Endeavour Silver jumps 9% on output

Endeavour Silver (NYSE: EXK; TSX: EDR) gained on Wednesday after the Canadian miner reported its second-quarter operating results.

Silver production rose in plan 13% higher than the first quarter to 1.48 million oz. owing to the addition of a third producing mine at Kolpa in Peru, Endeavour said. The results included 7,755 oz. of gold for total silver-equivalent production of 2.5 million ounces.

Shares of Endeavour Silver jumped 9.1% to close at $7.22 apiece in Toronto — where the company is based — valuing it at $2.09 billion. 

Two under-performers

Excluding Kolpa, however, Endeavour’s consolidated silver production was 16% lower than the same period last year due to falling production at its Guanaceví and Bolañitos mines. Gold production, too, was lower by 26% as a result of the mines’ underperformance.

Meanwhile, a third mine could be on its way to production in Mexico. During the recent quarter, commissioning of the Terronera project continued to progress steadily, said Endeavour. It expects to gradually ramp up throughput to design capacity early in the third quarter.

“The integration of Kolpa is progressing smoothly, with output already trending above initial expectations,” Dickson said in a news release Wednesday. “At the same time, Terronera continues to move steadily toward commercial production.”

In April, the company announced the acquisition of the Kolpa mine about 500 km south of Lima in a $145-million deal to bolster its Mexico-based portfolio. CEO Dan Dickson said at the time that the acquisition would bring Endeavour closer to becoming a senior silver producer, with a material increase in its production profile.