Booth # 3344

SilverCrest Mines with Crusher on Site www.silvercrestmines.com

Leaps Toward Q3 Production 604.694.1730
cing, how many tonnes you’ll be processing and price right now, those IRR numbers go up to
so on. almost 200% rate of return.
EF: Investors and potential investors need to RI: When will you be able to pay back any debt
understand that this is a staged project. Cur- you’ve accrued as a result of this project?
rently we’re kicking off Stage 1 of Santa Elena,
EF: The payback period is about a year. Of course
which is the open pit, heap leach stage and will
produce approximately 50,000 ounces gold we do have a debt loan with Macquarie Bank
and they will try to stretch it out as long as they
equivalent every year. About 2/3 of that is gold
and 1/3 is silver. can to get more money out of us from the loan
side. We do have 55,000 ounces of gold that is
Once we have that hedged and is con-
kicked off and are get- sidered also under
ting some good cash “The operating costs the loan with Mac-
flow—which we will quarie. That gets
see next year— we’re initially for the first paid over a three-year
starting the expansion
plan. That plan includes
couple of years are period.

re-treatment of the going to be below RI: How is Macquarie

heap leach through a
planned mill. Also, we’ll
be looking at the under-
ground resources we
currently have at Santa
Elena, which are about
300,000 ounces gold
N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng equivalent. We also have
Bank feeling about
US$250 per ounce gold their investment so
far?
equivalent and then af-
EF: They have been
ter that below US$375 down to the site sev-
per ounce gold equiva- eral times and they
lent.”
couldn’t be happier.

Chief Operating Officer
You have to hand it to SilverCrest Mines.
The junior explorer is fast on its way to
becoming a mid-tier producer in Mexico
with production at Santa Elena due by
about mid-2010 and work ongoing to
add ounces to the existing resources
and reserves on several fronts. The com-
pany has achieved everything it set out
to do just a few years ago when it ac-
quired the Santa Elena project. President
Scott Drever, COO Eric Fier and their
team are a textbook example of how to
move successfully from exploration to
mining on time and under budget.
a satellite deposit called RI: The net asset value
the Cruz de Mayo, from ~Chief Operating Officer Eric Fier of the project, if we
which we can potential- talk on a per ounce
ly ship ore to the Santa basis, its about $800
Elena facil ity. Overall, per ounce. What’s
although the market probably views Santa Elena the actual net asset value of the project as a
and SilverCrest as a small junior producer, we whole right now in Stage 1?
see a lot of upside potential. Over the next year
we’re committed to expanding this so that it will EF: Depending on what kind of discount rate
no longer be a 35,000 ounce gold producer, but you want to throw at it, anywhere from $80 to
potentially a 100,000 plus ounce gold equiva- $100 million dollars. If you add in the expan-
lent producer. sion plan it’s over $150 million.
RI: This is a very low cost mine as well. The cap- RI: A $100 million valuation equates to about
ital costs are low. It’s costing you in the ballpark $1.67 per share for you. $150 million is over
of $20 million dollars to build it. Your operating $2.50 per share. And presently you’re trading at
costs are also very low. Lets talk about that. about $0.90 per share, so it would appear that
there’s still room on the boat for investors.

R
esource Intelligence: You’re in construction
on your Santa Elena mine, you’re working
very hard, the leach pad has been started,
the liners delivered, the offices have been built.
Are you on schedule?
Eric Fier: Yes. We kicked off with heavy construc-
tion late last fall and as of last week we are laying
liner for the leach pad. The concrete is going
in for the crusher as we speak. It’s going to be
on its way next week to be assembled on site.
Everything is on schedule and currently under
budget.
RI: For people who are interested in this as a po-
tential investment, what is Santa Elena going to
be? We know it will be an open pit mine, but
lets talk about how much you will be produ-
EF: The operating costs initially for the first
couple of years are going to be below US$250
per ounce gold equivalent and then after that
below US$375 per ounce gold equivalent. That’s
for the open pit heap leach. We’ll see what the
expansion plan brings but I would anticipate
those same types of numbers around the plus
100,000 ounces gold equivalent per year pro-
duction level as well.
RI: So your costs are very low. If we take gold
back to just the $800 dollar an ounce price,
you’re getting back double what you invest.
EF: That’s correct. That’s reflected in our IRR
which is greater than 100% currently. If you
were to throw in the $1,000 per ounce gold
EF: Yes. We’re trading around $0.90 right now.
One of our analysts, Jennings Capital, is sug-
gesting $1.35 to $1.40 over the next six months.
I would suspect if we are correctly aligned with
our peer group we’re talking a 2 or 3 fold jump
in the share price.
RI: What is your main priority for the duration
of 2010?
EF: Get into production, then the expansion
plan and that’s going to require some studies,
further drilling at Cruz de Mayo and some more
metallurgical work. Over the course of the last
six months we’ve looked at several other prop-
erties and companies for potential mergers and

