OREANDA-NEWS. Coeur Mining, Inc. (“Coeur” or the “Company”) (NYSE:CDE) today provided an update on its expanded exploration initiatives at three of its five operating mines. The focus of the Company’s exploration program continues to be upgrading existing, higher-grade resources to reserves and the discovery of new, higher-grade resources located near existing infrastructure that have the potential to further grow the Company’s production and cash flow, reduce unit costs, and extend expected mine lives.

The Company expects to invest a total of $30-$34 million in exploration during 2016, including $14-$16 million for expensed exploration and $16-$18 million for capitalized exploration. This represents an 82% increase over 2015 exploration spending. Of the $30-$34 million expanded exploration budget, approximately 85% is expected to be allocated to drilling at or near the Company’s existing operations and nearly 75% is expected to be invested at the Company’s Palmarejo underground silver-gold mine in Mexico, its Kensington underground gold mine in Alaska, and its Rochester open-pit silver-gold mine in Nevada.

PALMAREJO HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Exploration efforts have focused on definition drilling to aid in mine planning at the Independencia underground deposit and on upgrading existing high-grade inferred resources at the Guadalupe underground deposit, which are located approximately 800 meters apart and remain open at depth and along strike.
    • Highlights include a recent intercept at the center of Independencia that returned 14.4 feet (4.39 meters, “m”, true thickness) of 84.1 ounces per ton (“oz/t”) silver (2,883 grams per tonne, “g/t”) and 1.14 oz/t gold (39.1 g/t). The same hole also intersected a second vein that returned 6.9 feet (2.1 m) of 23.7 oz/t (811 g/t) silver and 0.30 oz/t gold (10.3 g/t).
    • At Guadalupe, highlights include an intercept within mining Block C of 16.4 feet (5.0 m) (true thickness) averaging 15.2 oz/t silver (520 g/t) and 1.35 oz/t gold (46.3 g/t).
    • The average reserve grades at Palmarejo at year-end 2015 were 4.94 oz/t silver (169 g/t) and 0.076 oz/t gold (2.61 g/t).
  • In the corridor zone between Independencia and Guadalupe, drilling has focused on resource definition of the Los Bancos and Nación-Dana veins and on gaps between the two structures. Both of these zones are near the new decline accessing Independencia and could be more easily developed.
  • Drilling will soon commence on the La Bavisa deposit, which is located approximately 1,300 feet (~400 m) northeast of Independencia and was part of the Paramount Gold & Silver land package that was acquired by Coeur in 2015.

KENSINGTON HIGHLIGHTS:

  • After years of being underexplored following a lengthy permitting process and the Company’s focus on first bringing stability and consistency to Kensington’s operations, the mine’s exploration program is now generating high-grade results from the Kensington Main deposit in addition to making a new discovery in 2015 of the Jualin high-grade deposit. Both areas represent expected near-term high-grade ore sources, which are expected to drive higher future production and cash flow at lower unit costs.
  • One notable hole from the Zone 41 gap target in the Kensington Main deposit returned 12.2 feet (3.7 m) of 1.21 oz/t gold (41.5 g/t) (see hole #K16-0910-258-X02 in the table below).
  • In the Zone 12 target, one hole intercepted 20.5 feet (6.2 m) of 0.37 oz/t gold (12.7 g/t). Underground drilling at Jualin has also been accelerated following recent underground access to exploration targets. An initial reserve from Jualin #4 – one of five known veins – is expected at year-end. The current resource at Jualin #4 is 179,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 0.619 oz/t gold (21.2 g/t).
  • The average reserve grade at Kensington at year-end 2015 was 0.198 oz/t gold (6.79 g/t).

ROCHESTER HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Exploration efforts have focused on in-fill and expansion drilling of the higher-grade East Rochester expansion to support a revised economic analysis at year-end 2016 (see February 29, 2016 news release for full update on East Rochester).
    • Of particular note was an intercept from the 2016 drill program of 150 feet (45.6 m) at 4.13 oz/t silver (142 g/t) and 0.013 oz/t gold (0.45 g/t) (see hole ROCR16-1027 in the table below), which are approximately eight times Rochester’s current reserve grades. Another hole returned 400 feet (121.9 m) of 1.2 oz/t silver (41.1 g/t) and 0.007 oz/t gold (0.24 g/t) (see hole ROCR16-1018 in the table below).
    • Infill drilling was also completed at West Rochester, the results of which are expected to be included in Coeur’s year-end 2016 reserve statement.

