Relief Canyon Radial Stacker On Track To Be In Service To Begin Commercial Production

TORONTO - Americas Gold and Silver President & CEO Darren Blasutti, reported, “The return of the radial stacker, the gating item to declaring commercial production at Relief Canyon, is underway and is expected to be in service in the coming week. With the increased daily production from the stacker, we are focused on declaring commercial production at Relief Canyon before the end of Q4-2020.” The Galena Complex Recapitalization Plan continues to pay enormous dividends, beyond increased year-over-year production, as we saw from the recent increase to the mineral reserves and resources. We successfully added approximately 10 million silver ounces to the measured and indicated resource and approximately 40 million silver ounces to the inferred resource, representing increases of 36% and over 100% respectfully. This increase was based on only 33% of planned Phase 1 drilling and we are confident that we will see even larger increases to next year’s resource update based on the remaining drill program.”

The Company’s radial stacker, which suffered a structural failure in Q2-2020, is in transit. Upon arrival, the stacker is expected to resume service within a week after a brief commissioning period. The radial ore stacker will allow ore placement to reach the design rate of approximately 16,000 tons per day. The increased daily stacking rate will allow the operation to accelerate the amount of material placed on the leach pad, increase the area under leach, increase daily gold production, and enable the Company to declare commercial production.

The Galena Complex is already benefitting from the renewed exploration focus as evident from the increased year-over-year production, updated mineral reserve and resources estimate. Based on only 33% of the Phase 1 drilling plan, measured and indicated silver resources on a 100% basis (60% Company/40% Eric Sprott) increased from 27.4 million ounces to 37.3 million ounces and inferred silver resources increased from 39.0 million ounces to 78.6 million ounces. This represents a 36% and 101% increase, respectively, from previously reported estimates.

The Company released an additional exploration update highlighting the Complex’s continued successful results. The first hole targeting the “triple point”, the intersection of the 175, 185 and Silver Veins, crossed all three veins approximately 75 meters below current infrastructure and 75 meters above the expected convergence point. Drilling of the second deeper hole has commenced to pierce the projected convergence area. Referencing Hole 55-153: 582 g/t silver and 30.7% lead (or 1,695 g/t AgEq2) over 2.2 meters 3 (185 Vein); 219 g/t silver and 9.5% lead (or 564 g/t AgEq) over 1.9 meters (175 Vein); and 271 g/t silver and 2.3% lead (or 365 g/t AgEq) over 1.9 meters (Silver Vein).

Earlier drilling of the 360 Complex from the 4300 Level was an important contributor to the increase in the mineral resource estimates . Since this date, the Company drilled holes 43-246 and 43-247 which intersected 8 closely spaced, parallel veins including 4 newly discovered veins. These veins are close to existing infrastructure with good grades and minable widths with full assay results detailed in the 360 Complex section. Key intercepts from 43-246 and 43-247 include and hole 43-239 include: Hole 43-246: 548 g/t silver and 18.9% lead (or 1,239 g/t AgEq) over 3.4 meters; Hole 43-247: 235 g/t silver and 19.7% lead (or 944 g/t AgEq) over 6.6 meters; Hole 43-239: 809 g/t silver and 37.2% lead (or 2,148 g/t AgEq) over 0.6 meters; Continued drilling of the 72 Vein area yielded more strong results and will be followed up from new drill stations in early 2021; and Hole 55-152: 1,783 g/t silver and 2.3% Cu (or 2,018 g/t AgEq) over 0.3 meters.

The Company announced that the illegal blockade had been resolved to permit some Company personnel the opportunity to re-enter the mine operations. This access has not been maintained. With the re-opening of Mexican government offices in August, the Company’s employees were expected to vote in September 2020 for new union representation and did so on September 17. In advance of the vote, a number of irregularities came to light, which indicated that there could not be a fully democratic vote with freedom of association. As a result, the Company does not believe there are conditions currently present to invest the required capital to re-start the Cosala Operations. The Company continues to work with all legitimate stakeholders and remains hopeful that a resolution, consistent with the rule of law and featuring an election free from threats and intimidation, can be achieved so that operations can re-commence in the near term. Due to the illegal blockade, the Cosala Operations did not operate during Q3-2020 and operated for only the first 26 days of 2020. As a result, quarterly and year-to-date operating results are not generally comparable with previous periods.

The Company finalized the option agreement for the San Felipe project with Minera Hochschild Mexico S.A. de C.V. through payment of the remaining the $3.75 million plus VAT obligation in common shares of the Company. The Company now owns 100% of the San Felipe project, which is located 130 km northeast of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The San Felipe project has an indicated mineral resource estimate of 4.7 million tonnes grading 5.36% zinc, 60 g/t silver and 2.46% lead and a mineral inferred resource is estimate of 2.0 million tonnes grading 3.50% zinc, 47 g/t silver and 1.41% lead.