Recent core drilling targeted near-surface mineralization along the strike-length of the Blind zone deposit, as well as further extended the zone to the northwest.

Highlights included a 4.2 metre interval averaging 409 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 18% lead and 4.0% zinc (1,094g/t silver equivalent) from drill hole 12CLM-056.

In addition, hole 12CLM-051 returned a 6.2 metre interval grading 238 g/t silver, 3.2% lead and 0.1% zinc (332g/t silver equivalent) within a broader 20 metre zone averaging 143g/t silver.

The company said mineralization in these two holes occured within 50 metres of surface and continues to show the internal continuity of several mineralized structures that comprise the Blind Zone deposit.

Hole 12CLM-054 also hit a 1.7 metre interval averaging 9 g/t silver, 6.2% lead and 9.3% zinc (443g/t silver equivalent), which extended the known zone of mineralization an additional 60 metres to the northwest.

Initial modelling of the Blind zone has identified three distinct mineralized structures along much of the 618 metre strike-length of the deposit.

The company also said Thursday a new zone of gold and copper mineralization was found in drill core at the South Skarn area, located approximately 1.5 kilometres south east of the Blind zone.

The new zone is gravel covered and is open in all directions. In hole 12CLM-055, the company said "strongly anomalous" gold mineralization was identified over a 20 metre interval within the hematite breccia which averaged 0.8 g/t gold and included a 4.3 metre interval averaging 2.8 g/t gold and 28 g/t silver.

A second 4.3 metre interval averaging 1.4 g/t gold, 89 g/t silver and 1.8% copper was intersected further down hole and is hosted in chlorite-garnet skarn related to the adjacent intrusions.

Southern Silver said the significance of the discovery is two-fold, in that it shows large scale metal zoning across multiple structures, and raises the potential for the discovery of a significant gold-enriched mineral deposit on the property.

Diamond drilling with one drill continues on the Cerro Las Minitas project and is targeting the delineation of mineralization in the Blind and El Sol zones.

Twenty-nine drill holes for a total of 8,030 metres were completed on the project in 2011.

An additional 7,207 metres in 32 drill holes have been completed to date in 2012. Assays from seven drill holes are pending.

The company has planned for 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the goal of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on these first set of targets by the fourth quarter.

Southern Silver's current projects include the silver-lead-zinc Cerro Las Mintas project and the copper-gold-silver Minas de Ameca in Mexico, the porphyry copper-molybdenum Dragoon project in Arizona and the gold-silver-copper Oro project in New Mexico.

Earlier this month, the company said it extended mineralized zones at its Cerro Las Minitas project both laterally and to depth. The projections of the known mineralized structures at both the Blind zone and El Sol deposits were extended.

SRK Consulting has been hired to calculate an independent NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource for Promontorio. The compilation of drill results and geologic modelling for the updated resource calculation is well underway, the company said, with completion expected by the end of June 2012.

The updated resource follows the recent completion of what the company called a "highly successful", two staged drill program on the Promontorio project that included 25,000 metres of diamond drilling and 10,000 metres of reverse circulation drilling.

A total of 35,000 metres of drilling has been conducted since the first resource calculation was reported in 2010.

The objective of the recent in-fill drill and resource definition program was to substantially increase the size of Promontorio's current contained silver resource.

G&T Metallurgical Services has also been contracted to conduct additional metallurgical work on Promontorio's mineralization and is working on three additional bulk samples, with final results expected in the next few weeks.

One sample is from the Southwest Zone, one from shallow in the Pit Resource and one from the Northeast Zone.

Additionally, acid base accounting of mineralized and wall rock is being conducted along with a gold deportment study to find out if the significant gold content of the deposit, which is not yet factored into any of the company's resource calculations, can be extracted economically.

The first metallurgical testing reported in 2009 was positive, the company said, showing 82 percent of the silver reporting to the lead concentrate and a further 7 percent to the zinc concentrate, with 85 percent of the lead recovered to the lead concentrate and 91 percent of the zinc to the zinc concentrate.

With regards to ongoing baseline and scoping studies, Hatch Engineering completed initial hydrologic studies designed to characterize the ground water resources on the project and develop a conceptual hydrogeologic model.

This information will form the basis for additional studies going forward for prefeasibility level evaluation of mine water supply, Kootenay said, including potential dewatering flow rates needed for potential open-pit and underground mining, and mine water supplies.

Saguaro Geosciences also designed a detailed geotechnical logging program, which will collect all the necessary data appropriate to future geotechnical analysis required for feasibility level work.

In other activities, preliminary environmental baseline studies, conducted by independent consulting engineer Patricia Aguayo Hurtado, cataloguing the flora and fauna of the area are now complete.

Kootenay Silver said that the recent confirmation by Kootenay's technical team that Promontorio silver mineralization is hosted in a large diatreme complex has "significant geologic implication", as these types of systems can typically be very large in size and result in the discovery of several deposits.

Examples in Mexico include the Pitarrilla silver-lead-zinc deposits in Durango and the Peñasquito silver-gold-lead-zinc mine in the northeast of the state of Zacatecas in north-central Mexico.

At present, silver mineralization remains open in both strike directions and down dip within Promontorio's Diatreme complex, between the Pit, Southwest Extension and Northeast Zones, the company said.

Kootenay has also identified a host of new prospective targets within the Diatreme complex that require further drill testing.
Accordingly, the company said plans are underway to conduct a large follow up drill program after the release of the NI 43-101 resource update.

Kootenay Silver is actively developing mineral projects in the Sierra Madre Region of Mexico and in British Columbia, Canada. The company's flagship property is the former producing Promontorio Silver mine in Sonora State, Mexico.

In late April, the company released results from its recently completed drilling program at Promontorio, including 18 metres of 254 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent, within 89 metres of 84 g/t silver equivalent in hole DH-116-12 in the Northeast Zone.

Currently, Promontorio itself hosts an NI 43-101-compliant resource containing 8.9 million indicated ounces of silver plus 1.17 million ounces of inferred silver, 99.3 million indicated pounds of lead plus 13.4 million inferred pounds of lead, and 110.8 million indicated pounds of zinc plus 14.3 million inferred pounds of zinc.

The company's management reiterated its full-year guidance of 435,000 ounces of silver and 33,000 ounces of gold. This prompted Stonecap to increase its estimate to 477,000 ounces silver from 464,000 ounces and maintain its forecast of 36,000 ounces gold.

SilverCrest's cash costs came in at $7 per silver equivalent ounce versus Stonecap's own estimate of $10 per ounce on 139,000 ounces silver and 9,788 ounces of gold sold in the quarter.

"SilverCrest delivered a quarter well beyond our initial expectations, and as such we have increased our 2012 CFPS estimate for the company, resulting in an increase in our target price for the company’s shares," Stonecap's Doulis wrote.

SilverCrest's flagship property is the 100 percent-owned Santa Elena Mine, which is located 150 km northeast of Hermosillo, near Banamichi in the State of Sonora, México.

Santa Elena is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of
silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the 2,500 tonnes per day facility should recover approximately 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase of the Santa Elena Mine.

Presentations at the Ivey ING Direct Leadership Centre located at 130 King Street West will commence at 5:30 pm and will conclude at 7:00 pm. After the presentations, the directors will be available to take questions during a free canapé and wine reception.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/73

Canadian Quest Rare Minerals is joining us, and has recently appeared in a feature of the Globe and Mail, which lauded the Canadian miner for appearing closer than most to becoming a major player in heavy rare earths.

Quest says its Strange Lake Deposit in Northern Quebec could supply as much as 10 per cent of global demand for rare earths once it is up and running, and as much as 30 percent of demand for the more pricey heavy rare earths.

The company is currently advancing the Strange Lake and Misery Lake areas of northeastern Quebec. Quest's 2009 exploration led to the discovery of the significant rare earth metal deposit, the B-Zone, on its Strange Lake property.

The B-Zone deposit is one of the largest heavy rare earth resources in the world and is exposed at surface and amenable to a low-cost open pit mine. It has the potential to provide a long-term, stable supply of separated and refined heavy rare earths.

Quest released this week what it called "extremely encouraging" metallurgical test results from its B-Zone deposit, producing a zirconium and rare earth concentrate.

Dundee Capital Markets recently said Strange Lake was one of the top six rare earth projects outside China. The company intends to commission Strange Lake in 2016 with production beginning in 2017.

Our next speaker, Orko Silver Corp, is developing one of the world’s largest primary silver deposits in La Preciosa, located near the city of Durango, in Durango State, Mexico.

Orko last updated that the company is "one step closer" to mining its 100% owned La Preciosa project, after a Preliminary Mineability Assessment (PMA) concluded mining could be done at the site.

Orko said the results of the PMA cover both open pit and underground mining options that were presented in its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) released by the company and its former partner Pan American Silver Corp., in mid-August, 2011.

The August 2011 PEA gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. A new independent AMEC-authored PEA is anticipated in August or September.

Finally, we will be joined by REBgold Corp, who has recently confirmed a new high grade gold discovery at the Rantasalmi gold property, in Finland. Rantasalmi is a joint venture between REBgold and Belvedere Resources (CVE:BEL).

The company also recently announced plans to issue up to 5 million units to new and existing shareholders, each comprising one common share and one warrant, in order for the proceeds to be used to fund its projects in Finland.

The funds will help expand the drill program at Rantasalmi, where there are numerous targets along strike and down dip from existing resources and other areas of identified mineralization.

The latest drilling continues to increase the potential for Osikonmaki East to become a significant gold deposit.

Every intersection into the new eastern hanging-wall zone has yielded greater than 100 gram metres, displaying potential for both high grade and bulk tonnage mineralization.

And in Vancouver on Thursday May 24, directors of Timmins Gold Corp (TSE:TMM), and Orko Silver Corp (CVE:OK) will be speaking at the Proactive Investors One2One Investor Forum, at the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver Room on the second floor, on 645 Howe Street.

