Letter to shareholders To Our Shareholders and Investors
Bayhorse Silver (BHS-TSX:V) has poured the first silver bar, .9999 fine, or as its often referred to as four nines fine. The full news release
BHS2019-05 can be viewed on our website..
When mining, the goal is to extract the mineralized material in a cost effective manner. The next step, and just as important, is to reduce the volume of material to a concentrate, with minimal losses, to maximize recovery. The last, and most important phase, is processing and refining the concentrate. This phase can make or break a mine.
Our goal, in collaboration with Mineral Solutions LLC (Minerals) of Coeur d Alene Idaho, is to achieve over 98% silver recovery. Mineral Solutions is a JV between Irish Metals LLC and Liberty Refiners LLC of Coeur d Alene, which has developed a non-smelter process to process and refine to .9999 fine, both silver and gold.
What does this mean for Bayhorse? The smelter/refiner capacity in the US and Canada has virtually disappeared, such that small mines are at a distinct disadvantage. I liken the smelter/refinery operators to licensed piracy. They are geared up for large tonnage projects, so small operators are forced into disadvantageous arrangements. We looked for alternatives, and we believe Mineral Solutions is the right fit for us.
They provide us with the capability for vertical integration, from mining, through processing, to refining our own silver to a purity better than LBMA good delivery for silver, which is .999, or three nine's fine.
The material we sent to Minerals was averaging 300 oz per ton silver. This is without sorting. Straight from the mine face to Minerals. That gives an indication of the very high grades in the mine, and why Apex Geoscience was able to establish the average 21.65 ounces per ton in the 43-101.
The miners adage, is drift into the high grade as narrow as possible and get the high grade to pay off as many of the upfront costs as possible, then when backing out, slab off the lower grades and leave as little behind as practicable. The ore-sorter will allow us to reduce the volume of material just by getting rid of the waste mixed in with the good stuff. How good is the sorter? We recrushed 50,000 lbs of reject material to - 3/4 inch and ran it back through the sorter. We only recovered 650 lbs, or about 1.3% with all the rest being rejected again, so we know we have the algorithms right. This will save us serious money off our operating costs. That is something every miner wants to see.
As we will be selling our silver right from the refinery, we will get spot prices for our silver. Not only that, but we can do our own deals, all to the Company's benefit.
We know it has taken longer than we thought to get to this stage, through the second nuclear winter in three years in the precious metals investment space, where investors all but abandoned the market. But our shareholders have been as patient as any, and we now see a shining, .9999 fine path ahead of us.
Here's looking to walking that shining path in 2019
Graeme O'Neill
CEO, Bayhorse Silver Inc.