24 See page 96 for Disclosure, Disclaimers & Info on Mineral Resource and Reserves
SilverCrest Mines
- Continued
acquisitions but we’ll wait until we’ve kicked
that production off and gotten a better bang for
the buck in the market for our share price before
acquiring anything new.
RI: How did you prepare your team to switch
from exploration to mine development?
EF: I have worked in everything from grass roots
exploration to mine closure, so it wasn’t an ad-
justment for myself. This is the fourth mine
that I’ll be involved in constructing. The team
that I’ve hired are highly qualified not only with
SilverCrest and our Mexican subsidiaries, but
also our construction team, which is Sonoran
Resources out of Arizona. These guys have
built several mines in the US and in Mexico, so
they’re very qualified. We have a great team that
is highly qualified to put this together.
We’ve had to grow the team substantially, too.
Our total employment on site right now is about
100 people, including contractors. I would say
our staffing will peak at 150 employees when we
are installing the crusher and the liner, which is
all coming on line now.
Free Revolutionary Online Investment Calculators and all 43-101 data with sources and project values www.resourceintelligence.net
RI: You’re making a time-lapse video of the con-
struction process at the Santa Elena mine that
you will be unveiling at the PDAC. What can
investors expect to see?
EF: We set up an Internet-based video system
several months ago and have access to view the
ongoing construction from a live video link
24/7. Investors will be able to see some of the
construction from the past couple months on
screen played out in just a few minutes. It will be
fascinating for any investor who hasn’t actually
been a part of this process. Also, this will even-
tually be available on our website and at www.
resourceintelligence.net.
RI: Let’s come back to Santa Elena and Cruz de
Mayo again. What are your resources there com-
pared with Santa Elena?
EF: You’re talking 6.5 million tonnes probable
reserves at 1.6 g/t gold and around 60 g/t silver
reserve at Santa Elena for the open pit. We also
have the underground resource that has poten-
tial for our expansion plan.
Booth # 3344
www.silvercrestmines.com
604.694.1730
Moving over to Cruz de Mayo, we have about
15 million ounces of silver with a gold credit in
an open pit scenario, indicated and inferred re-
sources. We’ll be doing a study on that to bring
those up to a probable reserve level over the
course of the next 18 months.
RI: How much of the share structure of Silver-
Crest does management hold?
EF: Management currently holds 12-14%. We
do have a vested interest in the company and it
being successful.
RI: What are your milestones for this year?
EF: First, we want to commence production suc-
cessfully, which means doing that on schedule
and on or under budget. I would be very happy
with that. We’re on track and on schedule. We
want to achieve first pour by mid year, commer-
cial production toward the end of the year.
Then we’ll advance on our expansion plan, so
that our investors can understand that this isn’t
just a small, high-grade mine, but this could be
a very serious player and give you the legs to
advance to mid-tier producer status.
There is a lot of opportunity for us in Sonora
and in Mexico—lots of blue sky still. We’ve
only tested one of these systems at Santa Elena
and there are 3 or 4 more systems there that
need some drill holes in them. I don’t anticipate
we’ll be drilling on those targets until next year,
because we’ve got all our geologists tied up on
construction and production at the moment.
Milestones:
• First pour by end of Q2 2010
• Commercial production by
Q4 2010
• Begin expansion work at Santa
Elena by Q4 2010
• 2011: Drill expansion targets at
Cruz de Mayo and Santa Elena
underground
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