Presentations start at 1:30 pm local time, and end at 3:00 pm, after which the directors will be available to take questions, with a free canapés and a wine reception to follow.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/75

Timmins Gold Corp is in commercial gold production, generating revenue from its San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico.

The company recently declared for its fiscal first quarter that ended March 31, 2012, production of 21, 532 gold ounces, and 11,740 ounces of silver.

Timmins said this increased production was achieved even after four days of downtime due to the completion of the first part of a three-stage capacity improvement program that is meant to take the mine to throughput of 32,000 tons per day (tpd) of processed ore, and annual production of 130,000 ounces of gold beginning in 2013.

In late 2011, Timmins Gold published a technical report projecting total gold production at San Francisco of 810,065 ounces from 2011 to 2017, with average annual production seen at approximately 130,000 ounces of gold from 2012 to 2017.

The Vancouver-based miner said it recorded a loss of $8.9 million, or one cent per share, compared to a loss of $5.63 million, or one cent per share, a year ago.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, fell to $2.4 million in contrast to the $6.4 million seen in the same quarter of 2011.

Eastplats said platinum group metals (PGM) sold decreased by four percent to 24,474 ounces for the January-March period. That is down from 25,387 PGM ounces a year-prior.

In the latest quarter, the average delivered price per PGM ounce decreased 15 percent to US$969 from US$1,136 in 2011.

Operating cash costs, net of by-product, jumped 13 percent to US$990 per ounce, compared to a year-prior US$880 per ounce.

Head grade increased to 4.07 grams per tonne (g/t), up from the 3.93 g/t a year ago, Eastplats said.

Average concentrator recovery decreased to 77 percent from 79 percent a year earlier.

The company said that the run-of-mine ore hoisted remained fairly consistent at 247,538 tonnes compared to 247,369 tonnes in the first quarter of 2011.

Run-of-mine ore processed decreased by four percent to 235,354 tonnes.

At quarter-end, Eastern Platinum had a cash position of $213.49 million, down from $250.80 million at December 31, 2011.

Shares of the company fell by 8.82 percent to 31 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday afternoon.

Chief executive and president of the silver streaming company, Randy Smallwood said there had been a "solid operating performance" across the firm's portfolio of mines, as he unveiled the firm's first quarter figures to March 31.

"We achieved record quarterly revenues, and are on target to attaining our annual production guidance of 27 million silver equivalent ounces. 

"With continued positive progress at our world-class cornerstone assets, including the Peñasquito and Pascua-Lama mines, Silver Wheaton retains one of the strongest growth profiles in the sector," he said.

Attributable silver equivalent production of 6.7 million ounces in the period was an 8 per cent increase compared with Q1 2011.

Revenues were up 26 per cent compared with Q1 2011, to a record US$199.6 million, on record silver equivalent sales of 6.1 million ounces.

Net earnings increased 20 per cent to US$147.2 million compared to Q1 last year, and the company declared a second quarterly dividend of US$0.09 per share.

Smallwood went on to say that while the trend was of expanding capital needs in the mining industry, the challenging global financial markets made access to traditional forms of capital, such as debt and equity, much more difficult. 

"In this environment, Silver Wheaton's streaming model offers a particularly attractive funding solution for mining companies, and we continue pursuing value-enhancing acquisitions. 

"With approximately US$1 billion in cash on hand, a fully undrawn $400 million revolving credit facility, and forecast annual operating cash flows in excess of $600 million at current precious metals prices, Silver Wheaton is exceptionally well-positioned to grow its portfolio of high-quality precious metals streams, further boosting its long-term production levels," he said.

Currently, Silver Wheaton has 14 silver purchase agreements and two precious metals agreements.

Under these, in exchange for an upfront payment, it has the right to purchase all or a portion of the silver production, at a low fixed cost, from high-quality mines located in politically stable regions.

Earlier this week, Great Panther announced a resource update at its Guanajuato Mine Complex and San Ignacio project.

The updated measured and indicated mineral resource at the Guanajuato Mine Complex contains 5.649 million ounces of silver equivalent, replacing production from the Guanajuato Mine during the past 18 months.

Inferred mineral resources at the Guanajuato Mine are estimated at 2.5 million silver equivalent ounces.

Since San Ignacio is effectively a satellite of the Guanajuato Mine Complex, located 20 km away by road, and any mineralization extracted from San Ignacio will be processed at the Cata Plant, the resource is now being considered as part of the overall Guanajuato Mine mineral inventory, the company said.

The new inferred mineral resource at San Ignacio is estimated to contain 6.89 million silver equivalent ounces in 826,000 tonnes averaging 121 g/t silver and 2.28 g/t gold, using a 125 g/t cut-off.

The estimate for San Ignacio increases the tonnage by 35 percent, the silver content by 29 percent, the gold content by 51 percent and the silver equivalent ounces by 53 percent over the previous estimate, Great Panther said.

Stonecap said contained silver increased 16 percent to 8 million ounces from 6.9 million ounces previously, while contained gold rose 24 percent to 115,000 ounces from 93,000 ounces previously.

The report also noted the San Ignacio project's contained metals has increased to 3.2 million ounces of silver and 60,000 ounces of gold, from 2.5 million ounce silver and 36,000 ounces of gold.

Total NI 43-101 compliant resources have risen 28 percent from 1.22 million tonnes to 1.56 million tonnes.

"Our mine model for Guanajuato assumes a LOM [life-of-mine] total of ~2.4m tonnes mined versus the current NI 43-101 resource of 1.56m tonnes," Stonecap analyst Christos Doulis said.

"While Great Panther has managed to increase its total resource by ~27% to 1.56m tonnes at the Guanajuato Mine Complex, this has little impact on our valuation as our model continues to incorporate a total of ~2.4m tonnes mined at Guanajuato."

Great Panther is currently trading at $1.89 on Friday afternoon.

Great Panther is a primary silver mining and exploration company focused on mining precious metals from its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico.

It also owns the development stage property San Ignacio, and an exploration stage property, Santa Rosa, which is located approximately 15 kilometres northeast of Guanajuato.

"The drill results continue to show the prospectively of the La Joya deposit and we await results from the more prospective
south-east portion of the hill," Stonecap analyst Christos Doulis said.

"SilverCrest provides investors with immediate and growing cash flow from its Santa Elena mine as well as exposure to the exciting potential bulk tonnage La Joya project."

Monday, SilverCrest unveiled the results of a further 16 holes from its phase II drill program currently underway at the company's La Joya property in Durango, Mexico, expanding mineralization in several directions.

These 16 holes, the company said, have partially tested the eastern and western margins of the northern end of the site's main trend and have provided in-fill information within the resource area.

The company said silver values ranged from 2.6 grams per tonne (g/t) to 255.7 g/t and on a silver equivalent basis, values ranged from 24.0 g/t to 445.6 g/t silver equivalent. Mineralized intervals ranged from 3.5 metres to 127.4 metres.

Mexico-focused Endeavour Silver (TSE:EDR, NYSE:EXK) posted strong results in the first quater, thanks to rising production and robust precious metal prices.

The company said it was well on track to meet its production guidance for this year.

In the three months to March 31, revenues increased 39 per cent to $49.0 million, while adjusted earnings rose 35 per cent to $19.6 million ($0.22 per share) compared to $14.5 million ($0.18 per share) in Q1 last year.

Silver production in the quarter was up 19 per cent to 1,072,491 ounces, while gold production was up 26 per cent, at 6,321 ounces.

The realised silver price fell less than 1 per cent to $33.10 per ounce sold, while the realised gold price was up 20 per cent to $1,686 per ounce sold.

Endeavour owns and operates two high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico; the Guanacevi Mine in Durango State and the Guanajuato Mine in Guanajuato State.

The firm's chairman and chief executive Bradford Cooke said: "Thanks to rising silver and gold production, and robust precious metal prices, our sales revenues, operating cash-flow, net earnings and adjusted earnings were all up sharply. 

"As a result, the company's working capital has never been stronger and we are well positioned to close in June the recently announced strategic acquisition of our third operating silver-gold mine in Mexico, the El Cubo mine in Guanajuato State.

"Endeavour is well on track to meet its production guidance for 2012. Management plans to provide further guidance regarding El Cubo and the company's revised production outlook for the year after closing."

In exploration, Endeavour said it currently had five drill rigs working, three at Guanajuato and one each at Guanacevi and the San Sebastian project in Jalisco.

"New property acquisitions in each of the two districts we operate in are currently in progress, and some exciting new property acquisitions elsewhere are now being evaluated. 

"Initial results from our exploration and acquisition programs are expected this quarter," it added.

These 16 holes, the company said, have partially tested the eastern and western margins of the northern end of the site's main trend and have provided in-fill information within the resource area.

The company said silver values ranged from 2.6 grams per tonne (g/t) to 255.7 g/t and on a silver equivalent basis, values ranged from 24.0 g/t to 445.6 g/t silver equivalent. Mineralized intervals ranged from 3.5 metres to 127.4 metres.

Among the highlights, hole L J DD12-42 encountered 65.6 g/t silver equivalent over 127.4 metres and hole L J DD12-48 returned 90.2 g/t silver equivalent over 12 metres.

The company said the latter hole found additional mineralization in the northeast portion of the main trend, previously identified as the Esperanza target. Further drilling in this area is needed to better define near surface mineralization, SilverCrest noted.

"In January we announced an initial Inferred Resource in a portion of the trend of 57.9 million tonnes grading 28 g/t silver, 0.18 g/t gold and 0.21% copper and containing 101.9 million ounces silver equivalent," SilverCrest's president J. Scott Drever said.

"We have since drilled 23 holes as a part of the second phase of drilling that have successfully expanded mineralization in all lateral directions with the possible expansion of the resource along the trend.

"We have begun to drill the area to the southeast of the declared resource which, based on previous historic drilling and our surface sampling results, is expected to host the most attractive mineralized portion of the trend."

The phase II program comprises an estimated 80 holes totaling roughly 15,000 metres. Drilling to date has extended the Main Mineralized Trend an additional 500 metres to the northwest beyond the area of the current resource, which holds 101.9 million ounces silver equivalent, the company said.

