Timmins Gold Sells 65,784 Ounces of Gold During First Year of Commercial Operations at the San Francisco Mine
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 05/11/11 -- Timmins Gold Corp. (TSX: TMM) is pleased to announce preliminary production statistics for its first year of commercial operations for the year ended March 31, 2011 from its wholly owned San Francisco open pit gold mine located in northern Sonora, Mexico.
The Company achieved a record quarter of daily production, averaging a total of 13,415 tonnes of ore processed per day for the three months ended March 31, 2011. A total of 18,755 ounces of gold was sold during the three months ended March 31, 2011 for a total of 65,774 ounces of gold sold for the year ended March 31, 2011.
The construction of a new crushing module is scheduled for completion in July, 2011 which will increase crushing capacity to 18,000 tonnes of ore processed per day. The increase in the crushing capacity will allow the ramp up to a targeted production of 100,000 gold ounces per year.
'Management is extremely pleased with the results from our first year of operations. The operations team has delivered continued operational improvements quarter over quarter,' stated Bruce Bragagnolo, CEO of Timmins Gold Corp.
The San Francisco Mine main production statistics for the first year of commercial production are as follows:
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Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Total/
Category 2010 2010 2010 2011 Average
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Ore (Dry tonnes) 905,296 1,090,768 1,208,678 1,207,339 4,412,081
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Average Grade (g/t Au) 0.718 0.817 0.939 0.895 0.851
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Waste Mined 4,077,568 3,878,015 4,568,616 5,096,932 17,621,131
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Total Mined (tonnes) 4,982,864 4,968,783 5,777,294 6,304,271 22,033,212
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Strip Ratio 4.5 3.34 3.7 4.2 4.0
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Gold ounces Recoverable 14,145 19,374 25,033 24,088 82,640
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Gold ounces Sold 11,319 15,680 20,030 18,755 65,784
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Days 91 92 92 90 365
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Average Ore Processed
(t/d) 9,948 11,986 13,282 13,415 12,087
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Total Mined (t/d) 54,756 54,009 62,797 70,047 60,365
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There were no accidents which resulted in lost time during the quarter.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements which relate to future events. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as 'may', 'should', 'expects', 'plans, 'anticipates', believes', 'estimates', 'predicts', 'potential', or 'continue' or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggestions herein. Except as required by applicable law, Timmins Gold does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.
About Timmins Gold
Focused solely in Mexico, Timmins Gold Corp is in commercial gold production at its wholly owned San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The mine is a past-producing open pit heap leach operation. Timmins Gold has forecast production at a rate in excess of 100,000 ounces of gold per year at a life of mine cash cost of approximately U.S. $489 per ounce. (Micon International NI 43-101F1 Technical Report dated November, 2010).
Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Timmins Gold Corp.
Bruce Bragagnolo
CEO and Director
604-638-8980
bruce@timminsgold.com
www.timminsgold.com