In 2010 Q4, our production in silver equiv was 225,596 ounces. If you look at the monthly metal output on ECU's web site, the data has only been updated thru October, but it shows silver eqivalent production of about 105,000 ounces for October. This would imply that production in November and December was only about 60,000 ounces per month silver equiv. It is my beleif this is misleading for 2 reasons. The monthly metal output charts have been being posted for 2 years now, and when they began the gold price was much higher relative to the silver price. In 2010 Q4 we produced 2364 ounces of gold. Since the gold silver ratio was about 70 when we started production, this would be equivalent to 165,480 ounces of silver in the monthly metal output charts. Since the GSR was about 50 in 2010 Q4, the silver equivalent given in the reent news release for Q4 is closer to 118,200 ounces of silver. Hence, the high silver price is devaluing our gold production when expressed in terms of silver equivalent ounces. The other reason I believe the numbers are misleading is that when using the same prices ratios, our silver equiv in Q4 increased 1% compared to Q3.
Based on what I can infer from the news release, 2 things happened in Q4. One is that our milling grades dropped, and 2 is that our gold recovery improved. I put more weight on the improved recoveries as this should carry forward. Maybe GWR can shed some light on the lower grades, but it i my guess that they are a bit of pain now inorder to access better grades this year
