14 May 2020resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed SRK's Bolivar technical report, effective 31 December 2019, supporting the March reserve and resource update with no material differences.
Announcements, explained
Each one in plain English, with the numbers worked through for a shareholder.
14 May 2020resource reserve update● Neutral
The Bolivar technical report as filed, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) and dated 8 May 2020.
31 Mar 2020resource reserve update● NeutralMajor
With the litho-structural model and the fourth-quarter drilling added, Bolivar's indicated resource rebounded 68% from the December figure to 19.5 million tonnes at 0.78% copper, and inferred rose 29% to 21.5 million tonnes - but at lower grades again. Reserves are 7.5 million tonnes at 0.69% copper, 13.4 g/t silver and 0.22 g/t gold, 5% less tonnage than the 2017 estimate after two years of mining about 2.5 million tonnes, with contained silver down 34%. Bolivar is getting bigger and poorer at the same time.
3 Feb 2020resource reserve update● Neutral
The Yauricocha technical report itself, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) with an effective date of 31 October 2019.
3 Feb 2020resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed SRK's Yauricocha technical report, effective 31 October 2019, supporting the December 2019 reserve and resource announcement with no material differences.
8 Jan 2020security holder rights change▲ GoodMajor
With three mines generating free cash flow, the board approved returning up to US$30 million to shareholders during 2020, half of it through a US$15 million substantial issuer bid by modified Dutch auction with the method for the other half still undecided. This is the peak of the producer's cash-return phase; COVID-19 shut two of the three mines within three months.
31 Dec 2019resource reserve update▼ BadMajor
A rare downgrade after two years of increases: Bolivar's indicated resource fell 12% by tonnage to 11.63 million tonnes, with copper grade down 9%, silver down 20% and gold down 17%, to 0.95% copper, 18.1 g/t silver and 0.24 g/t gold. Inferred more than doubled to 16.69 million tonnes but at similarly reduced grades. Lowering the net smelter return cut-off pulled in lower-value material, which is the mirror image of the cut-off changes that had inflated earlier updates.
18 Sept 2019security holder rights change▲ Good
Raised the buyback ceiling from 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 shares, about 1.54% of those outstanding, having already bought and cancelled 1,457,822 shares at a weighted average C$1.9307 since the programme began in December 2018.
27 June 2019drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Received the construction permit for the next lift of the Yauricocha tailings dam, following the earlier environmental approval, plus a permit for surface drilling of four Titan 24 targets. Tailings capacity is the practical constraint on any throughput expansion, so this is the permitting step the 5,500 tonne-a-day study depends on.
3 June 2019asset acquisition disposition▲ Good
Bought out the 3% net-revenue royalty over the Cusi mine from Minera Cusi for US$4.0 million, US$2.5 million paid on signing in May 2019 and US$1.5 million due in May 2021. It removes the last private royalty over any Sierra property, leaving only government-imposed ones, and lowers the cost per ounce just as Cusi throughput is being expanded.
3 Apr 2019drilling result▲ Good
Four holes testing Titan 24 geophysical anomalies extended the Bolivar West zone about 500 metres, averaging 1.15% copper (2.09% copper-equivalent) over 7.7 metres true width. Best intercepts were 2.29% copper with 7.56% zinc and 140 g/t silver over 4 metres in DB18B666, and 1.32% copper with 1.16 g/t gold over 20 metres in DB18B669 - more gold than the mine has historically carried.
11 Mar 2019debt financing▲ GoodMajor
Closed a six-year senior secured corporate facility of up to US$100 million with Banco de Credito del Peru, effective 8 March 2019 and maturing March 2025, priced at three-month LIBOR plus 3.15% with a two-year principal grace period then four years of amortisation. Part goes to repaying existing debt, the rest to Mexican capital projects and working capital; it carries consolidated net leverage and interest cover covenants.
11 Dec 2018security holder rights change▲ Good
Started buying back stock - up to 1,500,000 shares, about 0.92% of those outstanding, through CIBC on the TSX. A producer with three operating mines returning cash rather than raising it, which is the opposite of what an explorer's news flow looks like.
4 Oct 2018drilling result▲ GoodMajor
A hole driven from the 720 level to 1,394.6 metres depth confirmed copper-molybdenum porphyry mineralisation in the quartz monzonite between the Cuye and Esperanza zones - 0.46% copper with 134 ppm molybdenum over 22 metres, and 0.54% copper over 18 metres. Grades are low against the polymetallic ore Yauricocha mines, but a porphyry is a different scale of target and it sits under an operating mine.
