Mr. Graham Hill is President and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Bear Resources. Mr. Hill is a qualified mechanical engineer who has over 25 years of experience building and operating gold, silver, coal and mineral sand mines internationally. He has held senior management positions with a number of companies and has been involved in the building of the Yatela and Sadiola gold mines in Mali for Anglo American Corp and was responsible for the development and management of Oxus Resources' Jerooy and Amantaytau gold and silver mines in Central Asia. Most recently, Mr. Hill was the Chief Operating Officer for AXMIN Inc., responsible for overseeing the Feasibility Study and early development of the Passendro Gold project in the Central African Republic. Mr. Hill holds an honours degree in mechanical engineering from Sheffield Hallam University. Mr. Hill is based in Moscow to directly oversee the Company's operations in the Russian Federation.
Mangazeisky Silver Project, Russia - Path to Production
Silver Bear Resources Inc. is focused on the development of its wholly-owned Mangazeisky Silver Project, which is amongst the highest-grade silver deposits in the world, located north of Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha, (Yakutia), Russia. In August 2017, the Company completed an updated feasibility study on the Vertikalny deposit which continues to demonstrate that the Project has very positive financial outcomes for the Company. In addition, the Mangazeisky North deposit PEA confirms an additional opportunity to further improve overall mine economics, increase the overall mine life and extend the useful life of the capital equipment on the Mangazeisky project. As of Q4 2017, the Project construction is 85% completed with hot and cold commissioning currently underway, and the Company is confident that it will be in the position to meet its target of starting silver production early 2018.
In August 2017, the Company updated its Vertikalny Feasibility Study and its Mangazeisky North Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) all contained in one Technical Report (“Report”) filed on SEDAR on August 28, 2017. The results of this updated Report continue to confirm that the project has very positive financial outcomes for the Company. As of September 2017, the Project is significantly advanced with construction and commissioning work well underway. The Mangazeisky North deposit PEA confirms an additional opportunity to further improve overall mine economics, increase the overall mine life and extend the useful life of the capital equipment on the Mangazeisky project.
As of August 2017, the Company’s NI 43-101 mineral reserve and resource estimates include a Reserve of 858 kt averaging 809 g/t Ag totaling 22.3 million ounces of silver, an Indicated resource of 1.0 Mt averaging 1,079 g/t Ag totaling 36.0 million ounces of silver and an additional Inferred resource of 1.5 Mt averaging 504 g/t Ag totaling 24.4 million ounces of silver.