5 May 2011resource reserve update● NeutralMajor
Minefinders issued its first update of Dolores mine reserves and resources since 2008, current to December 31, 2010. Open pit reserves are 2.024 million ounces of gold and 114.52 million ounces of silver (4.226 million gold-equivalent ounces) in 107.64 million tonnes at 0.58 g/t gold and 33.1 g/t silver, which the company says supports 16 years of open pit production at current throughput. The company states average gold grades are lower than before because of methodology changes, higher metal prices that make lower-grade blocks economic, and new pit-expansion areas with lower grades. It continues to assess a mill and underground mining at Dolores (the open threads from the 2010 deep drilling) and plans about $3.5 million for roughly 20,000 metres of drilling in 2011.