After laying a solid foundation during a transformative 2024 Polymetals Resources Ltd (ASX:POL) is on track to be Australia's next silver and zinc producer in 2025 at the high-grade Endeavor Silver-Zinc Mine in the prolific Cobar Basin of central New South Wales.
In recapping 2024, the company said the year had been transformative, marked by significant milestones and achievements, as it progressed the restart through which it plans to “make the mine great again”.
2024 achievements
The key achievements were:
- Completed acquisition and 100% ownership of Endeavor;
- Growing a team from 6 to 60 employees, with plans to ramp up to 230 personnel by next year;
- Finalised the mine plan which detailed robust financial metrics and our clear path to production; and
- Secured finance to fund the entire mine restart capital requirements.
The company said these achievements reinforced the quality of the Endeavor asset, the team's experience and capability, and consistent delivery on its business objectives.
“None of these achievements would have been possible without the hard work and resilience of our team,” Polymetals said.
“Commitment to innovation, cohesion and clear vision of the objectives has been the cornerstone of our success.”
Share price growth
With the mine’s redevelopment progressing safely, efficiently and to plan, this has also resulted in considerable gains in the company’s share price, particularly towards the end of the year.
From 24 cents on September 4, the price climbed almost 321% to a record $1.01 cents on December 11 and today the company is trading slightly higher to $0.795.
In Cobar Basin
The high-grade Endeavor silver-zinc-lead mine is within one of Australia’s premier polymetallic mineral provinces, the Cobar Basin, and in proximity to other mining operations.
This mine operated continuously for 38 years before being placed on care and maintenance in 2020 and during this period, 32 million tonnes of ore was mined and processed recovering saleable metal in concentrate valued at more than A$18 billion at today’s metal prices.
Polymetals acquired the mine in 2023 after resetting a prohibitive 100% silver streaming royalty to a 4% NSR over silver, lead and zinc. Restructuring this royalty provides new life to the mine with Polymetals now executing on its initial 10-year mine plan.
READ: Polymetals Resources marches toward Endeavor Silver-Zinc Mine restart
New chapter in 2025
Looking ahead, the company said 2025 would mark a new chapter as production commenced from the mine.
“Our goal is to establish a profitable precious and base metal mining company that benefits all stakeholders and delivers sustained value to our shareholders.”
Exploration is also continuing at and near the mine site with drilling to kick off in the second week of January.
Polymetals’ exploration strategy is aimed at delivering organic growth with further near-mine and regional work programs to be accelerated from March through to 2026.
Building workforce
In an update earlier this month, Endeavor Mine general manager Matt Gill said: “Activity on site is gaining pace as we continue with our aggressive recruitment campaign.
"We have secured our senior leadership team, are assembling a great group of supervisors and are building our operations and maintenance workforce in accordance with the proven Polymetals operational strategy.
"This momentum builds with the arrival of the first underground mobile equipment before Christmas, and in parallel, we have a very experienced team working on the surface infrastructure and processing plant to bring them back to life in the New Year.”