Early Tuesday morning, Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR)(NYSE:EXK) released the production results for its second quarter at its three Mexican mines, showing an uptick in both gold and silver production.
The silver gains were attributed to higher output and grades at El Cubo, while gold output rose despite a reduction at the Bolañitos Mine.
For the quarter, aggregate silver production rose to 1.356 million ounces, up 19% from the year prior quarter. At Guanaceví in the Durango state, silver production totaled 464,929 ounces, while 642,375 ounces came from the in Guanajuato state, broken down into 248,591 ounces from the El Cubo mine and 248,591 ounces from the Bolañitos mine.
While output was lower at Guanaceví for several reasons, ore grades and metal recoveries were both higher than Q2 2017. Management expects production in the third quarter to improve due to increased mine production and completion of a productivity optimization program.
Consolidated gold production for the quarter was 13,674 ounces, a gain of 5% from Q2 2017. El Cubo led the way with 7,029 ounces, followed by Bolañitos at 5,222 ounces and Guanaceví at 1,423 ounces. At a ratio of 75 ounces of silver being equal to one ounce of gold, total silver equivalent production was 2.4 million ounces for the quarter.
Endeavour sold 1.26 million ounces of silver and 13,800 ounces of gold during the quarter. Average prices were not provide at this time. The company had a stockpile of 176,452 ounces of silver bullion and 265 ounces of gold bullion in its inventory at the end of June, along with 53,810 ounces of silver concentrate and 827 ounces of gold concentrate.
For the six months ended June 30, Endeavour produced 2.71 million ounces of silver and 26,882 ounces of gold from its three mines. The output represented gains of 22% for silver and 5% for gold compared to the year earlier quarter. Using the 75:1 ratio, silver equivalent ounces totaled 4.723 million for the first half of 2018, up 16% from the same period in 2017.
The company further noted that its El Compas mine development remains on course for commercial production by the end of this month.
Q2 financial results are slated to be released by Endeavour on Thursday, August 2.
Shares of EDR have been solid since hitting a 52-week low at $2.50 in October. Uptrending off that low, the stock printed a new 52-week high at $4.40 last week. Shares closed up by 1.9% Monday at $4.32.
U.S.-listed shares made a new one-year high on Monday at $3.35 before closing at $3.31 for a gain of 2.5% on the day.