24 Aug 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed the technical report for the Bolivar 5,000 tonne-a-day expansion study, completing the set of three; again no material differences from what was announced.
23 Aug 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
The Bolivar expansion study as filed, effective 31 October 2017 and dated 21 August 2018, covering the Bolivar mine and the Piedras Verdes plant. As with the Cusi report, the row's title was taken from an attached qualified person's consent rather than the study.
13 Aug 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed the technical report for the Yauricocha 5,500 tonne-a-day expansion study, with no material differences from the June announcement.
13 Aug 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
The Yauricocha expansion study as filed, effective 31 July 2017 and dated 8 August 2018 - the document supporting the US$393 million net present value and 5,500 tonne-a-day case announced in June.
3 Aug 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
The Cusi expansion study as filed, effective 31 August 2017 and dated 31 July 2018, signed by Enrique Rubio and three other qualified persons. Note the row's title comes from a consent letter attached to the filing rather than from the study itself.
3 Aug 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed the technical report for the Cusi expansion study within the required 45 days, with no material differences from the June announcement.
9 July 2018resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
The third expansion study in three weeks: Bolivar to 5,000 tonnes a day, with an after-tax net present value of US$214 million at 8%, US$96 million of life-of-mine capital, US$303 million of net cash flow and a 3.4-year payback. Taken together the Cusi, Yauricocha and Bolivar studies contemplate about US$439 million of life-of-mine capital across three mines.
5 July 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
The Bolivar technical report itself, prepared by SRK Consulting with an effective date of 31 October 2017 - the document behind the 7,925,000-tonne probable reserve at 0.86% copper.
5 July 2018resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed the Bolivar technical report supporting the May reserve increase, with no material differences from the announced figures.
29 June 2018drilling result▲ Good
Underground development at Cusi confirmed a 40-metre-wide silver stockwork inside the Santa Rosa de Lima vein complex, open at depth and in width and not included in the December resource update. Bulk-mineable stockwork rather than narrow veins would allow a different, higher-volume mine design at Cusi.
28 June 2018resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
A second expansion study nine days later, this time for Yauricocha going to 5,500 tonnes a day: after-tax net present value of US$393 million at 8%, US$238 million of life-of-mine capital, US$532 million of net after-tax cash flow and a 4.1-year payback. Yauricocha is much the larger prize of the two, and the combined capital of the two studies is far beyond what the company was then spending.
18 June 2018resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
Preliminary economic assessment for expanding Cusi from 650 to 1,200 tonnes a day - a 315% output increase on the company's measure - showing an after-tax net present value of US$92.2 million at an 8% discount rate, a 75% return, US$104.5 million of life-of-mine capital and a 4.6-year payback at an operating cost of US$41.36 a tonne. It is a study, not a decision.
7 June 2018drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Six holes at Contacto Sur Medio, 250 metres east of current production, hit very high grade zinc close to surface: 36% zinc, 9% lead and 175 g/t silver over 5 metres in E-CSM 17-18-03, and 24% zinc with 430 g/t silver over 2 metres in E-CSM 17-18-01. Like Contacto Oriental, its value is that it sits next to existing infrastructure.
5 June 2018drilling result▲ GoodMajor
The deepest holes ever drilled at Yauricocha, 1.7 kilometres below surface and 650 metres below the current mine level, returned 120 g/t silver, 0.85% lead, 7.78% zinc and 0.34 g/t gold over 2.9 metres between the Esperanza and Cuye zones. Mineralisation continues well below the resource model, and the position between the two zones suggests they may link at depth, consistent with the Titan 24 geophysics.
4 June 2018drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Four holes from the 1070 level found a new zone at Contacto Oriental, 220 metres east of current workings: 9.53% zinc, 0.28% copper and 0.54% lead over 57 metres, in copper sulphide widths over 50 metres and in hydrothermal breccias, a style of mineralisation not previously recorded at Yauricocha. Proximity to existing development is the point - it could be brought into the mine plan with little new capital.
22 May 2018resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
Bolivar's probable reserves rose 83% to 7,925,000 tonnes at 19 g/t silver, 0.86% copper and 0.25 g/t gold, with indicated resources up 42% to 13,267,000 tonnes and inferred down 11.5% to 8,012,000 tonnes. The company lists the causes plainly: a 24% higher copper price assumption, higher assumed metallurgical recoveries and a higher net smelter return cut-off, alongside new drilling and depletion - so a large part of this is assumption change rather than new metal.