New results show the trend expanding an additional 200 metres to the northeast, and 100 metres to the southwest, with the average width increasing from 500 to approximately 700 metres - along a strike length of 2,500 metres.

The company said holes L J DD12-40 and L J DD12-41 identified additional mineralization along the Contact Zone, which is exposed at surface and has a northwest-southeast strike approximately one and a half kilometre long.

This type of mineralization is similar to that of the nearby producing Penoles' Sabinas Mine, SilverCrest added.

Currently, the phase II program is drilling at hole L JDD12-53, located on the south central part of the trend.

Assays for the next series of holes will be reported upon receipt, the company said. Several holes contain anomalous molybdenum, tungsten, lead and zinc values over significant widths in the skarn.

The Phase II campaign is expected to test approximately 2.5 kilometres of the trend, with drilling already having started on the southern extension.

Based on company surface mapping, sampling and historic drill hole results, this area is thought to be potentially the highest grade area along the trend.

SilverCrest's flagship property is the 100%-owned Santa Elena Mine, which is located 150 kilometres northeast of Hermosillo, near Banamichi in Sonora, Mexico. The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the 2,500 tonnes per day facility should recover approximately 4.8 million ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase of the Santa Elena Mine.

A three year expansion plan is underway to double metals production at Santa Elena and exploration programs are advancing the definition of a large polymetallic deposit at La Joya.

Full details of the latest La Joya drill results can be found at: http://www.silvercrestmines.com

The projections of the known mineralized structures at both the Blind zone and El Sol deposits were extended.

At the Blind zone, three core holes were drilled to depths of between 120 to 150 metres along the northwestern extension of the area, with each hole returning multiple high grade intercepts of silver-polymetallic mineralization, the company said.

High grade results included a 4.4 metre interval averaging 186 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 5.6g/t lead and 4.6% zinc from hole 12CLM-047; a 0.8 metre interval of 421g/t silver, 15.2% lead and 6.8% zinc from hole 12CLM-045; and a 0.5 metre interval grading 1040 g/t silver, 16.7% lead and 2.9% zinc from hole 12CLM-049.

Southern Silver said drilling continues to extend Blind zone mineralization at depth toward the northwest, with initial modelling identifying three distinct mineralized structures that project along a 550 metre strike-length of the deposit.

Several additional less continuous lenses of mineralization were also identified in the model, the company added.

"The Blind zone mineralization was identified through IP geophysics and subsequent drilling and has validated this method of identifying mineralization below gravel cover," said president Lawrence Page.

"While present drilling is identifying mineralization in the area of the Cerro Las Minitas intrusion, large portions of the 15,000 hectare mineral claims, which are overlain with gravel cover, contain geophysical anomalies similar to the anomalies at Cerro Las Minitas and will be tested in subsequent drill programs after the nature and extent of the mineralization presently being developed at Cerro Las Minitas is fully ascertained."

Meanwhile, at the El Sol deposit, drilling continues to extend the northwestern extension of previously reported mineralization from hole 12CLM-027, which returned 24.8 metres of 124 g/t silver, 1.9% lead and 2.1% zinc.

The company said it hit a 0.8 metre interval grading 745 g/t silver, 0.8% lead and 0.4% zinc within a broader 5.9 metre interval averaging 133 g/t silver, 1.3% lead and 0.5% zinc from drill hole 12CLM046.

While earlier drilling on this deposit targeted near surface mineralization, this latest hole "significantly" extends the depth projection of the El Sol zone to around 200 metres below surface, Southern said.

Drilling on the El Sol deposit has also identified a rough 250 metre cumulative strike-length in seven drill holes.

In 2012, the company will continue to drill at the project with two core rigs. One drill rig remains dedicated to mineralization in the Blind and El Sol zones, while the second rig is testing occurences in an area of historic mining as well as several new targets.

Last year, 29 drill holes for a total of 8,030 metres were completed on the project. An additional 5,977 metres in 27 drill holes have been completed so far this year, with two additional holes in progress. Assays from six drill holes are pending, the company said.

The company is planning 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the aim of completing a NI 43-101 compliant resource on these first set of targets by the fourth quarter.

This will be the initial milestone toward the company's goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

Shares were up more than 14 percent Tuesday Morning, at 8 cents.

The placement consisted of 1.54 million share units priced at 6.5 cents per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one half warrant, entitling the holder to purchase one common share of the company for 10 cents for a period of two years.

The company said no member of the pro group and no insider of the company participated in the private placement.
NQ plans to use the proceeds for working capital purposes.

The mining exploration company has a portfolio of 10 mining properties in the James Bay and Abitibi regions of Quebec.

Earlier this month, NQ said it agreed to sell its interest in the Star Lake property in the James Bay area of Quebec to Minerva Financial Corp in a $200,000 deal.

The property, which is located 120 kilometres southeast of the town of Radisson, consists of 89 contiguous map-designated claims that cover a total area of 46 square kilometres.

The results today from 10 holes are from the 25,000 metre core drilling program at the project, which forms part of the 35,000 metre infill and resource definition campaign.

The remaining 10,000 metres were dedicated to reverse circulation drilling, with both parts of the program now complete.

Highlights of the latest core drilling results include 18 metres of 254 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent, within 89 metres of 84 g/t silver equivalent in hole DH-116-12 in the Northeast Zone, the eastern most intercept to date.

Other notable results included hole DH-115-12 in the Northeast Pit Extension, which returned 3 metres of 112 g/t silver equivalent within 12 metres of 43 g/t silver equivalent. The company said this hole shows the potential opening of mineralization to the north.

Kootenay said that work for an updated NI 43-101 resource is underway, which will incorporate the results from the recent drilling.

"The high-grade results achieved from step-out drilling in the Northeast Zone is further testimony to the success of our multi-phase drill program," said CEO James McDonald.

"Since confirming our initial NI 43-101 silver resource in 2010, we established one continuous zone of silver mineralization from the Pit (Discovery) Zone through the Southwest Zone. This zone remains open to the east, west and to depth.

"We continue to encounter high-grade silver intercepts over widespread areas of silver mineralization in the Northeast Zone, some 700 meters outside of the current NI 43-101 resource.

"We expect these developments will play a critical factor in sharply boosting the size of our existing silver resource as we prepare for our updated independent NI 43-101 resource study."

The Promontorio silver mineralization is hosted in a large diatreme complex, which has significant geologic implication, the company said, as these types of systems can typically be "very large in size and result in discovery of numerous deposits".

Examples in Mexico include the Pitarrilla silver-lead-zinc deposits in Durango, and the Peñasquito silver-gold-lead-zinc mine in the northeast of the State of Zacatecas in north-central Mexico.

Silver mineralization at Kootenay's project remains open in both strike directions and down dip, between the Pit, Southwest Extension and Northeast zones, the company said.

Kootenay also said Wednesday it has identified a host of new prospective targets within the Diatreme complex, that require further drill testing, with a large follow-up drill program planned for after the release of the resource update.

Kootenay Silver is developing mineral projects in the Sierra Madre Region of Mexico and in British Columbia, Canada.

Currently, Promontorio itself hosts an NI 43-101-compliant resource containing 8.9 million indicated ounces of silver plus 1.17 million ounces of inferred silver, 99.3 million indicated pounds of lead plus 13.4 million inferred pounds of lead, and 110.8 million indicated pounds of zinc plus 14.3 million inferred pounds of zinc.

The company said that each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant, exercisable to purchase one additional common share for a period of three years at a price of 17 cents per share.

In early April, the company announced revised plans to issue up to 20 million units at a price of $0.12 to $0.10 each, for gross proceeds of $2.0 million.

The new funds from the first tranche of the offering will be used for exploration and property maintenance expenses incurred on Southern’s Cerro Las Minitas project in Mexico, and the Oro gold-silver-copper project in New Mexico, USA, where a 20,000 metre drill program is currently underway.

In early April, Southern unveiled drilling results that extend high grade silver-polymetallic mineralization at the Blind and El Sol zones on the Cerro Las Minitas project in Durango State, Mexico.

At the El Sol zone, drilling returned a 26.1 metre interval averaging 67 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 2.8% lead, and 3.3% zinc, or 239 g/t silver equivalent, including 1.8 metres at 163 g/t silver, 6.9% lead and 8.8% zinc, or 619 g/t silver equivalent in hole 12CLM-044.

Meanwhile, at the Blind zone, drilling continues to delineate both the lateral extent and internal continuity of the mineralized zone, the company said.

Results from the northwest extension of the zone include 4.6 metres averaging 146 g/t silver, 3.0% lead and 2.8% zinc, or 472 g/t silver equivalent, from hole 12CLM-041; and 4.2 metres of 145 g/t silver, 2.7% lead and 2.0% zinc, or 305 g/t silver equivalent, from hole 12CLM-043.

The silver miner has scheduled 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012 at the property, with the aim of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on these first set of targets by the fourth quarter.

The property comprises 18 concessions that total 15,125 hectares and an approximate 25 kilometre strike length.
Southern Silver is a precious and base metal exploration company. It aims to acquire, explore and develop properties in progressive jurisdictions within North America.

Its current projects include the silver-lead-zinc Cerro Las Mintas project and the copper-gold-silver Minas de Ameca project in Mexico, the porphyry copper-molybdenum Dragoon project in Arizona and the gold-silver Oro project in New Mexico.

These two metals are expected to see a sharp boost in demand, leading to a predicted shortage in materials for electronics like iPads and Kindles starting in 2017, and an anticipated increase in prices.

Demand for both silver and tin is driven by the fact that both metals are key components in solder alloys that meet the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive implemented in the EU in 2006.

The directive, which took effect in July of 2006, recognizes that a large proportion of electronic waste will never be recycled, and therefore the materials within devices will dissipate into the environment. For example, when lead is used in substances such as the solder that connects components to a circuit board in an electronic device, there is no way the lead can be collected.

As a result, the EU said that substances like solder, at least within devices intended for sale in the region, must not contain any of the hazardous materials the directive is concerned with, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl ether.

