Adriatic Metals sees record quarter of operations at Vares as ramp-up continues
Published: 02:58 31 Mar 2025 EDT
Adriatic Metals PLC (LSE:ADT1, ASX:ADT, OTCQX:ADMLF) reported a record quarter for processing at its Vareš Silver mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 68,000 tonnes of ore milled in the first quarter, up 43% on the preceding three months.
Production for the period reached 1.3 million ounces of silver equivalent, up from 0.9 million ounces in the fourth quarter of 2024.
It ended the quarter with a 53,000-tonne ore stockpile - grading 316 grams per tonne of silver, 2.2 grams per tonne gold, 4.7% zinc, and 3.8% lead – whilst sales totalled $33 million, up 23% quarter-on-quarter.
Adriatic told investors it made its first debt repayment of $20 million to Orion Mine Finance and said its current cash balance was around $75 million.
"We have achieved key operational and corporate milestones over the past few months,” Laura Tyler said in a statement.
“Despite not achieving all the criteria for commercial production, the Vares Silver operation is now ramping up steadily and generating positive cash flow.”
She added: “Our focus over the next few months is to actively debottleneck and optimise our operations and continue to improve our performance. The process of ramping up production to nameplate capacity of 0.8Mtpa remains on track for the second half of 2025."
The company also released its annual Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve statement for the Rupice deposit.
As of 31 December, the Indicated and Inferred resource stood at 20.9 million tonnes at 153 grams per tonne silver, 4.3% zinc, 2.8% lead and 1.1 grams per tonne gold.
Ore Reserves were estimated at 12.3 million tonnes at 192 grams per tonne silver, 5.7% zinc, 3.6% lead and 1.5 grams per tonne gold.
Separately, Adriatic noted that its annual financial report has now been published on its website.
