Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (Avino) operates as a natural resource company. The company primarily engages in the extracting and processing of silver and to a lesser extent, gold and copper and the acquisition and exploration of natural resource properties. The company’s principal business activities have been the exploration for and extracting and processing of silver, gold and copper at mineral properties located in the state of Durango, Mexico. To a lesser extent, the company also owns othe...
Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (Avino) operates as a natural resource company. The company primarily engages in the extracting and processing of silver and to a lesser extent, gold and copper and the acquisition and exploration of natural resource properties. The company’s principal business activities have been the exploration for and extracting and processing of silver, gold and copper at mineral properties located in the state of Durango, Mexico. To a lesser extent, the company also owns other exploration and evaluation assets in British Columbia, Canada.
The company operates the Elena Tolosa Mine (ET Mine or Avino Mine), which produces copper, silver and gold at the historic Avino property in the state of Durango, Mexico. The Avino property also hosts the San Gonzalo Mine, which is on care and maintenance. The company also holds 100% interest in Proyectos Mineros La Preciosa S.A. de C.V. (La Preciosa), a Mexican corporation which owns the La Preciosa Property. The company also owns interests in mineral properties located in British Columbia and Yukon, Canada.
The company engages in the evaluation, acquisition, exploration, development and operation of precious metals and polymetallic mineral properties, primarily those already producing or with the potential for near- term production. The company engages in the production and sale of silver, gold, and copper and the acquisition, exploration, and advancement of mineral properties.
In Durango, Mexico, the company operates the Avino Mine which produces copper, silver and gold at the historic Avino property in the state of Durango, Mexico (the Avino Property), after declaring commercial production effective July 1, 2015. As of December 31, 2023, the company continued to produce from the Avino Mine. Also in Durango, the company also holds 100% interest in Proyectos Mineros La Preciosa S.A. de C.V. (La Preciosa), a Mexican corporation which owns the La Preciosa property in Durango, Mexico (the La Preciosa Property), located approximately 20 kms southwest of the Avino Property.
Avino’s remaining Mexican properties, as well as its Canadian properties, are all in the exploration stage. The company focuses on extracting and processing resources at the Avino Property and continuing to advance the La Preciosa Property.
Principal Product
The company produces copper concentrates containing silver, gold and copper. The company has entered into a long-term concentrate sales agreement with Samsung C&T U.K Limited for the sale of Avino’s concentrates at the Avino Mine.
Production
The company operates the 100% owned Avino Mine on the Avino Property located near in the state of Durango, Mexico.
The Avino Mine produces a copper concentrate containing copper, silver and gold. Ore mined at the Avino Mine is milled on the Avino Property.
The company has precious metal properties in Mexico and Canada. The Avino mine site (the Property or the Project), near Durango, Mexico.
Avino holds a 99.67% interest in the Property through its subsidiary companies called Compañía Minera Mexicana de Avino, S.A. de C.V. (CMMA) and Promotora Avino, S.A. de C.V. (Promotora). Avino commenced development, including drilling and bulk sampling, on the San Gonzalo Vein in 2010, and this work is ongoing. In 2023, the mine produced approximately 615 kt of concentrate, containing approximately 29 t of silver, 0.23 t of gold, and 2,406 t of copper. The Property is located in the state of Durango, Mexico, within the municipalities of Pánuco de Coronado and Canatlán. Avino holds 41 mineral concessions, totalling 7,943.0123 ha.
The Avino Property covers approximately 1,104 contiguous hectares, and is located approximately 80 km north-east of the city of Durango. The Avino Property is equipped with milling and processing facilities that process all output from the Avino Mine located on the property. The Avino property also hosts the San Gonzalo Mine, which is on care and maintenance. The company also owns interests in mineral properties located in British Columbia and Yukon, Canada.
The San Gonzalo Vein system, including the crosscutting Angelica Vein, is located 2 km northeast of the Avino Vein.
The Guadalupe Vein is located approximately 0.7 km northeast of the Avino Vein. It consists of northwest-southeast and east-west striking steep-dipping vein sets.
The La Potosina Veins are located close to the northern margin of the caldera, approximately 7 km north of the Avino mine and processing plant. It consists of complementary northwest-southeast striking steep-dipping vein sets. The geometry is complex, with at least two ages of fault displacement.
The Avino tailings deposit is adjacent to the processing plant, approximately 300 m west-southwest of the mine offices. The tailings have been built up over several decades of mining and processing, and several units have been defined based on the oxidation nature of the tailings and metal content.
La Preciosa deposit is situated on the eastern flank of the Cretaceous to mid-Tertiary Sierra Madre Occidental. The SMO is the largest silicic igneous province in North America, and it stretches from the USA-Mexico border to the latitude of Guadalajara, where the SMO is covered by the late Miocene to Quaternary Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.
The main vein system on the Abundancia ridge consists of dominantly southward-striking and westward-dipping veins plus east-southeast–striking, south-dipping crosscutting veins.
The Avino processing plant is processing materials from the Avino underground mine. The target metal values are gold, silver, and copper.
The Avino Vein material is being processed at the Avino processing plant using froth flotation to produce a marketable copper concentrate with silver and gold credits. The feed from the Avino Vein has been processed using froth flotation to produce a copper concentrate with silver and gold credits. In the 2023 operation, the average silver, gold, and copper recoveries reporting to a silver/gold/copper concentrate and a gravity concentrate were 87%, 72%, and 83%, respectively. The total material processed was 615,373 t. Avino is conducting mining activity on the Avino Vein using sublevel long hole stoping and room and pillar mining methods.
The company has a 100% interest in 14 quartz leases located in the Mayo Mining Division of Yukon, Canada, which collectively comprise the Eagle property. In 2022, the company granted Endurance Gold Corporation the right to acquire an option to earn 100% ownership of the former Minto Gold Mine, Olympic and Kelvin gold prospects contained within a parcel of crown grant and mineral claims (the Olympic Claims).
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the company sold to a subsidiary of Hecla Mining Company (Hecla) the Eagle Property.
History
Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. was founded in 1968. The company was incorporated in 1968.