As the European Euro continues to slide, precious metals continue to find favor. Some companies operating in this area are development stage while others are producing and profiting at a solid and remarkable pace. One needs to pay close attention when dealing in this type of investment space, but if the right company is invested in, profit will happen quickly.
Endeavour Silver Corp., a silver and gold mining company, works to evaluate, develop and exploit silver and gold mining deposits primarily in Mexico. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.
Given recent trends in the minerals market, Endeavour Silver is riding very high on the profit spectrum. It reported first quarter 2010 revenue of $8.2 million, a 115% increase over the same period one year earlier. Its underground operations appear to be turning solid production with over 757,000 oz. of silver and in excess of 454,000 oz. of gold being produced. As these figures are being generated from the company’s main operations, costs are of a certain consideration. During the reporting period, cost of production increased 56% primarily due to increased throughput. Overall, however, this only amounted to $9 million Canadian dollars and is an expected cost of production. Reflecting this figure, in a general sense, one should also consider that overall production costs, which include all aspects of the mining to sale process, declined 15% to $6.39 per silver oz. during the period (silver 18.22 oz. 10am 5/19.)
For the most part, costs have been reduced due to efficiencies and overall higher throughput. The company is, in a flippant way, operating on all cylinders and producing product in a high profit environment. It is, however, beginning to investigate new opportunities to extend current successes. Where current operations are primarily underground, it has begun the process of open pit operations in adjacent parcels to its successful underground sites. How long the opening and permit process will take is open to many deviations but in an overall way not a large consideration given the company’s contributions to the community and production levels.
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