Pan American Achieves Milestones At Two Mine Expansions

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) said that it has achieved significant milestones at its two mine expansion projects currently underway in Mexico.

At its La Colorada mine, a deep shaft was commissioned in fully automatic mode in early September, ahead of schedule. The shaft was built with an outstanding safety performance of zero lost-time accidents incurred, and using the leading raise boring and shaft automation technologies. The work that is left to be completed at the mine includes a new filter plant, power line and underground development. The project is expected to be completed about 5% to 10% under budget and is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2017. After its completion, the processing rates are expected to increase to 1,800 tons per day, resulting in a 69% increase in annual silver production to roughly 7.7 million ounces.

At Pan American’s Dolores mine, the power line that connects the mine to the national power grid was energized in early September. The power line was done on budget and is estimated to result in annual savings of about $9 million. The project is expected to involve a capital investment of about $112.4 million. By the end of 2017, the project is expected to increase annual silver production by about 40% to 6.3 million ounces and gold production by about 52% to over 205,000 ounces.

Pan American anticipates these projects to lead to higher production rates and lower costs at both operations, and as silver prices rise, the shareholders will benefit from higher profit margins

Pan American currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Some other companies in the mining space worth considering include Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE:HL) , Silver Standard Resources Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRI) and Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE:EXK) . While Hecla Mining and Silver Standard carry a Zacks Rank #1, Endeavour Silver carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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