AVINO SILVER & GOLD MINES LTD

1.7 Mining Methods

1.7.1 Avino Area

1.7.1.1 Avino Vein

Avino is currently conducting mining activity on the Avino Vein using sublevel long hole stoping and room and pillar mining methods. The last three years of production from the Avino Mine (mill feed) are summarized in Table 1‑5. This data is summarized from the information listed in Avino’s press releases.

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1.7.1.2 San Gonzalo Vein

Avino reported that by Q4 2019, mining at the San Gonzalo Vein reached the end of its current resources, and underground mining activities at the mine were stopped. However, the mine remains open for continued exploration at different levels of the mine. No operation for the San Gonzalo Vein’s mineralization has been reported since 2020.

1.7.1.3 Oxide Tailings Extraction

The Avino Oxide Tailings Project will be extracted using conventional surface mining techniques with an excavator, wheel loader, and trucks, operating 365 days per year with three 8-hour shifts per day. Based on the Measured and Indicated Resource, the mine plan includes transporting ore to the ROM feed located north of the deposit, and the waste material will be placed at a waste storage structure located east of the Project. Equipment selection and requirements are based on the existing equipment list provided by Avino and the design parameters of the pit and annual material movement, respectively. Refer to Section 15 for the geotechnical pit slope parameters.

Mining phases (pushbacks or PB) have been designed and incorporated into the mining sequence to bring higher grade material forward and to defer waste stripping. The phase designs were guided by the lower revenue factor pit shells from the pit optimization analysis. A total of five phases have been designed. The mining phases were designed to provide operational flexibility while meeting geotechnical constraints and mining equipment available on site. For the LOM, there are at least two active phases being mined at one time to reduce the operational risk from geotechnical failures. Figure 16‑1 shows the pushback schedule for the LOM.