South American Silver Corp. (TSE:SAC) reports positive results from an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment including an updated resource estimate for its Malku Khota silver-indium project.

South American Silver Corp. (TSX:SAC) reports positive results from an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment including an updated resource estimate for its Malku Khota silver-indium project.

The press release is quoted as saying:

The PEA estimates that approximately 200 million tonnes of leach material would be mined over a 15 year mine life with production of 13.2 million ounces of silver per year for the first 5 years and over 10.5 million ounces per year for the life of the mine. Additionally, the mine is anticipated to produce approximately 80 tonnes of indium and 15 tonnes of gallium per annum.

South American Silver’s President and CEO, Greg Johnson says:

“We are very excited about the positive results of the PEA update which demonstrate that the Malku Khota project has the potential to become one of the largest new primary silver producing mines in the world. The study shows that annual production for the first 5 years has increased to 13.2 million ounces from 6.4 million ounces of silver per year. Additionally, the project will be one of the largest producers of the high-technology metals, indium and gallium, with annual production of 80 tonnes and 15 tonnes per annum respectively.””Projected cash flows have strengthened considerably to over $185 million per year for our first 5 years at $18/oz silver and more than $430 million per year for our recent metal price scenario, highlighting the tremendous leverage to silver of this long life asset. There remain a number of significant opportunities to further optimize and enhance the economics of the Malku Khota project as we move into Pre-Feasibility in 2011 and Feasibility in 2012. In particular, we believe there is exceptional potential to expand the project resource base prior to the start of production, resulting in substantial extension of the overall mine life to beyond the projected 15 years. Additional development and operation of the project will provide significant economic benefits to the local region and to Bolivia as a whole.”

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