IMPACT Silver Corp. ("IMPACT or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has successfully moved its newest silver mine into production. The commencement of production at the Cuchara-Oscar Mine represents IMPACT's fourth underground silver mine taken from discovery to production at the Royal Mines of Zacualpan Silver District in Mexico.
Initial production at Cuchara-Oscar will come from the Marqueza Vein, with plans to expand production to the nearby Oscar, Resguardo and Maria de Jesus Veins later in 2013. The Cuchara-Oscar Mine is projected to provide approximately 20% of the mineral feed in 2013 to the Guadalupe Processing Plant with the balance of the feed mainly provided by the currently producing San Ramon and Noche Buena Mines. The feed from the Cuchara-Oscar Mine will replace lower grade silver production from the Chivo Mine. The average silver mining grade at the Cuchara-Oscar in 2013 is anticipated to be 270 grams per tonne (g/t), which will allow for an increase in overall silver production at the Guadalupe Plant.
The Cuchara-Oscar Mine is another success attributed to IMPACT's technical team. Drill results from Cuchara-Oscar are summarized in IMPACT news releases dated January 21, 2013 (http://www.impactsilver.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=566881&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=A-Banner-Year-for-IMPACT-Silver-Corp.s-Exploration-in-2012) and January 23, 2012 (http://www.impactsilver.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=503307&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=IMPACT-Silver-2011-Exploration-Review-and-2012-Outlook), which include highlights of 291 g/t silver across 30.65 meters and 1,007 g/t silver across 5.65 meters. Within eight months of the production decision, the Cuchara-Oscar Mine was moved into production utilizing the historic infrastructure in the area.
George Gorzynski, P.Eng., Vice President Exploration and a Qualified Person under the meaning of Canadian National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the technical content of this news release.