Silver Wheaton Corp.
Largest Pure Silver Streaming Company
Message: Substantially Increases Silver Reserves / Financial Statements Filed
| March 30, 2009 | ||
| Silver Wheaton Substantially Increases Attributable Silver Reserves and Resources Year Over Year; Audited 2008 Financial Statements Filed | ||
|
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 30, 2009) - Silver Wheaton Corp. ("Silver Wheaton") (TSX:SLW)(NYSE:SLW) today announced that attributable proven and probable silver reserves increased by over 24%, or 83 million ounces, in 2008 to a record 429.7 million ounces. In addition, attributable measured and indicated silver resources increased by 33% to 213.5 million ounces, and attributable inferred silver resources decreased by 6% to 392.5 million ounces over the same period. Total attributable reserves and resources (excluding inferred resources) are now greater than 640 million ounces of silver, with attributable inferred resources totaling an additional 390 million ounces of silver. Robust reserve and resource growth occurred at several of the mines from which Silver Wheaton receives its silver, most notably Goldcorp's Penasquito mine in Mexico, which increased silver reserves attributable to Silver Wheaton by approximately 45 million ounces in 2008. Several acquisitions completed in 2008, including life of mine silver production from the Campo Morado and La Negra mines in Mexico, the Mineral Park mine in the USA and the Keno Hill Project in Canada further increased the Company's reserve and resource base. Proven and Probable Reserves as of December 31, 2007 346.4 mm oz silver
Net acquisitions during 2008 35.9 mm oz silver
Mined ounces during 2008
(includes silver lost to process) (16.5) mm oz silver
Organic Reserve Growth during 2008 63.9 mm oz silver
-------------------
Proven and Probable Reserves as of December 31, 2008 429.7 mm oz silver
Proven and Probable Silver Reserves Attributable to Silver Wheaton
(1,4,5,6,10,12)
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PROVEN PROBABLE PROVEN & PROBABLE
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Ton- Con- Ton- Con- Ton- Con-
nage Grade tained nage Grade tained nage Grade tained
mm t g/t mm oz mm t g/t mm oz mm t g/t mm oz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
San Dimas 1.69 381.3 20.7 3.40 362.2 39.6 5.09 368.5 60.3
Los Filos 28.10 4.4 4.0 42.16 3.3 4.5 70.26 3.7 8.4
(11)
San Martin 0.32 32.7 0.3 0.71 47.8 1.1 1.03 43.2 1.4
Zinkgruvan
Zinc Ore 8.76 112.0 31.6 2.00 56.0 3.6 10.76 101.6 35.2
Copper Ore - - - 2.90 28.0 2.6 2.90 28.0 2.6
Yauliyacu 0.77 138.7 3.5 1.28 174.4 7.2 2.06 161.0 10.7
(8)
Mineral 315.88 2.9 29.0 81.33 2.4 6.4 397.21 2.8 35.4
Park(9)
La Negra 0.14 76.9 0.3 0.10 69.5 0.2 0.24 73.9 0.6
(50%)
Penasquito
(25%)
Mill 140.30 33.9 152.9 111.93 25.2 90.5 252.23 30.0 243.4
Heap 14.45 18.4 8.6 31.16 9.4 9.4 45.61 12.3 18.0
Leach
Stratoni 1.90 193.3 11.8 0.31 190.0 1.9 2.22 192.8 13.7
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Total 262.6 167.1 429.7
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Measured & Indicated Silver Resources Attributable to Silver Wheaton
(1,2,3,4,5,7,10,12)
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MEASURED INDICATED MEASURED & INDICATED
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ton- Con- Ton- Con- Ton- Con-
nage Grade tained nage Grade tained nage Grade tained
