The mine, located near Ouray, Ouray County, is being restarted and currently has 130 people on-site. Its surface upgrades already completed include a rail yard building and foundations for the reagent building and miners' dry room.

Underground, work continues on debottlenecking infrastructure for more efficient development, and significant progress is reported on the #1 and #2 vertical raises to access the initial production stopes. Additionally, the vertical development sequence has been optimised for horizontal drifting, which will begin earlier on the lower production levels with the #3 raise commencing in April.

RV's Hubb-Reed raise, the main secondary escapeway from the mine, is now awaiting elevator installation since its opening has been completed.

All major equipment pieces for the processing plant have been ordered and are either on-site or in transit, and the mill's foundation has been poured and is ready for an upgraded main mechanical feeder. Aurcana is planning to commission the mill and see first ore during the September quarter of this year.

The company said the mine is now fully funded for restart, "including a robust contingency," and any excess funding will be applied to potential value-added activities. Some include vein extension exploration, the possible increase of production volumes, strategic regional consolidation and activities at Shafter.

The miner said last December it was planning to restart at RV following the closing of a US$28 million financing facility.

RV has more than 522,000t of proven and probable reserves containing over 14.2Moz of silver, 33,000oz of gold, 57M pounds of lead and 24.7Mlbs of zinc.

Aurcana also owns the Shafter-Presidio silver project in Texas.