Because of this new law, the search for a new standard solder in the electronics industry began, resulting in a mixture of tin and silver - putting pressure on supplies for both of these metals.

Byron Capital says that from the period of 2004 to 2011, prices for both tin and silver have been appreciating markedly. The firm noted in a recent report that many electronic manufacturers have decided to use lead-free solders on all versions of their products - whether shipping to regions in which RoHS regulations pertain, or not - as it is logistically simpler.

Hykawy says that a shortfall in tin supply is of particular concern, as mining production levels suggest growth rates of tin output are "anemic".

Tin, which is an LME-traded metal, had the lowest warehouse availability of any LME-traded metal at only 10,000 tonnes as of February 22.

Byron predicts that non-investment demand for tin will jump from around 362,000 tonnes last year to more than 544,000 tonnes by 2020. Silver demand, meanwhile, is expected to go up from 844 million ounces in 2011 to over 1 billion ounces by 2020 as demand for silver in the construction of solar modules is also accelerating quickly.

Prices for tin, according to Byron, are projected to more than double to $59,047 per tonne in 2018, while prices for silver are expected to rise to $68.88 per ounce in 2018 - when silver is anticipated to reach critical supply levels - from $35.11 in 2011.

"Global growth is driven by people, energy and materials, and of these materials, more tin and silver is needed or we will have a potentially dangerous supply situation on our hands," says Hykawy.

After an enlightening talk on critical materials used in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles from General Motors' Dr. Yucong Wang, South American Silver's (TSE:SAC) investor relations manager, Robert Gill, spoke on the company's silver and indium assets in Bolivia on Thursday.

Indium's current primary application is to form transparent electrodes from indium tin oxide in liquid crystal displays and touchscreens, and this use largely determines its global mining production.

It is also used for making particularly low melting point alloys, and is a component in some lead-free solders.

South American's Malku Khota project in Bolivia, which is listed by Byton as one of the major new silver projects coming on stream, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped silver and indium resources with an NI 43-101-qualified indicated resource of 230.3 million ounces of silver and 1,481 tonnes of indium, plus an inferred resource of 140 million ounces silver and 935 tonnes indium.

An updated preliminary economic assessment, released last year, showed a net present value of $704 million at a five percent discount rate for a 40,000 tonne per day bulk mineable heap leach operation. Projected silver production is 13.2 million ounces per year, with 80 tonnes of indium per year.

Gill says that the company, with $26.6 million in cash, is due to release a pre-feasibility level update in the second quarter of this year, with feasibility work to start in the second half of 2012.

Other noteworthy companies in the silver sector include Southern Silver (CVE:SSV), SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(OTCQX:STVZF), Silver Bull Resources (TSE:SVB)(AMEX:SVBL), Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(AMEX:GPL), Orko Silver (CVE:OK), and Arian Silver (CVE:AGQ)(AIM:AGQ).

Southern Silver Exploration

Southern Silver Exploration is a Canadian precious and base metals explorer with mining ventures in Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona.

At its Cerro Las Minitas project in Mexico, Southern Silver has scheduled 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the aim of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on its first set of targets by the fourth quarter.  This will be the initial milestone toward the company's goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

Assay results from hole 12CLM-030 returned a 1.1 metre interval averaging 250 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 10.7% lead and 16.95 zinc (1,007 g/t silver equivalent) at a vertical depth of approximately 270 metres.

SilverCrest Mines

Precious metals producer SilverCrest Mines, meanwhile, is focused on production from its Santa Elena Mine in Sonora, Mexico, which started commercial production in July of last year.

The company recently announced that silver production in the first quarter from its Santa Elena Mine more than doubled while gold production almost tripled year-over-year.

For the first quarter, silver production jumped 108 percent to 134,528 ounces, from 64,712 ounces a year ago, when the mine, which is now in commercial production, was still in the commissioning phase. Silver equivalent ounces sold soared 339 percent to 641,532 ounces from 146,219 in the first quarter one year ago.

The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the mine should recover around 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase.

Silver Bull Resources

Silver Bull Resources is a silver and zinc-focused explorer, whose flagship project is Sierra Mojada in Mexico. The property is located 150 kilometres north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico and is highly prospective for silver and zinc. The explorer said that the third in a series of NI 43-101 resource updates is anticipated in the second quarter of 2012.

Given the drilling results to date for Silver Bull, it is anticipated that the next report for the property will show a substantial increase in the silver resource at Sierra Mojada, as well as including a resource for the significant zinc mineralization seen on the project.

Recent drill results from the site include 8.45 metres of massive sulphide grading 16.98% zinc, 5.45% lead, and 57.29 grams per tonne (g/t) silver in a previously untested zone 500 metres to the north of the Shallow Silver Zone.

Overall, Silver Bull has acquired or has options to acquire mineral concessions totaling 15,833 hectares in the Sierra Mojada Mining District. The company has been working on the Sierra Mojada property since 1997 and has completed over 80,000 metres of drilling.

The Vancouver-headquartered miner also owns three mineral exploration licences in Gabon, Africa, two of which are currently under joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU).

Great Panther Silver

Vancouver-headquartered Great Panther Silver is a silver miner focused on its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico - Guanajuato and Topia.

Since commencing operations at these two mines in 2006, Great Panther has achieved continuous growth in metal production in excess of 20 percent per year until 2010, when the company saw record production of 2.3 million silver equivalent ounces.

In 2012, Great Panther expects to deliver production of 2.5 to 2.75 million silver equivalent ounces, an increase of 14 to 25 percent from 2011.

Orko Silver

Another company with robust assets in the silver sector includes Orko Silver, which earlier this month regained 100 percent ownership in its La Preciosa property in Mexico.

In early April, Pan American Silver (TSE:PAA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) relinquished its right to earn a 55 percent interest in the La Preciosa project, one of the world's largest primary silver deposits, after it decided not to deliver feasibility study before an April 13, 2012 deadline.

Orko Silver's chief executive Gary Cope confirmed that four unnamed mining companies had "expressed an interest" in the project, with Orko signing standstill agreements with two of these parties.

La Preciosa is located in Durango State, which envelops the heart of Mexico’s prolific Sierra Madre Mining Belt, and includes large silver deposits such as Fresnillo and Pitarrilla.

An August 2011 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred. In addition, the deposit contains over 222,000 ounces of indicated gold and 83,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. The results assumed prices of $25 per ounce of silver and $1,250 per ounce of gold.

Arian Silver

Mexico-focused Arian Silver, meanwhile, is an emerging producer, that in March unveiled an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for its 100 percent-owned San José property in Zacatecas State.

Resource tonnage was up 29 percent along the San José Vein (SJV) from a July 2011 estimate, while contained ounces of silver were up 32 percent.

The company said that in the indicated category, the resource contained 8 million tonnes at an average grade of 119 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.38% lead and 0.85% zinc. Contained metal comprised 30.61 million ounces of silver, 67.02 million pounds of lead and 149.91 million pounds of zinc.

In the inferred category, the resource contained 24.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 110 g/t silver, 0.38% lead and 0.76% zinc. Contained metal comprised 86.65 million ounces of silver, 205.25 million pounds of lead and 410.50 million pounds of zinc.

Mineralization remains open along the western and eastern strikes of the main vein, and to depth, with further drilling planned.

Silver Standard

On the tin side, Byron Capital listed Silver Standard Resources' (TSE:SSO) (NASDAQ:SSRI) Pirquitas Mine in northern Argentina as one of the new tin projects globally. The mine is the company's first major mining operation, and commercial production started in December 2009. At full production, it is estimated the mine will produce an average of around eight to ten million ounces of silver and ten to twelve million pounds of zinc annually, ranking Pirquitas among the largest primary silver mines in the world, the company says.

The silver and zinc concentrates produced from the plant are shipped to various smelters around the world.

Other new projects for tin listed are Eurotin's (CVE:TIN) Oropesa project in Spain, Kasbah Resources’ (ASX:KAS) Achmmach property in Morocco, anticipated to come on stream in 2017, and Consolidated Tin Mines' (ASX:CSD) Mount Garnet asset in Australia.

These two metals are expected to see a sharp boost in demand, leading to a predicted shortage in materials for electronics like iPads and Kindles starting in 2017, and an anticipated increase in prices.

Demand for both silver and tin is driven by the fact that both metals are key components in solder alloys that meet the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive implemented in the EU in 2006.

The directive, which took effect in July of 2006, recognizes that a large proportion of electronic waste will never be recycled, and therefore the materials within devices will dissipate into the environment. For example, when lead is used in substances such as the solder that connects components to a circuit board in an electronic device, there is no way the lead can be collected.

As a result, the EU said that substances like solder, at least within devices intended for sale in the region, must not contain any of the hazardous materials the directive is concerned with, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl ether.

Because of this new law, the search for a new standard solder in the electronics industry began, resulting in a mixture of tin and silver - putting pressure on supplies for both of these metals.

Byron Capital says that from the period of 2004 to 2011, prices for both tin and silver have been appreciating markedly. The firm noted in a recent report that many electronic manufacturers have decided to use lead-free solders on all versions of their products - whether shipping to regions in which RoHS regulations pertain, or not - as it is logistically simpler.

Hykawy says that a shortfall in tin supply is of particular concern, as mining production levels suggest growth rates of tin output are "anemic".

Tin, which is an LME-traded metal, had the lowest warehouse availability of any LME-traded metal at only 10,000 tonnes as of February 22.

Byron predicts that non-investment demand for tin will jump from around 362,000 tonnes last year to more than 544,000 tonnes by 2020. Silver demand, meanwhile, is expected to go up from 844 million ounces in 2011 to over 1 billion ounces by 2020 as demand for silver in the construction of solar modules is also accelerating quickly.

Prices for tin, according to Byron, are projected to more than double to $59,047 per tonne in 2018, while prices for silver are expected to rise to $68.88 per ounce in 2018 - when silver is anticipated to reach critical supply levels - from $35.11 in 2011.

"Global growth is driven by people, energy and materials, and of these materials, more tin and silver is needed or we will have a potentially dangerous supply situation on our hands," says Hykawy.