mm t g/t mm oz mm t g/t mm oz mm t g/t mm oz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Los Filos 0.20 5.1 0.03 7.38 4.8 1.1 7.58 4.8 1.2
(11)
Zinkgruvan
Zinc Ore 0.55 24.0 0.4 3.79 105.0 12.8 4.34 94.7 13.2
Copper Ore - - - 0.46 30.0 0.4 0.46 30.0 0.4
Yauliyacu 1.20 149.7 5.8 5.36 260.1 44.9 6.56 239.9 50.6
(8)
Mineral
Park(9) 100.97 2.6 8.4 175.63 2.7 15.2 276.60 2.7 23.6
Campo 0.37 257.9 3.1 4.97 173.4 27.7 5.33 179.2 30.7
Morado
(75%)
La Negra 0.20 127.0 0.8 0.09 128.0 0.4 0.29 127.3 1.2
(50%)
Penasquito
(25%)
Mill 27.81 18.5 16.5 125.93 18.4 74.5 153.74 18.4 91.0
Heap 1.44 4.1 0.2 7.60 5.0 1.2 9.04 4.9 1.4
Leach
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Total 35.2 178.3 213.5
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Inferred Silver Resources Attributable to
Silver Wheaton (1,2,3,4,5,7,10,12)
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INFERRED
-----------------------------
Tonnage Grade Contained
mm t g Ag/t mm oz
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San Dimas 15.14 316.4 154.0
Los Filos(11) 6.02 8.1 1.6
San Martin 3.01 119.0 11.5
Zinkgruvan
Zinc Ore 4.20 68.0 9.2
Copper Ore 0.55 42.0 0.7
Yauliyacu(8) 11.41 207.9 76.3
Keno Hill (25%) 0.13 1,015.8 4.4
Mineral Park(9) 320.15 2.3 23.8
Campo Morado (75%) 1.38 174.5 7.7
La Negra (50%) 0.11 75.3 0.3
Penasquito (25%)
Mill 176.40 17.0 96.2
Heap Leach 9.91 7.9 2.5
Stratoni 0.64 203.4 4.2
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Total 392.5
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Notes:
1. All Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources have been calculated in
accordance with the standards of the Canadian Institute of Mining,
Metallurgy and Petroleum National Instrument 43-101, or the AusIMM JORC
equivalent.
2. All Mineral Resources are exclusive of Mineral Reserves.
3. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have
demonstrated economic viability.
4. Reserves and Resources are reported as of December 31, 2008, with the
following conditions or exceptions:
a. Reserves and Resources for Stratoni are reported as of December 31,
2007.
b. Reserves and Resources for San Martin are reported as of December
31, 2006. Reserves and Resources are expected to be updated in Q2
2009.
c. Reserves and Resources for Mineral Park are reported as of December
29, 2006.
d. Resources for Campo Morado are reported as of February 29, 2008.
e. Resources for La Negra are reported as of February 15, 2008 for the
Alacran deposit and March 14, 2008 for the Monica deposit.
f. Resources for Keno Hill are reported as of June 30, 2008.
5. Qualified Persons for the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates
as defined by the National Instrument 43-101 are as follows:
a. San Dimas, Los Filos - Reynaldo Rivera, MAusIMM (Chief Geologist),
Goldcorp Mexico, the Mexican operating subsidiary of Goldcorp Inc.
b. San Martin - Velasquez Spring, P.Eng. (Senior Geologist) Watts,
Griffis and McOuat Limited.
c. Zinkgruvan - Per Hedstrom, AusIMM (Senior Geologist) and Lars
Malmstrom, AusIMM (Chief Geologist), both employees of Zinkgruvan
Mining AB
d. Yauliyacu - Neil Burns, M.Sc., P.Geo. (Director, Geology), Samuel
Mah, M.A.Sc., P.Eng. (Director, Engineering), both employees of
Silver Wheaton Corp.
e. Penasquito - Bob Bryson, MMSA (Vice President, Engineering),
Goldcorp Inc.
f. Stratoni - Patrick Forward, AusIMM (General Manager, Exploration),
European Goldfields Ltd.
g. Campo Morado - Stephen J. Godden, F.I.M.M.M., C.Eng. (Director) S.
