Minefinders’ (TSX:MFL) shares hit a four-year high Wednesday after the company reported record production at its Dolores gold-silver mine in Mexico.
The Vancouver-based miner produced 956,760 ounces of silver in the first quarter of 2011, representing a 290% increase compared with the same period last year.
The company’s gold production was down, however, totalling 17,812 ounces in the first quarter compared with 18,778 ounces for the same period in 2010.
Still, Minefinders raked in $52.3 million in sales in the first quarter compared with $26.4 million last year.
President and CEO Mark Bailey told Business in Vancouver that, although Dolores has absorbed some setbacks recently, he’s excited to see the mine finally generate solid results.
“We discovered this [deposit], we brought this from grassroots discovery to production, it’s been 15 years, so it’s obviously quite satisfying to start hitting our targets.”
The company’s shares were up $0.42 to $13.84 at midday trades Wednesday.
Bailey expects Dolores to reach a steady state of production toward the end of the year, producing between 20,000 and 25,000 ounces of gold and one million to 1.5 million ounces of silver per quarter.
Dolores contains 2.44 million ounces of gold and 126.6 million ounces of silver, and Bailey believes the mine has another 13 to 15 years of life in it to produce results for shareholders.
“You just have to be patient,” he said. “In the mining industry there is a lot of patience required … if it was easy everybody would have a mine, and it’s not easy.”