After an enlightening talk on critical materials used in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles from General Motors' Dr. Yucong Wang, South American Silver's (TSE:SAC) investor relations manager, Robert Gill, spoke on the company's silver and indium assets in Bolivia on Thursday.

Indium's current primary application is to form transparent electrodes from indium tin oxide in liquid crystal displays and touchscreens, and this use largely determines its global mining production.

It is also used for making particularly low melting point alloys, and is a component in some lead-free solders.

South American's Malku Khota project in Bolivia, which is listed by Byton as one of the major new silver projects coming on stream, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped silver and indium resources with an NI 43-101-qualified indicated resource of 230.3 million ounces of silver and 1,481 tonnes of indium, plus an inferred resource of 140 million ounces silver and 935 tonnes indium.

An updated preliminary economic assessment, released last year, showed a net present value of $704 million at a five percent discount rate for a 40,000 tonne per day bulk mineable heap leach operation. Projected silver production is 13.2 million ounces per year, with 80 tonnes of indium per year.

Gill says that the company, with $26.6 million in cash, is due to release a pre-feasibility level update in the second quarter of this year, with feasibility work to start in the second half of 2012.

Other noteworthy companies in the silver sector include Southern Silver (CVE:SSV), SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(OTCQX:STVZF), Silver Bull Resources (TSE:SVB)(AMEX:SVBL), Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(AMEX:GPL), Orko Silver (CVE:OK), and Arian Silver (CVE:AGQ)(AIM:AGQ).

Southern Silver Exploration

Southern Silver Exploration is a Canadian precious and base metals explorer with mining ventures in Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona.

At its Cerro Las Minitas project in Mexico, Southern Silver has scheduled 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the aim of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on its first set of targets by the fourth quarter.  This will be the initial milestone toward the company's goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

Assay results from hole 12CLM-030 returned a 1.1 metre interval averaging 250 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 10.7% lead and 16.95 zinc (1,007 g/t silver equivalent) at a vertical depth of approximately 270 metres.

SilverCrest Mines

Precious metals producer SilverCrest Mines, meanwhile, is focused on production from its Santa Elena Mine in Sonora, Mexico, which started commercial production in July of last year.

The company recently announced that silver production in the first quarter from its Santa Elena Mine more than doubled while gold production almost tripled year-over-year.

For the first quarter, silver production jumped 108 percent to 134,528 ounces, from 64,712 ounces a year ago, when the mine, which is now in commercial production, was still in the commissioning phase. Silver equivalent ounces sold soared 339 percent to 641,532 ounces from 146,219 in the first quarter one year ago.

The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the mine should recover around 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase.

Silver Bull Resources

Silver Bull Resources is a silver and zinc-focused explorer, whose flagship project is Sierra Mojada in Mexico. The property is located 150 kilometres north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico and is highly prospective for silver and zinc. The explorer said that the third in a series of NI 43-101 resource updates is anticipated in the second quarter of 2012.

Given the drilling results to date for Silver Bull, it is anticipated that the next report for the property will show a substantial increase in the silver resource at Sierra Mojada, as well as including a resource for the significant zinc mineralization seen on the project.

Recent drill results from the site include 8.45 metres of massive sulphide grading 16.98% zinc, 5.45% lead, and 57.29 grams per tonne (g/t) silver in a previously untested zone 500 metres to the north of the Shallow Silver Zone.

Overall, Silver Bull has acquired or has options to acquire mineral concessions totaling 15,833 hectares in the Sierra Mojada Mining District. The company has been working on the Sierra Mojada property since 1997 and has completed over 80,000 metres of drilling.

The Vancouver-headquartered miner also owns three mineral exploration licences in Gabon, Africa, two of which are currently under joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU).

Great Panther Silver

Vancouver-headquartered Great Panther Silver is a silver miner focused on its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico - Guanajuato and Topia.

Since commencing operations at these two mines in 2006, Great Panther has achieved continuous growth in metal production in excess of 20 percent per year until 2010, when the company saw record production of 2.3 million silver equivalent ounces.

In 2012, Great Panther expects to deliver production of 2.5 to 2.75 million silver equivalent ounces, an increase of 14 to 25 percent from 2011.

Orko Silver

Another company with robust assets in the silver sector includes Orko Silver, which earlier this month regained 100 percent ownership in its La Preciosa property in Mexico.

In early April, Pan American Silver (TSE:PAA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) relinquished its right to earn a 55 percent interest in the La Preciosa project, one of the world's largest primary silver deposits, after it decided not to deliver feasibility study before an April 13, 2012 deadline.

Orko Silver's chief executive Gary Cope confirmed that four unnamed mining companies had "expressed an interest" in the project, with Orko signing standstill agreements with two of these parties.

La Preciosa is located in Durango State, which envelops the heart of Mexico’s prolific Sierra Madre Mining Belt, and includes large silver deposits such as Fresnillo and Pitarrilla.

An August 2011 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred. In addition, the deposit contains over 222,000 ounces of indicated gold and 83,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. The results assumed prices of $25 per ounce of silver and $1,250 per ounce of gold.

Arian Silver

Mexico-focused Arian Silver, meanwhile, is an emerging producer, that in March unveiled an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for its 100 percent-owned San José property in Zacatecas State.

Resource tonnage was up 29 percent along the San José Vein (SJV) from a July 2011 estimate, while contained ounces of silver were up 32 percent.

The company said that in the indicated category, the resource contained 8 million tonnes at an average grade of 119 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.38% lead and 0.85% zinc. Contained metal comprised 30.61 million ounces of silver, 67.02 million pounds of lead and 149.91 million pounds of zinc.

In the inferred category, the resource contained 24.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 110 g/t silver, 0.38% lead and 0.76% zinc. Contained metal comprised 86.65 million ounces of silver, 205.25 million pounds of lead and 410.50 million pounds of zinc.

Mineralization remains open along the western and eastern strikes of the main vein, and to depth, with further drilling planned.

Silver Standard

On the tin side, Byron Capital listed Silver Standard Resources' (TSE:SSO) (NASDAQ:SSRI) Pirquitas Mine in northern Argentina as one of the new tin projects globally. The mine is the company's first major mining operation, and commercial production started in December 2009. At full production, it is estimated the mine will produce an average of around eight to ten million ounces of silver and ten to twelve million pounds of zinc annually, ranking Pirquitas among the largest primary silver mines in the world, the company says.

The silver and zinc concentrates produced from the plant are shipped to various smelters around the world.

Other new projects for tin listed are Eurotin's (CVE:TIN) Oropesa project in Spain, Kasbah Resources’ (ASX:KAS) Achmmach property in Morocco, anticipated to come on stream in 2017, and Consolidated Tin Mines' (ASX:CSD) Mount Garnet asset in Australia.

These two metals are expected to see a sharp boost in demand, leading to a predicted shortage in materials for electronics like iPads and Kindles starting in 2017, and an anticipated increase in prices.

Demand for both silver and tin is driven by the fact that both metals are key components in solder alloys that meet the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive implemented in the EU in 2006.

The directive, which took effect in July of 2006, recognizes that a large proportion of electronic waste will never be recycled, and therefore the materials within devices will dissipate into the environment. For example, when lead is used in substances such as the solder that connects components to a circuit board in an electronic device, there is no way the lead can be collected.

As a result, the EU said that substances like solder, at least within devices intended for sale in the region, must not contain any of the hazardous materials the directive is concerned with, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl ether.

Because of this new law, the search for a new standard solder in the electronics industry began, resulting in a mixture of tin and silver - putting pressure on supplies for both of these metals.

Byron Capital says that from the period of 2004 to 2011, prices for both tin and silver have been appreciating markedly. The firm noted in a recent report that many electronic manufacturers have decided to use lead-free solders on all versions of their products - whether shipping to regions in which RoHS regulations pertain, or not - as it is logistically simpler.

Hykawy says that a shortfall in tin supply is of particular concern, as mining production levels suggest growth rates of tin output are "anemic".

Tin, which is an LME-traded metal, had the lowest warehouse availability of any LME-traded metal at only 10,000 tonnes as of February 22.

Byron predicts that non-investment demand for tin will jump from around 362,000 tonnes last year to more than 544,000 tonnes by 2020. Silver demand, meanwhile, is expected to go up from 844 million ounces in 2011 to over 1 billion ounces by 2020 as demand for silver in the construction of solar modules is also accelerating quickly.

Prices for tin, according to Byron, are projected to more than double to $59,047 per tonne in 2018, while prices for silver are expected to rise to $68.88 per ounce in 2018 - when silver is anticipated to reach critical supply levels - from $35.11 in 2011.

"Global growth is driven by people, energy and materials, and of these materials, more tin and silver is needed or we will have a potentially dangerous supply situation on our hands," says Hykawy.

After an enlightening talk on critical materials used in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles from General Motors' Dr. Yucong Wang, South American Silver's (TSE:SAC) investor relations manager, Robert Gill, spoke on the company's silver and indium assets in Bolivia on Thursday.

Indium's current primary application is to form transparent electrodes from indium tin oxide in liquid crystal displays and touchscreens, and this use largely determines its global mining production.

It is also used for making particularly low melting point alloys, and is a component in some lead-free solders.

South American's Malku Khota project in Bolivia, which is listed by Byton as one of the major new silver projects coming on stream, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped silver and indium resources with an NI 43-101-qualified indicated resource of 230.3 million ounces of silver and 1,481 tonnes of indium, plus an inferred resource of 140 million ounces silver and 935 tonnes indium.

An updated preliminary economic assessment, released last year, showed a net present value of $704 million at a five percent discount rate for a 40,000 tonne per day bulk mineable heap leach operation. Projected silver production is 13.2 million ounces per year, with 80 tonnes of indium per year.

Gill says that the company, with $26.6 million in cash, is due to release a pre-feasibility level update in the second quarter of this year, with feasibility work to start in the second half of 2012.

