i hate to accentuate the negative, but still no profits:

Pirquitas Mine, Argentina

Highlights:

 

--  Pirquitas produced over 1.9 million ounces of silver and became cash
    flow positive in the third quarter.
--  Mining from the open pit has provided sulphide ore since September. Unit
    costs for the year are competitive with comparably-sized mines at
    similar altitudes.
--  Silver recoveries from the sulphide ores are meeting design
    expectations.
--  Gravity pre-concentration has commenced and the process plant is
    producing a silver concentrate and zinc concentrate.

Silver production from the Pirquitas Mine has improved considerably since the completion of the commission phase on December 1, 2009. With the increase in production and resulting silver sales, the Pirquitas mine reached an important milestone of being cash flow positive for the third quarter.

Open pit mining continued to operate well, with 3,920,000 tonnes mined during the third quarter at a rate of 43,000 tonnes per day, which is comparable to the 43,000 tonnes per day mined during the first half of this year. Year-to-date 2010 mining costs are US$1.98 per tonne.

 

Summary Mine Operating Statistics(1)
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                                                                Nine Months
                                   Q3 2010    Q2 2010   Q1 2010        2010
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Total Material Mined   Kt            3,920      3,900     3,876      11,696
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Ore Processed          Kt              320        346       276         942
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Silver Grade           g/tonne         283        240       129         222
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Recoveries             %              66.3       63.7      53.2          62
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Silver Produced        Ounces    1,932,978  1,692,466   609,258   4,234,702
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Cash Production Cost   US$/oz.  $    10.42 $    11.27 $   29.32 $     13.05
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Cash Operating Cost    US$/oz.  $    16.94 $    14.98 $   36.61 $     19.27
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(1) Cash production cost per ounce and cash operating cost per ounce are
Non-GAAP measures discussed under non-GAAP financial performance measures
contained in the MD&A for the quarter and nine months ended September 30,
2010.

Production in the third quarter increased 14% from the second quarter to 1,932,978 ounces of silver, as a result of improved grades and recoveries. Cash production cost in the third quarter was $10.42 per ounce of silver compared to $11.27 per ounce in the second quarter. Including deductions, treatment, refining charges, transport, royalties and export taxes, cash operating cost per ounce in the third quarter was $16.94 compared to $14.98 for the second quarter. This increase in per ounce costs is mainly due to higher sales than production in the third quarter.

During the third quarter, the mill processed 320,174 tonnes of ore at an average milling rate of 3,480 tonnes per day, compared to 3,798 tonnes per day in the second quarter. The lower tonnage for the third quarter reflects the low tonnage milled when processing high-grade jig tails. The mill feed during the third quarter consisted primarily of transitional ore and some historical jig tailings. In September, sulphide ore from the open pit was fed continuously into the process plant for the first time.

This represents another key milestone for Pirquitas since the pit sulphide ore represents the life-of-mine feed for the project. Overall silver recovery rates from treating sulphide ore achieved feasibility study expectations.

Commissioning of the gravity pre-concentration stage commenced in September. The initial results are very encouraging, and the level of upgrading exhibited from pre-concentration continues to be in line with expectations. These two important achievements confirm the processing concept for silver recovery at Pirquitas.

The successful commissioning of the gravity pre-concentration stage has increased the required crushing throughput rate from 4,000 tonnes per day (tpd) to 6,000 tpd. The crushing circuit requires de-bottlenecking to consistently achieve the additional throughput. This is a temporary issue since auxiliary crushing capacity has been sourced, if required, to ensure that the full benefit of the gravity pre-concentration is realized.

During the quarter, the mined ore yielded 565,500 pounds of zinc from the flotation facility. With the continuous processing of sulphide ore now established, the zinc flotation circuit was re-commissioned and Pirquitas is now producing separate silver and zinc concentrates. The mine is expected to produce 1.5 million pounds of zinc during the balance of the year, for a total of 3.0 million pounds of zinc produced in 2010.

The tin circuit is commissioned and despite it producing a high-grade saleable gravity tin concentrate, tin recovery is poor. Testwork is being conducted at a number of laboratories globally with the dual objectives of improving tin recovery while maintaining a good tin grade in the final concentrate. As a result of the low tin recovery, tin production is now estimated at less than 100,000 pounds for 2010 compared to the previous estimate of 600,000 pounds.

Silver production for the full year of 2010 is estimated at 6.3 to 6.5 million ounces of silver at an average cash production cost of between $11.50 to $12.00 per ounce of silver (net of by-product credits) and $17.00 to $17.50 per ounce cash operating costs. The reduction in guidance from seven million ounces is primarily due to mill tonnage losses incurred during the commissioning of the gravity pre-concentration circuit. As a consequence of lower production and lower tin grades, cash production cost per ounce and cash operating cost per ounce estimates have increased from previous estimates of $10.00 and $14.00, respectively.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Silver-Standard-Reports-Third-iw-18449337.html?x=0&.v=1