Silvercorp Metals to buy back up to 5% of the company under normal course issuer bid

Silvercorp Metals (TSE:SVM)(NYSE:SVM) says that a normal course issuer bid to buy back up to 8.5 million of its common shares has been approved by the Toronto Stock Exchange. 

The news comes a day after the Vancouver-based company said it had added two to its management team in China to support its growth efforts. 

Under the normal course issuer bid, the shares can be acquired from February 1 of this year to January 31, 2014, representing around 5% of the company's more than 170.77 million common shares currently issued and outstanding. 

The company cited prevailing market conditions as the reason behind the move, which have resulted in its shares being "undervalued relative to the immediate and long-term value" ofSilvercorp's portfolio of assets in China and Canada, the silver prodcer said. 

Purchases of the shares will be made at the discretion of the directors, through the facilities of the TSX and NYSE, and other Canadian marketplaces. The company said it plans to hold all shares acquired under the issuer bid for cancellation, and has not bought back any of its common shares in the last year. 

The maximum number of shares that can be purchased on the TSX during any trading day cannot exceed 25% of the average daily trading volume on the exchange, based on the previous six months. 

Silvercorp is currently developing its GC project in southern China, which it expects will become its next operating mine early this year.

The silver‐producing Canadian mining company has multiple mines in China. In December 2010, it received a mining permit on the GC project, with the construction of a 1,600 tonne per day mine and mill currently underway. The property is located about 200 kilometres west of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, southern China.

Silvercorp said Monday that Dr. Yi Huang was appointed chief mining engineer of the company, after previously having held the role of principal mining engineer at global consulting and project management firm AMEC. 

The second appointment was Guangrong Qian, who will take the role of deputy general manager of the company's operations in China. Previously, Qian held various exec positions with large mining companies in China and has experience in mine management and production planning.