Our attributable production from San José in Q1 was 9,500 gold ounces and 492,300 silver ounces, for a total of 16,700 GEOs.
The exploration budget for 2021 is $5 million and is focusing on testing near-mine targets and further defining oxide resources on the neighboring Tonkin property.
Mining at Black Fox has begun transitioning to the Froome deposit, where a progressive ramp-up is planned through Q3, with commercial production expected in Q4.
At the Stock property, surface exploration is underway with four drills at the Stock West target, and one drill at the historic Stock Mine.
A Preliminary Economic Assessment to expand the production from the Fox Complex will be released late in Q2.
Operations were disrupted for three weeks by a blockade of the mine entrance by members of the local community, which has been resolved.
Concurrently, two strategic alternatives are being aggressively evaluated to determine what we believe will be the optimal way to finance the rapid development of Los Azules to create the greatest long-term value from this large copper resource for Argentina, the nearby communities, our shareholders, and employees.
All our operations have implemented rigorous health and safety measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Minera Santa Cruz S.A., the owner of the San José Mine, is responsible for and has supplied to the Company all reported results from the San José Mine.
In this release, we have provided information prepared or calculated according to United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles performance measures.
Cash Costs and All-in Sustaining CostsCash costs consist of mining, processing, on-site general and administrative costs, community and permitting costs related to current operations, royalty costs, refining and treatment charges , plus accretion of retirement obligations and amortization of the asset retirement costs related to operating sites, sustaining exploration and development costs, sustaining capital expenditures, and sustaining lease payments.
We use cash gross profit to evaluate our operating performance and ability to generate cash flow; we disclose cash gross profit as we believe this measure provides valuable assistance to investors and analysts in evaluating our ability to finance our ongoing business and capital activities.
Liquid assets is calculated as the sum of the Balance Sheet line items of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and investments, plus ounces of doré held in precious metals inventories valued at the London PM Fix spot price at the corresponding period.
Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks.
McEwen Mining is a diversified gold and silver producer and explorer focused in the Americas with operating mines in Nevada, Canada, Mexico and Argentina.
New Age Metals is a green metals, mineral exploration company focused on the exploration and development of platinum group metals and lithium.