Great Panther Silver says Whittington resigns as director

Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(NYSE MKT: GPL) says that Dick Whittington has resigned from his position as director of the company. 

Whittington took over as chief of Northern Vertex Mining(CVE:NEE) last November. 

"I want to thank Dick for his contributions to the company and wish him well in his future endeavors," said Great Panther chairman, Bob Garnett. 

Earlier this month, the Mexico-focused company reported 23% higher production in its fourth quarter as efforts to improve operations at both mines start to pay off. 

This year, the company said it plans to focus its efforts on reducing costs, and preparing for the development and production of its San Ignacio property in 2014. 

For the fourth quarter, the company said that metal production rose 23% to 672,690 silver equivalent ounces from a year earlier, on the back of a 28% increase in silver output to 453,934 ounces. 

Gold production was up 24% and lead and zinc output both rose 36%. 

Total ore processed increased by 30% to 67,659 toones. 

The silver miner and explorer is focused on mining precious metals from its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico, Guanajuato and Topia

Great Panther also owns San Ignacio, a development-stage property that covers about four kilometres of strike length on the La Luz vein system, which is parallel to, and five kilometres west of the principal Veta Madre structure that hosts the company's Guanajuato mine complex.

The company began exploring San Ignacio in 2010, with 29,789 metres of drilling completed so far on the project, and recent results extending mineralization beyond the limits of the current resource. 

With the acquisition of surface rights last August for the property, the company proceeded with the application for the permits required for underground development, which it expects to have in place by the end of this quarter. 

Production is anticipated to start to ramp up early in 2014.

The silver miner also continues with exploration at its El Horcon silver-gold project in Jalisco State, which is located 60 km northwest of Guanajuato, allowing for the potential to become a satellite mine for its operations. 

El Horcon is a past-producing mine and Great Panther expects to start a 3,000 metre surface drill program this quarter to delineate a resource.

Looking ahead, the company says it will increase cash flow by cutting costs and continuing to improve operational efficiency at its existing operations.

For the year, Great Panther forecast metal production in the range of 2.4 to 2.5 million silver equivalent ounces - compared to 2.38 million ounces in 2012, which was up 8% from 2011.