Production at Guanajuato

Vancouver — Great Panther Resources’ (GPR-V, GPRLF-O) Guanajuato silver-gold mine, in central Mexico, has officially begun production, with an initial planned throughput of 400 tonnes per day.

Following refurbishment and commissioning of the processing circuit earlier this year, the company has been putting lower-grade stockpiled material through the plant and has already shipped its first concentrates to Industrias Peoles’ (IPOAF-O) smelter in Torreon.

With the first ball mill now on-stream, Great Panther is moving ahead on getting the two other mills up and running towards its goal of 1,200 tonnes per day throughput by the end of the year.

Initial mining is under way on the San Vincent North and Guanajuato workings, which are accessed by a ramp from surface. Expansion to work portions of the Rayas and Cata mines is expected soon. The company cautions initial grades are anticipated to be variable as it ramps up operations from the multiple workings and blends the ore.

Plans call for the future development of 14 stopes. Capital spending of US$2.5 million was recently approved for mining equipment and a new on-site assay lab that will process samples from Guanajuato and the Topia mine. A 3,000-metre underground drill program is planned to define silver-gold mineralized zones ahead of production and generate a resource estimate.

The Guanajuato complex consists of the processing plant plus the Valenciana, Cata and Rayas mines situated on the central portion of the 25-km-long Veta Madre structure, first discovered in the mid-1500s. The district has historic production estimated at over 1 billion oz. silver and 4.5 million oz. gold. Great Panther acquired Guanajuato in late 2005 for $7.25 million in staged payments through to the end of 2006 from Sociedad Cooperativa Minero Metalurgica Santa Fe de Guanajuato. It had operated the mine for 65 years.

In late 2005, the company attained the rank of silver producer with the start of operations at its Topia silver-lead-zinc mine in Durango state.