Other noteworthy companies in the silver sector include Southern Silver (CVE:SSV), SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(OTCQX:STVZF), Silver Bull Resources (TSE:SVB)(AMEX:SVBL), Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(AMEX:GPL), Orko Silver (CVE:OK), and Arian Silver (CVE:AGQ)(AIM:AGQ).

Southern Silver Exploration

Southern Silver Exploration is a Canadian precious and base metals explorer with mining ventures in Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona.

At its Cerro Las Minitas project in Mexico, Southern Silver has scheduled 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the aim of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on its first set of targets by the fourth quarter.  This will be the initial milestone toward the company's goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

Assay results from hole 12CLM-030 returned a 1.1 metre interval averaging 250 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 10.7% lead and 16.95 zinc (1,007 g/t silver equivalent) at a vertical depth of approximately 270 metres.

SilverCrest Mines

Precious metals producer SilverCrest Mines, meanwhile, is focused on production from its Santa Elena Mine in Sonora, Mexico, which started commercial production in July of last year.

The company recently announced that silver production in the first quarter from its Santa Elena Mine more than doubled while gold production almost tripled year-over-year.

For the first quarter, silver production jumped 108 percent to 134,528 ounces, from 64,712 ounces a year ago, when the mine, which is now in commercial production, was still in the commissioning phase. Silver equivalent ounces sold soared 339 percent to 641,532 ounces from 146,219 in the first quarter one year ago.

The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the mine should recover around 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase.

Silver Bull Resources

Silver Bull Resources is a silver and zinc-focused explorer, whose flagship project is Sierra Mojada in Mexico. The property is located 150 kilometres north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico and is highly prospective for silver and zinc. The explorer said that the third in a series of NI 43-101 resource updates is anticipated in the second quarter of 2012.

Given the drilling results to date for Silver Bull, it is anticipated that the next report for the property will show a substantial increase in the silver resource at Sierra Mojada, as well as including a resource for the significant zinc mineralization seen on the project.

Recent drill results from the site include 8.45 metres of massive sulphide grading 16.98% zinc, 5.45% lead, and 57.29 grams per tonne (g/t) silver in a previously untested zone 500 metres to the north of the Shallow Silver Zone.

Overall, Silver Bull has acquired or has options to acquire mineral concessions totaling 15,833 hectares in the Sierra Mojada Mining District. The company has been working on the Sierra Mojada property since 1997 and has completed over 80,000 metres of drilling.

The Vancouver-headquartered miner also owns three mineral exploration licences in Gabon, Africa, two of which are currently under joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU).

Great Panther Silver

Vancouver-headquartered Great Panther Silver is a silver miner focused on its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico - Guanajuato and Topia.

Since commencing operations at these two mines in 2006, Great Panther has achieved continuous growth in metal production in excess of 20 percent per year until 2010, when the company saw record production of 2.3 million silver equivalent ounces.

In 2012, Great Panther expects to deliver production of 2.5 to 2.75 million silver equivalent ounces, an increase of 14 to 25 percent from 2011.

Orko Silver

Another company with robust assets in the silver sector includes Orko Silver, which earlier this month regained 100 percent ownership in its La Preciosa property in Mexico.

In early April, Pan American Silver (TSE:PAA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) relinquished its right to earn a 55 percent interest in the La Preciosa project, one of the world's largest primary silver deposits, after it decided not to deliver feasibility study before an April 13, 2012 deadline.

Orko Silver's chief executive Gary Cope confirmed that four unnamed mining companies had "expressed an interest" in the project, with Orko signing standstill agreements with two of these parties.

La Preciosa is located in Durango State, which envelops the heart of Mexico’s prolific Sierra Madre Mining Belt, and includes large silver deposits such as Fresnillo and Pitarrilla.

An August 2011 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred. In addition, the deposit contains over 222,000 ounces of indicated gold and 83,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. The results assumed prices of $25 per ounce of silver and $1,250 per ounce of gold.

Arian Silver

Mexico-focused Arian Silver, meanwhile, is an emerging producer, that in March unveiled an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for its 100 percent-owned San José property in Zacatecas State.

Resource tonnage was up 29 percent along the San José Vein (SJV) from a July 2011 estimate, while contained ounces of silver were up 32 percent.

The company said that in the indicated category, the resource contained 8 million tonnes at an average grade of 119 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.38% lead and 0.85% zinc. Contained metal comprised 30.61 million ounces of silver, 67.02 million pounds of lead and 149.91 million pounds of zinc.

In the inferred category, the resource contained 24.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 110 g/t silver, 0.38% lead and 0.76% zinc. Contained metal comprised 86.65 million ounces of silver, 205.25 million pounds of lead and 410.50 million pounds of zinc.

Mineralization remains open along the western and eastern strikes of the main vein, and to depth, with further drilling planned.

Silver Standard

On the tin side, Byron Capital listed Silver Standard Resources' (TSE:SSO) (NASDAQ:SSRI) Pirquitas Mine in northern Argentina as one of the new tin projects globally. The mine is the company's first major mining operation, and commercial production started in December 2009. At full production, it is estimated the mine will produce an average of around eight to ten million ounces of silver and ten to twelve million pounds of zinc annually, ranking Pirquitas among the largest primary silver mines in the world, the company says.

The silver and zinc concentrates produced from the plant are shipped to various smelters around the world.

Other new projects for tin listed are Eurotin's (CVE:TIN) Oropesa project in Spain, Kasbah Resources’ (ASX:KAS) Achmmach property in Morocco, anticipated to come on stream in 2017, and Consolidated Tin Mines' (ASX:CSD) Mount Garnet asset in Australia.

These two metals are expected to see a sharp boost in demand, leading to a predicted shortage in materials for electronics like iPads and Kindles starting in 2017, and an anticipated increase in prices.

Demand for both silver and tin is driven by the fact that both metals are key components in solder alloys that meet the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive implemented in the EU in 2006.

The directive, which took effect in July of 2006, recognizes that a large proportion of electronic waste will never be recycled, and therefore the materials within devices will dissipate into the environment. For example, when lead is used in substances such as the solder that connects components to a circuit board in an electronic device, there is no way the lead can be collected.

As a result, the EU said that substances like solder, at least within devices intended for sale in the region, must not contain any of the hazardous materials the directive is concerned with, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl ether.

Because of this new law, the search for a new standard solder in the electronics industry began, resulting in a mixture of tin and silver - putting pressure on supplies for both of these metals.

Byron Capital says that from the period of 2004 to 2011, prices for both tin and silver have been appreciating markedly. The firm noted in a recent report that many electronic manufacturers have decided to use lead-free solders on all versions of their products - whether shipping to regions in which RoHS regulations pertain, or not - as it is logistically simpler.

Hykawy says that a shortfall in tin supply is of particular concern, as mining production levels suggest growth rates of tin output are "anemic".

Tin, which is an LME-traded metal, had the lowest warehouse availability of any LME-traded metal at only 10,000 tonnes as of February 22.

Byron predicts that non-investment demand for tin will jump from around 362,000 tonnes last year to more than 544,000 tonnes by 2020. Silver demand, meanwhile, is expected to go up from 844 million ounces in 2011 to over 1 billion ounces by 2020 as demand for silver in the construction of solar modules is also accelerating quickly.

Prices for tin, according to Byron, are projected to more than double to $59,047 per tonne in 2018, while prices for silver are expected to rise to $68.88 per ounce in 2018 - when silver is anticipated to reach critical supply levels - from $35.11 in 2011.

"Global growth is driven by people, energy and materials, and of these materials, more tin and silver is needed or we will have a potentially dangerous supply situation on our hands," says Hykawy.

After an enlightening talk on critical materials used in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles from General Motors' Dr. Yucong Wang, South American Silver's (TSE:SAC) investor relations manager, Robert Gill, spoke on the company's silver and indium assets in Bolivia on Thursday.

Indium's current primary application is to form transparent electrodes from indium tin oxide in liquid crystal displays and touchscreens, and this use largely determines its global mining production.

It is also used for making particularly low melting point alloys, and is a component in some lead-free solders.

South American's Malku Khota project in Bolivia, which is listed by Byton as one of the major new silver projects coming on stream, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped silver and indium resources with an NI 43-101-qualified indicated resource of 230.3 million ounces of silver and 1,481 tonnes of indium, plus an inferred resource of 140 million ounces silver and 935 tonnes indium.

An updated preliminary economic assessment, released last year, showed a net present value of $704 million at a five percent discount rate for a 40,000 tonne per day bulk mineable heap leach operation. Projected silver production is 13.2 million ounces per year, with 80 tonnes of indium per year.

Gill says that the company, with $26.6 million in cash, is due to release a pre-feasibility level update in the second quarter of this year, with feasibility work to start in the second half of 2012.

Other noteworthy companies in the silver sector include Southern Silver (CVE:SSV), SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(OTCQX:STVZF), Silver Bull Resources (TSE:SVB)(AMEX:SVBL), Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(AMEX:GPL), Orko Silver (CVE:OK), and Arian Silver (CVE:AGQ)(AIM:AGQ).

Southern Silver Exploration

Southern Silver Exploration is a Canadian precious and base metals explorer with mining ventures in Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona.

At its Cerro Las Minitas project in Mexico, Southern Silver has scheduled 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the aim of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on its first set of targets by the fourth quarter.  This will be the initial milestone toward the company's goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

Assay results from hole 12CLM-030 returned a 1.1 metre interval averaging 250 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 10.7% lead and 16.95 zinc (1,007 g/t silver equivalent) at a vertical depth of approximately 270 metres.

SilverCrest Mines

Precious metals producer SilverCrest Mines, meanwhile, is focused on production from its Santa Elena Mine in Sonora, Mexico, which started commercial production in July of last year.

The company recently announced that silver production in the first quarter from its Santa Elena Mine more than doubled while gold production almost tripled year-over-year.

For the first quarter, silver production jumped 108 percent to 134,528 ounces, from 64,712 ounces a year ago, when the mine, which is now in commercial production, was still in the commissioning phase. Silver equivalent ounces sold soared 339 percent to 641,532 ounces from 146,219 in the first quarter one year ago.

