Resource World Magazine

38 www.resourceworld.com f e b r u a r y / m a r c h 2 0 1 6 i met witH roBert mceweN, chief owner of mcewen mining [MUX – TSX, NYSE] at the Silver Summit held in San Francisco in November of 2015. Robert McEwen was the founder and former Chairman and CEO of Goldcorp Inc. McEwen was in a positive frame of mind, with good reason. McEwen Mining has the producing San Jose gold-silver mine and a large copper deposit in Argentina. Mauricio Macri, described as centre right, had recently won Argentina's presidency, beating out leftist, Daniel Scioli whose party held the position for more than a decade. It is the absolute best outcome that resource companies in, or interested in, Argentina had hoped for. "It is good news for the mining industry there," said McEwen; Macri has acknowl- edged the importance of the resource sector and foreign investment to the coun- try's economic recovery. The country was pretty much closed to foreign investment and labour was much more expensive than it should have been. McEwen said sup- plies and equipment were often held up for months at a time. Economic reform is a primary goal for the new government. See Dec/Jan issue Resource World page 26. McEwen Mining's underground, san José mine (49% McEwen Mining and 51% Hochschild Mining) located 20 km north of Goldcorp's Cerro Negro Project in the northwest corner of the Deseado Massif region of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, is currently McEwen Mining's largest reve- nue generator. In 2105, the mine produced 47,353 oz gold and 3,285,751 oz silver for a total of 91,163 gold equivalent ounces. Production in 2016 is forecast to be 46,500 gold ounces and 3,100,000 silver ounces. McEwen said the 123,000-acre land pack- age has not been fully explored and there is good potential for additional resources. McEwen Mining's los Azules project, also in Argentina, is a huge 19 billion pound copper deposit. A PEA was done several years back with a $3.9 billion capex for a mine with a mine life of 35 years of producing half-billion pounds annu- ally. McEwen said that they are using the downturn to take the time to review the project with an eye to increasing efficiency and are looking at different ways to pro- cess ore more cheaply in an effort to make the project that much more attractive. The company's producing el Gallo Gold mine is located in Mexico's Sinaloa State, along the foothills of the Sierra Madres. Originally an underground mine, the now open pit mine has a remaining mine life of approximately three years. El Gallo poured its first gold in September 2012 and began commercial production on January 1, 2013. In 2014, El Gallo produced 38,212 oz gold and 25,912 oz silver. The mine sits on a huge land package of 300,000 acres. McEwen is currently spending $5M in exploration with hopes to extend the mine life. In April of 2015, McEwen Mining reported "an estimated 900 kilograms of gold-bearing concentrate containing approximately 7,000 ounces of gold were stolen from the El Gallo refinery." Despite the loss of ~$7.5 million worth of gold concentrate to robbers, the El Gallo Mine had a record year of production producing 62,000 oz gold. El Gallo produced 19,488 oz gold in Q3 2015 compared to 2014 Q3 production of 6,748 oz gold. The company rebuilt the refinery with state of the art security; they consulted with Brinks on its design. It is, McEwen said, as secure as it is possible to make it. He said that there have been a few other robberies in the area that haven't really made the news. The el Gallo silver is an open pittable, mostly silver project permitted for 5,000 McEwen Mining: a high growth gold-silver producer by Kathrine Moore Rob McEwen, Chairman and CEO of McEwen Mining Inc. Photo courtesy of McEwen Mining mINING

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