The Canadian mining company has also initiated a process to sell the Mexican silver mine

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Sierra Metals initiates process to sell the Cusi silver mine in Mexico. (Credit: ivabalk from Pixabay)

Precious and base metals producer Sierra Metals has put its fully owned Cusi silver mine located in Mexico on care and maintenance.

The Canadian mining company has also initiated a process to sell the Mexican silver mine.

Sierra Metals classified the Cusi mine as non-core asset earlier this year. The Mexican silver mine’s results were not included in the company’s consolidated results.

Sierra Metals CEO Ernesto Valdez said: “Earlier this year, the Company deemed the Cusi silver mine a non-core asset and given current market conditions has made the difficult decision to put the mine on care and maintenance.

“In efforts to crystalise value for shareholders we have a process underway to sell Cusi. Sierra is transitioning to become a copper-focused mining company, and the planned divestiture of Cusi will allow us to focus on our two key mines, Yauricocha in Peru and Bolivar in Mexico, where we have significant potential to continue growing our copper production.”

The mining company said that there is no guarantee that the process will result in the sale of the Cusi silver mine.

SCP Resource Finance will serve as the financial advisor for the silver mine’s sale process.

Located in Chihuahua State, the Cusi silver mine is spread across 11,665ha and includes 73 concessions. The underground mine has the capacity to produce 1,200 tonnes per day.

The Cusi mine’s processing plant comprises a conventional ball mill and flotation plants fed from a crushing circuit. The flotation circuit is equipped to produce silver, zinc, and lead concentrates.

The exploration at Cusi was centred on the Cusi Fault and the Santa Rosa de Lima vein complex.