The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the mine should recover around 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase.

Silver Bull Resources

Silver Bull Resources is a silver and zinc-focused explorer, whose flagship project is Sierra Mojada in Mexico. The property is located 150 kilometres north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico and is highly prospective for silver and zinc. The explorer said that the third in a series of NI 43-101 resource updates is anticipated in the second quarter of 2012.

Given the drilling results to date for Silver Bull, it is anticipated that the next report for the property will show a substantial increase in the silver resource at Sierra Mojada, as well as including a resource for the significant zinc mineralization seen on the project.

Recent drill results from the site include 8.45 metres of massive sulphide grading 16.98% zinc, 5.45% lead, and 57.29 grams per tonne (g/t) silver in a previously untested zone 500 metres to the north of the Shallow Silver Zone.

Overall, Silver Bull has acquired or has options to acquire mineral concessions totaling 15,833 hectares in the Sierra Mojada Mining District. The company has been working on the Sierra Mojada property since 1997 and has completed over 80,000 metres of drilling.

The Vancouver-headquartered miner also owns three mineral exploration licences in Gabon, Africa, two of which are currently under joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU).

Great Panther Silver

Vancouver-headquartered Great Panther Silver is a silver miner focused on its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico - Guanajuato and Topia.

Since commencing operations at these two mines in 2006, Great Panther has achieved continuous growth in metal production in excess of 20 percent per year until 2010, when the company saw record production of 2.3 million silver equivalent ounces.

In 2012, Great Panther expects to deliver production of 2.5 to 2.75 million silver equivalent ounces, an increase of 14 to 25 percent from 2011.

Orko Silver

Another company with robust assets in the silver sector includes Orko Silver, which earlier this month regained 100 percent ownership in its La Preciosa property in Mexico.

In early April, Pan American Silver (TSE:PAA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) relinquished its right to earn a 55 percent interest in the La Preciosa project, one of the world's largest primary silver deposits, after it decided not to deliver feasibility study before an April 13, 2012 deadline.

Orko Silver's chief executive Gary Cope confirmed that four unnamed mining companies had "expressed an interest" in the project, with Orko signing standstill agreements with two of these parties.

La Preciosa is located in Durango State, which envelops the heart of Mexico’s prolific Sierra Madre Mining Belt, and includes large silver deposits such as Fresnillo and Pitarrilla.

An August 2011 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred. In addition, the deposit contains over 222,000 ounces of indicated gold and 83,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. The results assumed prices of $25 per ounce of silver and $1,250 per ounce of gold.

Arian Silver

Mexico-focused Arian Silver, meanwhile, is an emerging producer, that in March unveiled an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for its 100 percent-owned San José property in Zacatecas State.

Resource tonnage was up 29 percent along the San José Vein (SJV) from a July 2011 estimate, while contained ounces of silver were up 32 percent.

The company said that in the indicated category, the resource contained 8 million tonnes at an average grade of 119 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.38% lead and 0.85% zinc. Contained metal comprised 30.61 million ounces of silver, 67.02 million pounds of lead and 149.91 million pounds of zinc.

In the inferred category, the resource contained 24.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 110 g/t silver, 0.38% lead and 0.76% zinc. Contained metal comprised 86.65 million ounces of silver, 205.25 million pounds of lead and 410.50 million pounds of zinc.

Mineralization remains open along the western and eastern strikes of the main vein, and to depth, with further drilling planned.

Silver Standard

On the tin side, Byron Capital listed Silver Standard Resources' (TSE:SSO) (NASDAQ:SSRI) Pirquitas Mine in northern Argentina as one of the new tin projects globally. The mine is the company's first major mining operation, and commercial production started in December 2009. At full production, it is estimated the mine will produce an average of around eight to ten million ounces of silver and ten to twelve million pounds of zinc annually, ranking Pirquitas among the largest primary silver mines in the world, the company says.

The silver and zinc concentrates produced from the plant are shipped to various smelters around the world.

Other new projects for tin listed are Eurotin's (CVE:TIN) Oropesa project in Spain, Kasbah Resources’ (ASX:KAS) Achmmach property in Morocco, anticipated to come on stream in 2017, and Consolidated Tin Mines' (ASX:CSD) Mount Garnet asset in Australia.

These two metals are expected to see a sharp boost in demand, leading to a predicted shortage in materials for electronics like iPads and Kindles starting in 2017, and an anticipated increase in prices.

Demand for both silver and tin is driven by the fact that both metals are key components in solder alloys that meet the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive implemented in the EU in 2006.

The directive, which took effect in July of 2006, recognizes that a large proportion of electronic waste will never be recycled, and therefore the materials within devices will dissipate into the environment. For example, when lead is used in substances such as the solder that connects components to a circuit board in an electronic device, there is no way the lead can be collected.

As a result, the EU said that substances like solder, at least within devices intended for sale in the region, must not contain any of the hazardous materials the directive is concerned with, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl ether.

Because of this new law, the search for a new standard solder in the electronics industry began, resulting in a mixture of tin and silver - putting pressure on supplies for both of these metals.

Byron Capital says that from the period of 2004 to 2011, prices for both tin and silver have been appreciating markedly. The firm noted in a recent report that many electronic manufacturers have decided to use lead-free solders on all versions of their products - whether shipping to regions in which RoHS regulations pertain, or not - as it is logistically simpler.

Hykawy says that a shortfall in tin supply is of particular concern, as mining production levels suggest growth rates of tin output are "anemic".

Tin, which is an LME-traded metal, had the lowest warehouse availability of any LME-traded metal at only 10,000 tonnes as of February 22.

Byron predicts that non-investment demand for tin will jump from around 362,000 tonnes last year to more than 544,000 tonnes by 2020. Silver demand, meanwhile, is expected to go up from 844 million ounces in 2011 to over 1 billion ounces by 2020 as demand for silver in the construction of solar modules is also accelerating quickly.

Prices for tin, according to Byron, are projected to more than double to $59,047 per tonne in 2018, while prices for silver are expected to rise to $68.88 per ounce in 2018 - when silver is anticipated to reach critical supply levels - from $35.11 in 2011.

"Global growth is driven by people, energy and materials, and of these materials, more tin and silver is needed or we will have a potentially dangerous supply situation on our hands," says Hykawy.

After an enlightening talk on critical materials used in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles from General Motors' Dr. Yucong Wang, South American Silver's (TSE:SAC) investor relations manager, Robert Gill, spoke on the company's silver and indium assets in Bolivia on Thursday.

Indium's current primary application is to form transparent electrodes from indium tin oxide in liquid crystal displays and touchscreens, and this use largely determines its global mining production.

It is also used for making particularly low melting point alloys, and is a component in some lead-free solders.

South American's Malku Khota project in Bolivia, which is listed by Byton as one of the major new silver projects coming on stream, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped silver and indium resources with an NI 43-101-qualified indicated resource of 230.3 million ounces of silver and 1,481 tonnes of indium, plus an inferred resource of 140 million ounces silver and 935 tonnes indium.

An updated preliminary economic assessment, released last year, showed a net present value of $704 million at a five percent discount rate for a 40,000 tonne per day bulk mineable heap leach operation. Projected silver production is 13.2 million ounces per year, with 80 tonnes of indium per year.

Gill says that the company, with $26.6 million in cash, is due to release a pre-feasibility level update in the second quarter of this year, with feasibility work to start in the second half of 2012.

Other noteworthy companies in the silver sector include Southern Silver (CVE:SSV), SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(OTCQX:STVZF), Silver Bull Resources (TSE:SVB)(AMEX:SVBL), Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(AMEX:GPL), Orko Silver (CVE:OK), and Arian Silver (CVE:AGQ)(AIM:AGQ).

Southern Silver Exploration

Southern Silver Exploration is a Canadian precious and base metals explorer with mining ventures in Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona.

At its Cerro Las Minitas project in Mexico, Southern Silver has scheduled 20,000 metres of core drilling in 2012, with the aim of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on its first set of targets by the fourth quarter.  This will be the initial milestone toward the company's goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

Assay results from hole 12CLM-030 returned a 1.1 metre interval averaging 250 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 10.7% lead and 16.95 zinc (1,007 g/t silver equivalent) at a vertical depth of approximately 270 metres.

SilverCrest Mines

Precious metals producer SilverCrest Mines, meanwhile, is focused on production from its Santa Elena Mine in Sonora, Mexico, which started commercial production in July of last year.

The company recently announced that silver production in the first quarter from its Santa Elena Mine more than doubled while gold production almost tripled year-over-year.

For the first quarter, silver production jumped 108 percent to 134,528 ounces, from 64,712 ounces a year ago, when the mine, which is now in commercial production, was still in the commissioning phase. Silver equivalent ounces sold soared 339 percent to 641,532 ounces from 146,219 in the first quarter one year ago.

The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

SilverCrest anticipates that the mine should recover around 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase.

Silver Bull Resources

Silver Bull Resources is a silver and zinc-focused explorer, whose flagship project is Sierra Mojada in Mexico. The property is located 150 kilometres north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico and is highly prospective for silver and zinc. The explorer said that the third in a series of NI 43-101 resource updates is anticipated in the second quarter of 2012.

Given the drilling results to date for Silver Bull, it is anticipated that the next report for the property will show a substantial increase in the silver resource at Sierra Mojada, as well as including a resource for the significant zinc mineralization seen on the project.

Recent drill results from the site include 8.45 metres of massive sulphide grading 16.98% zinc, 5.45% lead, and 57.29 grams per tonne (g/t) silver in a previously untested zone 500 metres to the north of the Shallow Silver Zone.

Overall, Silver Bull has acquired or has options to acquire mineral concessions totaling 15,833 hectares in the Sierra Mojada Mining District. The company has been working on the Sierra Mojada property since 1997 and has completed over 80,000 metres of drilling.

The Vancouver-headquartered miner also owns three mineral exploration licences in Gabon, Africa, two of which are currently under joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU).

