07:16 AM EDT, 04/11/2019 (MT Newswires) -- Endeavour Silver Corp. (EDR.TO, EXK) -- which lost 2.6% on the TSX yesterday -- reported Thursday its production results for the First Quarter, 2019 from the company's four silver-gold mines in Mexico: the Guanacevi mine in Durango state, the Bolanitos and El Cubo mines in Guanajuato state and the El Compas mine in Zacatecas state.

According to a statement, silver production in the First Quarter, 2019 was 1,071,355 ounces (oz) and gold production was 10,055 oz, resulting in silver equivalent production of 1.9 million oz at an 80:1 silver-gold ratio. It said the 21% lower silver production and 24% lower gold production compared to Q1, 2018 were due to the planned reduction of mine output at El Cubo, lower than planned throughput at Bolanitos and lower silver grades at Guanacevi.

Bradford Cooke, Endeavour CEO, in the statement said, "All four mines typically start slowly each year as we commence our annual capital investments, then production improves as the mines work toward achieving their annual mine plans. At Guanacevi, the new Milache orebody is now producing 250 tonnes per day (tpd) of development ore, on its way to 400 tpd by the third quarter, and the new SCS orebody is being developed for production in H2, 2019.

"At Bolanitos, planning is underway to boost throughput in the second half. El Cubo is ahead of its plan for the year, with a focus on extending the mine life. The El Compas mine achieved commercial production in mid-March but only contributed two weeks of production during the first quarter, so it should help boost consolidated production in the coming quarters. Optimization studies are underway at El Compas to increase throughput, grades and recoveries closer to their design capacities.

"With El Compas now commercial, management is fully focused on receiving the final government permit, arranging debt financing, continuing to optimize the pre-feasibility study released last year, and seeking board approval to commence construction of our fifth mine at Terronera. A preliminary economic assessment and mine permitting are both underway for the Parral project, which will be the company's largest exploration project in 2019."

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