The company, which has mining operations in Topia and Guanajuato in Mexico, expects silver production of 1.72-1.90 million ounces in 2012, up from about 1.51 million ounces of silver in 2011.
The Canadian miner expects gold production in 2012 to be about 10,000-11,000 ounces, up about 28-40 percent from 2011. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it is on track to achieve the fourth-quarter output of 550,000 silver equivalent ounces forecast earlier.
Shares of Great Panther, which have shed about a quarter of their value in the last one month, closed at C$1.99 on Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
After descending 510 meters into the belly of the Earth to gain a first-hand glimpse of this miner's long-term potential, I am convinced that Great Panther's holdings in the Guanajuato area will be yielding high-grade silver for a lifetime, and perhaps for generations to come. The company's current total resource of 31.9 million ounces, and the near-term goal to reach 40 million, serve to distract a short-term-oriented marketplace from the likelihood of steady resource expansion over the long haul. The Guanajuato complex has already hosted several centuries of historical silver production, and even the introduction of modern drilling techniques has failed to locate a bottom to this world-class mineralized trend. The deeper they go, the more they find.
Sometimes, however, smaller vein structures offer the path of least resistance to production growth when they occur at shallower depths below the surface. Neighboring miner Endeavour Silver has expertly capitalized on high-grade, near-surface vein structures near the Veta Madre by following successful exploration with fast-tracked underground development and production. This has helped Endeavour to surge past its former rival in terms of production scale, but I believe Great Panther will not be far behind in unlocking the value of its own emerging bounty in the adjacent San Ignacio asset. To that end, Great Panther has also acquired an exciting property nearby (Santa Rosa) that may be geologically contiguous to AuRico Gold's El Cubo mine. Along with targeted production growth of 20% or better, continued exploration success at Guanajuato and San Ignacio during 2012 is likely to draw a map by which the market can visualize Great Panther's needed doubling of output to utilize spare capacity at its high-quality processing plant.
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