Great Panther Silver

Vancouver-headquartered Great Panther Silver is a silver miner focused on its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico - Guanajuato and Topia.

Since commencing operations at these two mines in 2006, Great Panther has achieved continuous growth in metal production in excess of 20 percent per year until 2010, when the company saw record production of 2.3 million silver equivalent ounces.

In 2012, Great Panther expects to deliver production of 2.5 to 2.75 million silver equivalent ounces, an increase of 14 to 25 percent from 2011.

Orko Silver

Another company with robust assets in the silver sector includes Orko Silver, which earlier this month regained 100 percent ownership in its La Preciosa property in Mexico.

In early April, Pan American Silver (TSE:PAA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) relinquished its right to earn a 55 percent interest in the La Preciosa project, one of the world's largest primary silver deposits, after it decided not to deliver feasibility study before an April 13, 2012 deadline.

Orko Silver's chief executive Gary Cope confirmed that four unnamed mining companies had "expressed an interest" in the project, with Orko signing standstill agreements with two of these parties.

La Preciosa is located in Durango State, which envelops the heart of Mexico’s prolific Sierra Madre Mining Belt, and includes large silver deposits such as Fresnillo and Pitarrilla.

An August 2011 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred. In addition, the deposit contains over 222,000 ounces of indicated gold and 83,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. The results assumed prices of $25 per ounce of silver and $1,250 per ounce of gold.

Arian Silver

Mexico-focused Arian Silver, meanwhile, is an emerging producer, that in March unveiled an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for its 100 percent-owned San José property in Zacatecas State.

Resource tonnage was up 29 percent along the San José Vein (SJV) from a July 2011 estimate, while contained ounces of silver were up 32 percent.

The company said that in the indicated category, the resource contained 8 million tonnes at an average grade of 119 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.38% lead and 0.85% zinc. Contained metal comprised 30.61 million ounces of silver, 67.02 million pounds of lead and 149.91 million pounds of zinc.

In the inferred category, the resource contained 24.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 110 g/t silver, 0.38% lead and 0.76% zinc. Contained metal comprised 86.65 million ounces of silver, 205.25 million pounds of lead and 410.50 million pounds of zinc.

Mineralization remains open along the western and eastern strikes of the main vein, and to depth, with further drilling planned.

Silver Standard

On the tin side, Byron Capital listed Silver Standard Resources' (TSE:SSO) (NASDAQ:SSRI) Pirquitas Mine in northern Argentina as one of the new tin projects globally. The mine is the company's first major mining operation, and commercial production started in December 2009. At full production, it is estimated the mine will produce an average of around eight to ten million ounces of silver and ten to twelve million pounds of zinc annually, ranking Pirquitas among the largest primary silver mines in the world, the company says.

The silver and zinc concentrates produced from the plant are shipped to various smelters around the world.

Other new projects for tin listed are Eurotin's (CVE:TIN) Oropesa project in Spain, Kasbah Resources’ (ASX:KAS) Achmmach property in Morocco, anticipated to come on stream in 2017, and Consolidated Tin Mines' (ASX:CSD) Mount Garnet asset in Australia.

Promontorio itself hosts an NI 43-101-compliant resource containing 8.9 million indicated ounces of silver plus 1.17 million ounces of inferred silver, 99.3 million indicated pounds of lead plus 13.4 million inferred pounds of lead, and 110.8 million indicated pounds of zinc plus 14.3 million inferred pounds of zinc.

Since the 2010 resource estimate, Kootenay said in February it has drilled 31,000 metres and has another 4,000 metres left to drill before publishing an updated estimate within the next few months.

Notable results from the latest program, which is the single largest and most expansive drill program conducted by Kootenay on the property to date, include hole KP-09-07, which intersected 6.7 metres grading 1,008.0 gpt silver equivalent.

The company said that metal production continued to improve and at 557,667 silver equivalent ounces, was up two percent over the fourth quarter of 2011.

Silver production totaled 359,526 ounces and silver metal recovery at the Guanajuato plant reached an all-time high of 90.1 percent.

As well, a quarterly record of gold production was achieved with 2,729 ounces ounces produced, up 20 percent on the prior quarter.

Great Panther said that during the first quarter, ore grades improved at Guanajuato to 213 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 2.30 g/t gold - 351 g/t silver equivalent - up by 11 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011 and up 21 percent compared to the average for 2011 (199 g/t silver and 1.52 g/t gold).

Mining of the high grade Deep Cata and the gold-rich Santa Margarita ore bodies has already demonstrated the potential to maintain and build on this improvement, the company said, with further expansions of production from these areas planned in 2012.

New developments on the gold-rich Santa Margarita vein at Guanajuato yielded over 2,000 tonnes grading 8.8 g/t gold at the 455 metre level during the quarter, and 2,000 tonnes grading 5.2 g/t gold from the 470 metre level.

The silver and gold producer also saw record mining and plant throughput at Topia of 12,404 tonnes, up three percent, and said it has secured concentrate sales contracts for planned 2012 production.

Ore processed at Great Panther's two operations, at 51,198 tonnes, was down by two percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. However, due to improved ore grades at Guanajuato, and improved metallurgical recoveries at both operations, metal production improved by two percent from the fourth quarter, but was down by eight percent compared to a year earlier.

Individual metals produced in the first quarter included 359,526 ounces of silver, 2,729 ounces of gold, 446,700 pounds lead and 686,700 pounds zinc.

The company said Topia ore grades remained low through February, but were well above the average for 2011 in March. The positive trend is expected to continue through 2012 with new, additional developments on higher grade veins, Great Panther added.

During the first quarter of 2012, the company drilled a total of 15,155 metres from surface and underground at the Guanajuato and Topia mine operations, as well as the two exploration projects of San Ignacio and Santa Rosa.

Great Panther stood by its guidance for metal production growth of approximately 20 percent year-on-year from its two wholly owned Mexican silver operations. The company estimates metal production in the range of 2.50 to 2.75 million silver equivalent ounces for 2012.

At Topia, Great Panther said that the extreme dry season has caused plant capacity to be limited to 160 tonnes from 220 tonnes per day, a reduction of almost 30 percent. Custom milling throughput has been reduced and ore will be stockpiled for processing later in the year, such that there is currently little or no plant capacity shortfall anticipated for 2012.

Improvement modifications, including additional flotation cells, have been completed to facilitate improved metallurgical performance. The capacity of the processing plant is being further increased as of the third quarter to 300 tonnes per day, sufficient to process the stockpiled ore to year end, the company said.

Great Panther also said that the San Ignacio project is expected to realize its potential during 2012 with an intensive exploration and mine development program being planned.  It is expected to add to the production growth potential for 2013.

The permitting process for a new ramp is well underway.

An NI 43-101 compliant initial mineral resource estimate of 4.5 million silver equivalent ounces was released for San Ignacio after drilling 24 diamond core holes covering a strike length of 350 metres. The explored strike length has doubled to date and a resource update is expected in the second quarter.

The San Ignacio project covers around four kilometres of strike length on the La Luz vein system, which is parallel to, and five kilometres west of, the principal Veta Madre structure that hosts the company's Guanajuato Mine Complex.

In terms of contained metals, the company's estimated ranges for 2012 are between 1.72 to 1.90 million ounces silver, up from 1.495 million ounces in 2011; 10,000 to 11,000 ounces of gold, up from 8,015 ounces in 2011; 2.50 to 2.80 million pounds of lead, up from 2.07 million pounds in 2011, and 3.30 to 3.60 million pounds of zinc, up from 2.90 million pounds in 2011.

Full details of the company's first quarter production results can be found at http://www.greatpanther.com

The South America-focused company said that the two mines, the San Jose mine in Mexico and the Caylloma mine in Peru, produced 953,091 ounces of silver in the first quarter 2012, a 4.3 percent increase over the 913,803 ounces of silver in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Gold production increased 23.7 percent sequentially to 5,137 ounces.

The mines saw an increase of 1.1 percent in lead production at 4,443,367 pounds, versus 4,396,319 pounds in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Zinc production decreased by 6.5 percent, however, to 5,320,639 pounds.

"We are extremely pleased that our mines continue to operate well within plans, resulting in these record production figures," said Fortuna president and CEO Jorge Ganoza.

"Not only are we on target to meet our annual guidance, we are also seeing opportunities for higher silver and gold resource and reserve grades in the lower levels of the San Jose mine.

"We are working to incorporate reconciliation of these higher grades into our resource models by mid-year."

Fortuna said that the San Jose mine continues to outperform planned metal production. Silver and gold production for the quarter were 15 percent and 29 percent above budget respectively, at 468,865 ounces of silver and 4,497 ounces of gold.

The company said that average head grades for silver and gold were 198 grade per tonne (g/t) and 1.92 g/t, or 20 percent and 41 percent above plan, respectively.

Fortuna noted that this is the result of higher grades from reserves in the newly open level 1350, currently the deepest production level of the mine.

Fortuna said a new production level will be developed in anticipation to the expansion to 1,500 tonnes per day (tpd) during 2013.

Fortuna said that the results of ongoing reserve and resource grade and tonnage reconciliation will be incorporated into 2012 estimations, scheduled for mid-year.

Meanwhile, at the Caylloma Mine in Peru, Fortuna said that silver and gold production for the quarter were five and 17 percent above budget, respectively, at 484,226 ounces of silver and 640 ounces of gold.

Average head grades for silver and gold were 171 g/t and 0.39 g/t, or two percent and eight percent above plan, respectively.

The company also reported, however, that metallurgical recovery for silver is down to 77.5 percent from the planned 82 percent recovery for the quarter and the year.

Fortuna said that silver recovery is being affected by the contribution of high grade oxidized ore from reserves in level six of the Animas vein. The company expects recoveries will continue to be affected throughout the year as mining progresses through oxidized reserves in the upper levels of the mine, reverting back to historic recoveries of approximately 84 percent in early 2013.

The company noted that it has received notification on April 3, 2012 from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines outlining observations on the construction permit of Fortuna’s new tailings facility. Fortuna said it is confident the observations can be addressed in April.