Full Year Silver Production Projected At 8.3M Ounces
CHICAGO, IL - Coeur Mining, Inc. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mitchell J. Krebs, said, “Coeur’s balanced portfolio of five North American operations had a solid first three months of the year, which puts us in a strong position to deliver record operational and financial results in 2025. Despite the first quarter being our softest quarter of the year, we achieved our fourth consecutive quarter of positive earnings. Rochester’s momentum during its first year post-expansion continues to advance toward steady-state and remains on-track to achieve 2025 guidance ranges – The Rochester silver-gold operation in Nevada produced 1.3 million ounces of silver and 13,353 ounces of gold during the quarter, which were in-line with expectations and down slightly from the prior quarter. Full-year 2025 production is expected to be 7.0 - 8.3 million ounces of silver and 60,000 - 75,000 ounces of gold. Also, with the high-margin contribution from the newly-acquired Las Chispas silver and gold mine, and consistent performance from our other three operations, we expect to generate average quarterly free cash flow of $75 to $100 million during the remainder of the year.”
The Coeur Rochester mine is an open pit, heap leach silver-gold operation, located in Pershing County, Nevada. The mine consists of the main Rochester deposit and the adjacent Nevada Packard deposit southwest of the Rochester mine and the Lincoln Hill, Gold Ridge, and Wilco projects. Operations at the Rochester mine initially began in 1986 and were briefly suspended from 2007 through 2010. In 2011, the entire mining operations and production resumed and have continued to grow ever since. Coeur Rochester employs more than 370 mining professionals and is the largest employer in Pershing County.
The construction, commissioning and ramp-up of the Rochester mine is complete. The mine is achieving throughput rates of over 88,000 tons per day. With the completion of its $730 million expansion, Coeur Rochester is one of the world’s largest operations of its kind and will be a reliable and responsible source of domestically produced and refined silver. The Rochester mine represents 38% of Coeur's silver production and 11% of Coeur's gold production.
The Company had a solid quarterly production and cost performance in-line with 2025 guidance – Contributions from Coeur’s portfolio of five North American operations led to a strong start to the year and position the Company to deliver guided 2025 production of 380,000 - 440,000 ounces of gold and 16.7 - 20.3 million ounces of silver. Quarterly silver production of 3.7 million ounces was 17% higher quarter-over-quarter and 44% higher year-over-year, driven by the newly expanded Rochester operation and a partial quarter of contribution from the newly acquired Las Chispas mine. Quarterly gold production of 86,766 ounces was flat quarter-over-quarter and 7% higher year-over-year.
First quarter gold and silver production totaled 23,032 and 1.7 million ounces, respectively, compared to 22,490 and 1.5 million ounces in the prior period and 33,160 and 1.8 million ounces in the first quarter of 2024 Production during the quarter benefited from higher tons milled, higher average gold recoveries, and higher average silver grade, partially offset by lower average gold grade and slightly lower average silver recoveries.
Las Chispas integration proceeding smoothly – During the six weeks of the first quarter after the SilverCrest transaction was completed, Las Chispas contributed production of 714,239 ounces of silver and 7,175 ounces of gold. Additionally, the Company monetized the acquired gold and silver bullion portfolio and finished goods for proceeds of approximately $72 million during the quarter. New high-grade discoveries were made in the first quarter in the Las Chispas block and in the area between the Babicanora and Las Chispas blocks
Exploration ramped up quickly in the first quarter with six rigs drilling across the property. Expansion drill programs at the Link zone and the Hidalgo-Libertad corridor continued. Scout drilling at the Camuchin zone and underground validation drilling on the Independencia Sur claims also commenced during the quarter.
Validation drilling on the recently acquired Fresnillo claims is underway with several veins intersected to date, including within the 300 meter gap area bridging the Independencia resource to the northwest and the historic Fresnillo drilling on the Independencia Sur claims immediately southeast. Drilling is expected to primarily test the Bruno, Nacion and Portales veins on the Independencia Sur claim, in addition to the exploration for new veins at deeper elevations than the historic drilling.
Drilling at the Hidalgo-Libertad corridor continues to successfully extend mineralization further to the northwest nearer to the Palmarejo processing plant. At the Link zone, which is adjacent to mining infrastructure, several potential veins have been identified. Both of these targets are expected to be a focus for continued definition through 2025.
Visual results from scout drilling at the Camuchin zone indicate multiple veins present, which is encouraging for continued exploration in a new trend that is several kilometers long.
A pilot program of high-resolution geophysics was undertaken in 2024 with phase one results now available that are expected to improve the ability to predict sub-surface locations of prospective geology and structures. Drill results on the Hidalgo corridor along with this new data have highlighted a new, prospective zone called the Libertad Quadrant with exploration in this area now underway.
During the quarter a significant milestone was achieved through the signing of an amendment to an agreement with the Guazapares Ejido that provides exploration and exploitation rights for a 20-year period, giving Coeur expanded coverage and access to several key exploration priorities including Independencia Sur and the historic La Union resource, along with many other targets in the Guazapares trend in the northeast of the claim block.
Ore tons placed during the quarter totaled 7.0 million tons, consisting of approximately 5.5 million tons through the crushing circuit up from 5.1 million tons in the prior quarter. Additionally, the Company placed approximately 1.5 million tons of DTP material, down from 3.1 million tons of DTP material placed in the prior quarter. The Company began the partial removal of approximately eight million tons from legacy leach pads to facilitate exploration drilling and future planned mining activities.