“Near-mine exploration remains a key pillar of our returns-driven growth strategy,” said Mitchell J. Krebs, Coeur’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Prioritizing our drilling efforts in and around our operations where we have existing people, permits, and processing infrastructure offers a higher probability of success and a quicker payback on these investments. Our success-based exploration philosophy, which prioritizes targeting higher grades and rewards tight integration with our operations teams, is generating strong results that we believe will have a positive impact on the Company’s future production profile, mine lives, and cash flow.”

Palmarejo, Mexico

From late March to August 2016:

  • At Independencia, a total of 84 core holes have been completed, five from surface focused on resource expansion and 79 from underground focused on infill drilling, for a total of 61,411 feet (18,723 m).
  • At Guadalupe, a total of 44 core holes have been completed, focused on resource infill drilling, for a total 27,273 feet (8,313 m) from underground drill stations.
  • At Los Bancos, a total of 13 core holes have been completed, focused on resource infill drilling for a total of 8,294 feet (2,528 m) from surface drill stations.

By contrast, in 2015:

  • At Independencia, a total of six holes were drilled from surface for 11,618 feet (3,542 m).
  • At Guadalupe a total of 25 holes were drilled from surface for 37,818 feet (11,530 m).
  • No underground drilling was conducted as the underground drill stations were not set up until late 2015.

Drilling will continue for the remainder of 2016 both underground and on surface at Independencia and Guadalupe with an estimated budget of $5.4 million for the year on expansion of resources and about $6.8 million on infill drilling. Drilling will mainly focus on Independencia for the remainder of 2016 with three drill stations currently active underground and one on surface (a second is being prepared on surface), with one drill station currently active at Guadalupe. By contrast, in 2015, $4.7 million was spent on resource expansion and $2.1 million in resource infill drilling and conversion to reserves.

The recent focus of Palmarejo’s drill program has been to expand the deeper portions of the Guadalupe and Independencia deposits as well as further define the Los Bancos and La Nación-Dana veins, which are located between Guadalupe and Independencia. There are currently six active drill rigs, four of which are being used for both Guadalupe and Independencia underground drilling, and two surface drill rigs that are drilling the northern extension of Independencia vein and the gap between the Los Bancos and Nación veins. Two additional drill rigs are set to begin drilling the Nación-Dana veins and the new La Bavisa vein, located 1,300 feet (~400 meters) east-northeast of Independencia, this quarter, which will bring the total number of active drills at Palmarejo to eight.

Palmarejo’s strongest exploration results are from the central portion of the Independencia deposit along the border of Independencia Este (“East”) and Oeste (“West”). As underground development at Independencia progresses, additional exploration stations are expected to become accessible and will allow for further potential resource conversion and expansion at depth.

Drilling at Guadalupe is currently focused on testing the southern portion of mining block C and northern mining block D. Plans are underway to drill near the South Portal as development progresses and offers access to this area of the deposit. Future underground exploration stations will focus on expanding blocks C and D at depth as well as potential resource conversion and expansion to the south.

 
Highlights from Independencia Drilling (March-August 2016)
    Mineralized Interval (feet)   Assays (oz/short ton)
Hole   From   To   Length  

Estimated
Thickness

   Silver   Gold
DC3-IND-0010   313.6   321.0   7.4   6.9   55.78   0.58
DC3-IND-0018   277.1   283.5   6.4   5.6   39.53   0.37
DC3-IND-0021   472.4   479.8   7.4   6.9   27.20   0.29
DC3-IND-0022   707.8   724.2   16.4   4.9   61.20   0.91
DC3-IND-0025   421.2   435.2   14.0   11.8   49.88   0.55
DC3-IND-0025   438.5   443.4   4.9   4.3   37.90   0.38
DC3-IND-0025   483.0   487.4   4.4   3.9   32.22   0.33
DC3-IND-0027   492.1   504.7   12.6   11.5   96.43   1.31
DC3-IND-0029   419.0   426.5   7.5   6.9   23.66   0.30
DC3-IND-0029   433.1   449.1   16.1   14.4   84.13   1.15
DC3-IND-0039   526.5   531.3   4.8   4.3   119.53   4.01
DC3-IND-0044   595.9   601.0   5.1   4.9   25.60   0.97
DC3-IND-0047   693.6   697.5   3.9   3.6   27.55   0.22
DC3-ICA-0058   216.5   224.2   7.7   6.2   32.84   0.29
DC3-ICA-0058   275.6   280.5   4.9   3.9   58.31   0.90
DC3-ICA-0067   345.3   355.5   10.2   9.5   42.77   1.35
                         
 
Highlights from Guadalupe Drilling (March-August 2016)
    Mineralized Interval (feet)   Assays (oz/short ton)
Hole   From   To   Length  

