Commercial Production At Inmaculada And New Discovery At Pablo

LONDON - Hochschild Mining plc reported commercial production at its Inmaculada mine, located in south west Peru. The first production of dore was announced in June and approximately 25,000 oz of gold and 622,000 ounces of silver have been produced to date, a portion of which was produced during the ramp-up and commissioning phase. The mine is expected to produce between 7 and 8 million silver equivalent ounces in 2015 and between 12 and 13 million silver equivalent ounces in 2016 at a forecast all-in sustaining cost of approximately $10 per silver equivalent ounce. 
Ignacio Bustamante, Chief Executive Officer said, "We have successfully achieved commercial production at Inmaculada and I congratulate the operations team on completing a quick and efficient ramp-up. With the achievement of this milestone, Hochschild will strengthen its cashflow generation and enter into a new phase of margin improvement. We expect that, with high production levels at a very competitive all-in sustaining cost, Inmaculada will be the company´s key mining operation for many years to come. Furthermore, we remain excited by the strong geological potential at the deposit and in the surrounding district, which will provide a source of additional growth to this world class mine."   
The company also announced the discovery of a new vein, Pablo, at the Pallancata mine property in south west Peru. The new east-west vein, is expected to lead to a significant expansion of the mine's mineral resources and substantially improve the operational outlook for the Pallancata mine.
Bustamante, commented, "This important discovery at our 100% owned Pallanata mine confirms our historic confidence in the long term potential of the deposit and in the district as a whole. The Pablo vein has the significant advantage of being within our property and with its proximity to our current infrastructure, the capital required to access the vein is expected to be low. There is also sufficient capacity at the operation's plant, Selene, to process the new higher grade material. The next steps are to delineate an inferred resource and we expect to update the market on our progress and the operational strategy going forward in the fourth quarter."   
The exploration team at Pallancata began a 19,100 metre exploration and drilling program in May 2015 with the aim of focusing on inferred resource exploration at surface. In mid August, while pursuing the west extension of the Yurika vein to the north west of the main Pallancata vein, a new blind structure at a depth of 200 metres below surface was discovered. The Pablo vein has been recognized along an east-west strike for 700 metres and dips 50-75° south. The structure's significant thickness (greater than 10m wide) is associated with dilation zones in flexures and fault jogs. The Pablo vein is a fine-to-medium grain white quartz vein and shows a banded texture and multiple brecciation events filled with adularia and quartz crystals. It is part of a major regional structure, currently extending to about 2 km, which will be explored over the medium term.