Vancouver, B.C. – Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. (TSX.V:SCZ) (“Santacruz” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce its National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) compliant Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates for its three Bolivian producing assets, the Bolivar mine, Porco mine, and Caballo Blanco Group of mines (“Caballo Blanco”, and together with the Bolivar mine and the Porco mine, the “Bolivian Producing Mines”), and the Soracaya exploration project (“Soracaya”), also located in Bolivia. The Mineral Resources and Reserves for the Bolivian Producing Mines were prepared on behalf of the Company by JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (“JDS”), an international firm specializing in mineral resource evaluation and development, and the Mineral Resource for Soracaya was prepared on behalf of the Company by Kirkham Geosystems Ltd. The effective date of all the technical reports is January 1, 2024, the technical reports for the Bolivian Producing Mines have been filed on www.sedarplus.ca, and the Soracaya technical report will be filed on www.sedarplus.ca within 45 days of this news release. All figures are in US dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Highlights:

Total Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves of 54 million silver equivalent ounces including 19 million ounces of silver and 259 thousand tonnes of zinc.
Total Measured and Indicated Resources of 102 million silver equivalent ounces including 32 million ounces of silver and 518 thousand tonnes of zinc.
Total Inferred Resources at the Bolivian Producing Mines of 189 million silver equivalent ounces including 72 million ounces of silver and 882 thousand tonnes of zinc.
Initial Inferred Resource for Soracaya of 35 million ounces of silver.
Independent third-party verification of Santacruz’ estimation processes reinforce the quality of our Mineral Resources and Reserves, and the methodology in place to accurately represent them. Garth Kirkham, P.Geo, FGC, of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd., Richard Goodwin, P.Eng., and Shane Tad Crowie, P. Eng., of JDS who are Independent Qualified Persons, as defined by NI 43-101 performed the verification.

Arturo Préstamo, Executive Chairman and CEO of Santacruz, commented, “This marks a noteworthy milestone for Santacruz as we continue to build a mid-tier silver and base metals company. The verified Mineral Resources and Reserves underscore our solid asset base. It is important to note that our Bolivian producing mines are open along strike and at depth, and with our ongoing exploration program, we believe there is potential to grow the current Mineral Resources and Reserves.”

Mr. Prestamo added, “The Mineral Reserve estimates use actual information from recent operating data including: operating costs, selling costs, metallurgical recoveries and smelter contracts. As such, these estimates should accurately reflect costs and conditions of exploitation that enabled the application of meaningful cut-off-grades to the deposit, such that confidence in the resultant mine plans are high. As well, the existing methodology for Mineral Reserve calculation was verified during the NI 43-101 review, which adds additional confidence to the veracity of our mine plans and development strategies. In addition, the initial Inferred Resource estimate for Soracaya suggests that we have another high-quality silver project in our portfolio.”

Important Notes to Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve tables below:
Mineral Resources and Reserves are stated for the first time under NI 43-101 standards of disclosure and verified by independent Qualified Persons. Garth Kirkham, P.Geo, FGC, of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd., Richard Goodwin, P.Eng., and Shane Tad Crowie, P. Eng., of JDS who are Independent Qualified Persons, as defined by NI 43-101 performed the verification.

Mineral Resources were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council.

Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.

An inferred mineral resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an indicated mineral resource and must not be converted to a mineral reserve. It is reasonably expected that most of the inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to indicated mineral resources with continued exploration.

Updated structure for operating and sustaining capital costs were applied to the Mineral Resource to confirm Santacruz generated Mineral Reserves at projected metal prices of $21.00 per ounce silver, $1.15 per pound zinc, $1.00 per pound lead and $3.65 per pound copper.

Mineral Reserve estimates are derived using actual mining and metallurgical performance data from 2022 at each operation to deliver robust estimates.

The effective date of the Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates at the Bolivian Producing Mines is January 1, 2023. The effective date of the Mineral Resource estimate at Soracaya is January 1, 2024. Production data for the calendar year 2023 has been included in Section 24 of the various NI 43-101 compliant technical reports for the Bolivian Producing Mines and shows the depletion and typical replenishment of resources and reserves over a calendar year.

Total Bolivian Producing Mines
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