Estimated
Thickness

   Silver   Gold
DC3-GPE-0001   322.2   340.8   18.6   15.4   4.53   0.31
DC3-GPE-0001   498.7   505.2   6.5   5.2   0.57   0.13
DC3-GPE-0003   305.8   326.7   20.8   12.8   9.47   0.46
DC3-GPE-0004   257.2   288.8   31.6   22.0   8.23   0.43
DC3-GPE-0005   364.8   382.4   17.7   16.4   15.16   1.35
DC3-GPE-0007   370.4   380.6   10.2   8.5   8.03   1.18
DC3-GPE-0009   425.5   434.6   9.1   6.6   52.59   4.37
DC3-GPE-0011   175.4   189.0   13.6   12.5   7.98   0.45
DC3-GPE-0011   408.5   416.7   8.2   7.5   4.06   0.16
DC3-GPE-0012   97.8   110.6   12.8   12.8   4.15   0.05
DC3-GPE-0013   35.7   39.8   4.1   3.3   5.16   0.04
DC3-GPE-0014   295.9   304.7   8.9   5.2   5.70   0.32
DC3-GPE-0015   40.8   43.2   2.4   2.3   7.43   0.08
DC3-GPE-0018   273.1   283.8   10.7   7.2   5.68   0.19
DC3-GPE-0019   283.5   317.9   34.4   14.4   5.93   0.13
DC3-GPE-0022   281.7   316.6   34.9   28.9   3.71   0.20
DC3-GPE-0022   466.2   488.7   22.5   18.4   3.39   0.08
DC3-GPE-0022   496.4   499.0   2.6   2.3   13.38   0.39
DC3-GPE-0023   41.6   45.1   3.5   3.0   5.25   0.06
DC3-GPE-0023   100.7   103.8   3.1   2.6   5.07   0.09
DC3-GPE-0023   212.4   216.2   3.8   3.0   6.53   0.10
DC3-GPE-0023   320.5   329.2   8.7   6.9   6.46   0.32
DC3-GPE-0025   119.8   126.1   6.4   5.9   8.94   0.28
DC3-GPE-0026   322.5   332.0   9.5   5.6   68.19   2.47
DC3-GPE-0030   607.0   611.9   4.9   2.6   13.64   0.17
DC3-GPE-0031   380.2   389.6   9.4   6.2   8.40   0.22
DC3-GPE-0034   283.6   297.9   14.3   10.2   6.62   0.16
DC3-GPE-0037   347.4   373.9   26.4   24.3   3.31   0.22
DC3-GPE-0037   390.6   399.1   8.5   7.9   6.56   11.23
                         

Kensington, Alaska

Kensington’s exploration program continues to focus on potential resource conversion and expansion within the Kensington Main orebody, the nearby Raven vein, and the high-grade Jualin deposit. Drilling at Kensington Main is currently being conducted at four zones – lower Block M and zones 41, 44, and 12 – with a focus on the potential expansion of the Kensington resource down-dip and to the south of the current resource model. In addition, drilling at Raven has targeted the down-plunge extension of a high-grade ore-shoot. A total of 31,586 feet (9,627 m) has been drilled in resource infill with potential to convert to reserve – total budgeted 60,000 feet (18,288 m) with a projected budget for 2016 of $4.6 million. A total of 16,712 feet (5,094 m) has been drilled underground in resource expansion in 2016 – total budgeted 25,000 (7,620 m) feet with a projected budget for 2016 of $4.65 million. By comparison, in 2015 $2.6 million was spent on resource expansion and $1.4 million on resource infill and conversion to reserves.

Coeur has accelerated exploration of the high-grade Jualin deposit following the development of a new exploration station and completing three drill holes targeting the potential upgrade and expansion of the Jualin resource. Surface drilling twinning historic Jualin drill holes began in August with a total of 4,074 feet (1,241.8 m) completed. The surface drill program has six holes for a total of 11,000 feet (~3,350 m) budgeted. A surface, winter drilling program focused on potential expansion of Jualin Vein #4 will begin once the twinning program is completed this fall; this will be the focus of the remainder of the 2016 budget. Vein #4 remains open at depth and extends about 1,000 feet (~305 m) to the south; Vein #5 sits 300 feet (~90 m) below Vein #5 and has similar grade-thicknesses to Vein #4 in 5 out of 6 holes drilled to this depth.

