs are turning, one on ET and one on other targets, with San Gonzalo results reported separately.

drilling result