The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
SVM: TSX/SVM: NYSE
Chairman and CEO: Rui Feng, Ph.D., Geology
President & COO: Myles J. Gao, P. Geo.
Chief Financial Officer: Maria Tang, CA, CPA
Silvercorp Metals Inc. is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and mining of high‐grade, silver‐related mineral properties in China and Canada.
Silvercorp is the largest primary silver producer in China through the operation of its four silver‐lead‐zinc mines at the Ying Mining District in the Henan Province of China.
In Canada, Silvercorp is preparing to apply for a Small Mine Permit for the Silvertip high-grade silver‐lead‐zinc mine project in northern British Columbia to provide a platform for further growth and geographic diversification.
Silvertip has undergone a number of surface and underground drill programs and geophysical surveys since 1955 and is in the advanced exploration stage.
The company acquired the property located just south of the British Columbia/Yukon Territory border in February 2010 from Silver Standard for C$15 million, paid 50 percent in cash (C$7.5 million) and 50 percent in common shares of Silvercorp.
The project, which is accessible by a 25-kilometer (16 miles) road from the Alaska Highway, covered about 216 square kilometers (83.4 square miles) in 63 contiguous claims and 26 fractional claims, when Silvercorp acquired it, but the company has since staked additional land around the project, increasing its size to more than 200 claims covering more than 800 square kilometers (309 square miles).
For 2011, Silvercorp budgeted C$2 million to complete an ongoing environmental assessment study, to prepare and submit an application for a Small Mine Permit, and to complete a feasibility study for the project.
The company also earmarked at least C$1 million in 2011 for a surface drilling program of up to 5,000 meters, of which 3,000 meters were completed by October.
Silvercorp began an analysis of the silver, lead, and zinc-rich exhalite mineralization hosted in the deposit, which is a series of overlapping pods of silver, lead, and zinc-rich bands with average thickness of 10.5 meters.
The company planned to further test the exhalite distribution and grade, and explore for satellite mineralization around the known deposit based on strong geophysical anomalies.
In addition, Silvercorp is exploring the new DM Zone of silver-lead-zinc mineralization about 8 kilometers (5 miles) to the south.
Drilling at the DM zone will test the down-dip extent of this mineralization and along the strike extension.
In July Silvercorp reported a significantly higher resource estimate for Silvertip based on 10,913 meters in 36 diamond drill holes completed by the company in fall 2010.
Using a 200-grams-per-metric-ton silver-equivalent cut-off, the update estimates an indicated resource of 4.17 million metric tons grading 261 g/t silver, 4.87 percent lead, and 8.50 percent zinc, containing in situ 35 million ounces silver, 203,050 metric tons lead, and 354,327 metric tons zinc.
In addition, the inferred resource includes 0.91 million tons grading 278 g/t silver, 4.80 percent lead, and 9.60 percent zinc with in situ metal resources of 8.1 million ounces of silver, 43,358 metric tons of lead, and 87,406 metric tons of zinc.
Silvercorp also reported encountering problems from anonymous postings on the Internet that the company says are designed to manipulate its stock price. The company Sept. 22 filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court charging defendants Chinastockwatch.com, Jerry Katz, Alfredlittle.com, Alfred Little, Simon Moore, and several "John Doe" defendants with spreading "false, defamatory and fraudulent" information about Silvercorp on the Internet and in letters to the media and regulators. Silvercorp charged that the defendants did so to drive down the price of Silvercorp's stock in order to make their short positions in the stock more profitable.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$230.5 million (June 30, 2011)
Working Capital: C$207.9 million (June 30, 2011)
Market Capitalization: C$1.38 billion (Oct. 4, 2011)
Suite 1378 - 200 Granville St.
Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6C 1S4
Ph: 604-669-9397 Fax: 604-669-9387
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