 
Highlights from Kensington Main, Jualin Vein #4 and Raven Vein Drilling (2016)
    Mineralized Interval (feet)    
Hole   From   To   Length  

Estimated
Thickness

  

Gold Assays
(oz/short ton)
K15-0445-211-X01   295.0   310.4   15.4   10.1   1.66
including   307.3   310.4   3.1   2.0   5.37
K15-0445-222-X06   230.0   246.6   16.6   16.5   0.55
including   242.2   246.6   4.4   4.4   1.43
    265.8   275.0   9.2   9.1   1.19
including   269.5   271.6   2.1   2.1   2.73
K15-0445-211-X04   232.5   240.0   7.5   7.4   2.07
K15-0445-222-X02   282.0   300.0   18.0   14.6   0.98
including   285.4   289.0   3.6   2.9   2.98
including   290.0   292.2   2.2   1.8   1.81
K15-0520-178-X06   191.0   206.0   15.0   12.2   0.90
including   201.0   206.0   5.0   4.1   1.41
K16-1170-102-X01   235.0   237.5   2.5   2.5   2.69
    419.5   427.0   7.5   7.5   0.57
    482.0   502.5   20.5   20.5   0.37
including   496.0   499.0   3.0   3.0   0.75
including   499.0   502.5   3.5   3.5   0.58
    541.7   547.0   5.3   5.3   1.23
K16-0910-258-X02   67.5   71.3   3.8   2.3   7.47
    113.0   133.0   20.0   12.2   1.21
K16-1170-112-X03   508.5   513.2   4.7   4.5   2.56
K16-1170-073-X04   633.0   638.0   5.0   4.9   0.83
K16-1170-112-X04   582.9   591.2   8.4   7.5   1.27
including   585.0   587.6   2.6   2.3   3.08
Raven Vein
R16-0820-224-X03   492.3   494.3   2.0   1.5   1.485
                     

Rochester, Nevada

Rochester’s exploration program has prioritized both in-fill and expansion drilling of the higher-grade East Rochester deposit. A total of 67,760 feet (20,653 m) have been drilled in 79 holes through the end of August 2016 and focused on resource infill and conversion to reserves. A total of 7,060 feet (2,152 m) in seven holes have been completed in resource expansion drilling. Drilling in the existing pit, focused mostly in the West Rochester area, has been conducted to evaluate the potential for additional resource conversion as well as for the discovery of new adjacent mineralized structures. For the remainder of 2016, drilling will focus on the South Pit for both expansion and conversion of resources to reserves. Rochester’s 2016 exploration budget includes $1.25 million for expansion drilling and $3.66 million for resource infill/conversion drilling. By comparison, in 2015 Rochester spent $1.32 million on expansion drilling and $1.60 million on resource infill/conversion drilling.

Priorities for 2017 will include additional in-fill and expansion drilling in those areas expected to be permitted as part of the next planned expansion at Rochester, called POA 11. Additional drilling will be allocated to offset drilling of some of the higher grade mineralized faults encountered and modeled in the 2016 program.

 
Highlights from East Rochester Drilling (February-August 2016)
    Mineralized Interval (feet)   Assays (oz/short ton)
Hole   From   To   Length   Silver   Gold
EP15-002   70   710   640   0.80   0.004
ROCR16-1001   140   260   120   1.12   0.007
ROCR16-1014   310   560   250   0.76   0.009
ROCR16-1018   250   650   400   1.20   0.007
ROCR16-1024   380   480   100   1.12   0.005
ROCR16-1025   210   680   470   1.21   0.004
ROCR16-1026   200   500   300   1.02   0.004
ROCR16-1027   550   700   150   4.13   0.013
ROCR16-1028   210   300   90   2.15   0.006
ROCR16-1030   360   670   310   0.77   0.002
ROCR16-1034   770   920   150   2.99   0.012
ROCR16-1040   410   660   250   1.74   0.005
ROCR16-1042   440   660   220   2.06   0.007
ROCR16-1049   450   630   180   1.06   0.027
ROCR16-1062   320   490   170   1.77   0.004
                     

About Coeur

Coeur Mining is a well-diversified, growing precious metals producer with five precious metals mines in the Americas employing approximately 2,000 people. Coeur produces from its wholly owned operations: the Palmarejo silver-gold complex in Mexico, the Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada, the Kensington gold mine in Alaska, the Wharf gold mine in South Dakota, and the San Bartolomé silver mine in Bolivia. The Company also has a non-operating interest in the Endeavor mine in Australia as well as a royalty interest in Ecuador. In addition, the Company has two silver-gold exploration stage projects – the La Preciosa project in Mexico and the Joaquin project in Argentina. Coeur conducts ongoing exploration activities in Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota and Mexico.