Toronto-based Americas Gold and Silver said that it has restarted its Cosala operations in Mexico, with mill production returning to "nameplate" production.

The restart comes after the mine was subject to an "illegal blockade" from February 2020, the company said. Americas Gold and Silver worked with the Mexican federal government to remove the blockade to restart mining.

The Los Braceros mine is processing existing stockpiled ore as well as new production from the San Rafael silver-zinc-lead mine. San Rafael is continuing to ramp up production, but will not slow throughput at the mill.

San Rafael will continue to develop into the Upper Zone, which has silver grades of approximately five to six times higher than in the Main Zone, the company said.

Americas Gold and Silver aims to increase silver production to over 2.5 million ounces of silver per year.

The blockade stemmed from a dispute between mine operators and a group of individuals who identified themselves as union representatives of mine workers. Americas Gold and Silver maintains it had not received "labour related" demands or complaints.

The collective bargaining agreement between workers and the mining company expired in March 2020, by which point several groups had attempted to seize control of the mine.