Adriatic Metals (ASX: ADT) has achieved a 123% increase in ore tonnes milled at its Vares silver operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As the company continues to ramp up activities at Vares, it revealed in its latest quarterly report that it successfully mined 63,100 tonnes of ore at 289 grams per tonne silver, 2.9g/t gold, 7.5% zinc and 5.1% lead during Q3.

Chief executive officer Laura Tyler said the production ramp-up at Vares continues, with commercial production on track for Q4 2024.

Production guidance

The company also revealed its production guidance for 2024 at approximately 180,000t mined, with the 2025 guidance set at 750,000t to 800,000t.

“Having spent the last few months on-site at the Vares silver operation, I am proud of the significant strides made throughout the quarter,” Ms Tyler said.

“We successfully mined our first stope […] and there was a notable advancement in underground development.”

Hazard control upgrade

“Despite these successes, we faced several challenges including a regrettable on-site fatality in August,” Ms Tyler added.

“In response, we have implemented substantial upgrades to contractor management and major hazard controls as part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing health and safety standards.”

“Furthermore, severe storms in early October caused significant damage to our railway line to Ploce—therefore, concentrate is now being trucked by road to port.”

Constitutional Court setback

Activities were significantly affected in July when the Constitutional Court delivered a ruling regarding access to state forestry land that impacted the company’s ability to use the planned tailings storage facility (TSF).

Adriatic subsequently identified an alternative location at the former Veovaca open pit approximately 2 kilometres from the Vares processing plant, to which the company owns the surface rights.

All permits for Phase I were received from the country’s Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry on 24 October and construction has commenced, with the first tailings disposal planned for December 2024.

Two-phase construction

The Veovaca TSF will be a dry stack facility constructed in two phases, with Phase I designed to receive tailings for the first half of the operation’s approximately ten-year production life.

As part of the ramp-up, the number of active stopes will increase from one per month to two by December 2024 and the number of available headings will also rise from 11 to 15, allowing the mine to reach commercial production levels by the end of the year.

The site’s processing plant has also moved from operating three days a week to five days a week, with round-the-clock operations expected to commence in November.