Godden & Associates Limited; P. Taggart, P.Eng. (Principal)
P.Taggart & Associates Ltd.; David Gaunt, P.Geo. and Qingping Deng,
Ph.D., C.P.Geol. (Vice President of US Operations and Global
Director of Ore Reserves and Mining Planning) Behre Dolbear &
Company (USA), Inc.
h. Keno Hill - G. David Keller, P.Geo. (Principal Resource Geologist)
SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.; Gordon Doerksen, P.Eng. (Principal
Consultant - Mining) SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.; Josef Sedlacek,
P.Eng. (Principal Consultant) SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.; Hassan
Ghaffari, P.Eng. (Manager of Metallurgy) Wardrop Engineering Inc.
and Diane Lister, P.Eng. (Consulting Environmental Engineer and
Principal) Altura Envinronmental Consulting.
i. La Negra - Thomas C.Stubens, M.A.Sc., P.Eng. (Senior Geologist)
Wardrop Engineering Inc., Barnard Foo, M.Eng., P.Eng. (Senior Mine
Engineer) Wardrop Engineering Inc. and Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo.
(President), GeoSIM.
j. Mineral Park - Gary Simmerman, FAusIMM (Vice President, Engineering
and Mine Manager), Mercator Minerals Inc.
k. Overall Corporate Review - Neil Burns, M.Sc., P.Geo. for Resources
(Director of Geology), Samuel Mah, M.A.Sc., P.Eng. for Reserves
(Director of Engineering), both employees of Silver Wheaton Corp.
6. Mineral Reserves are estimated using appropriate recovery rates and US$
commodity prices of $12 per ounce of silver unless otherwise noted
below:
a. San Martin Reserves - US$7.00 per ounce
b. Yauliyacu Reserves - US$10.00 per ounce
c. Mineral Park Reserves - 0.237% Cu equivalent cut-off grade
(hypogene), 0.283% Cu equivalent cut-off grade (supergene). Copper
equivalent considers only copper and molybdenum values (silver was
not included).
7. Mineral Resources are estimated using appropriate recovery rates and US$
commodity prices of $14 per ounce of silver, unless otherwise noted
below:
a. San Martin Resources - US$8.00 per ounce
b. The San Pedrito project Resources at San Martin - US$5.50 per ounce
c. Zinkgruvan Resources - US$10.00 per ounce
d. Stratoni Resources - US$12.00 per ounce
e. Campo Morado (G9) Resources - 5.0% zinc only cut-off grade, silver
was not included
f. Keno Hill Resources - US$8.00 per ounce
g. La Negra (Alacran) Resources - US$12.00 per ounce
h. La Negra (Monica) Resources - US$13.50 per ounce
i. Mineral Park Resources - 0.225% Cu Equivalent cut-off grade. Copper
equivalent considers only copper and molybdenum values (silver was
not included).
8. Silver Wheaton's purchase agreement with Glencore provides for the
delivery of up to 4.75 million ounces of silver per year for 20 years so
long as production allows. In the event that silver produced at
Yauliyacu in any year totals less than 4.75 million ounces, the amount
sold to Silver Wheaton in subsequent years will be increased to make up
the shortfall.
9. The Mineral Park reserves and resources do not include the SX/EW leach
material since this process does not recover silver.
10. The Company considers the San Dimas, Yauliyacu and Penasquito
operations to be Material Assets, and has technical reports filed and
available on www.sedar.com on each of these assets.
11. Los Filos reserves and resources are reported without the Bermejal
deposit, as Bermejal is not subject to the silver sales agreement.
12. Silver is produced as a by-product metal at all operations; therefore,
the economic cut-off applied to the reporting of silver reserves and
resources will be influenced by changes in the commodity prices of
other metals at the time.
Silver Wheaton's 2008 audited financial statements are now available on SEDAR. No changes were made to the 2008 unaudited financial results released on February 19, 2009. Please visit the financials section of our website, www.silverwheaton.com, and click the 2008 Audited Financial Statements link to access the documents. Shareholders may also receive a copy of Silver Wheaton's audited financial statements documents without charge upon request to Silver Wheaton's Investor Relations Department, Suite 3150, 666 Burrard St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 2X8 or to info@silverwheaton.com. Mr. Randy V.J. Smallwood, P.Eng., Silver Wheaton's Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, who is a "qualified person" as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. Silver Wheaton is the largest silver streaming company in the world with forecast annual silver sales of 15 to 17 million ounces in 2009, growing to approximately 30 million ounces by 2013. The proposed acquisition of Silverstone Resources Corp., anticipated to close in May of 2009, will increase Silver Wheaton's current growth profile further with silver streams from high-quality operating mines located in Canada, Mexico and Portugal. |
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